John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon2
Euphie - Sylveon
Ornstein - Obstagoon
Wraith - H-Zoroark
The New Normal – 11-19 – A Dark Victory
After everything, the time had finally come as the finals of the Indigo Conference came rolling around.
Attendance was basically mandatory for such a notable event, so all of the Elite Four, and Lance, found ourselves in the VIP room as we waited for the battle to begin. That included Lorelei as well, as she had recently returned from Sinnoh last night now that she was no longer needed there in person. Her team had sufficiently settled in and could now operate there without her.
Not only that, but there was an extra guest in the VIP room that normally wouldn't be allowed in here. I had asked everyone if they were okay with me bringing Whitney in to watch the battle with me, and none of them cared.
If Pryce was still Champion, then I'm sure he would have raised a fuss. But Lance didn't really see the need to strictly enforce who was eligible to be in the VIP room, so he was more than fine with me bringing Whitney in to cheer Karen on with me.
"Seems like this is quite the biased pool of spectators that we have here." Lorelei noted amusedly, "Aside from those three, is anyone supporting her opponent, Vettel?"
The resulting silence was a sufficient enough answer.
"…I don't mean to diminish what Vettel has achieved, but I truly don't think he'll come out on top here." Will said after a moment, "He's a fine trainer that has successfully managed to train up a generalist team of powerful Pokémon, which is noteworthy, but he just doesn't have the edge that Karen has."
"Bah, you mean that he bought his way into having a powerful team." Agatha scoffed, "There's nothing noteworthy about throwing your money around to have a powerful team built for you. There's no skill in that. Karen will win easily."
Whitney nodded in agreement, though I suspect she was just incredibly biased.
"Well, I think that's a little unfair. If he was the type of trainer that derived all of his power from having bought powerful Pokémon, then he wouldn't have made it this far into the Conference." I pointed out, "I'm not saying he didn't buy his team – he certainly did – but he has the skills to back up the money spent." That got a nod from Lance too.
I mean, on paper, Vettel's team was stacked. He had a Dragonite, Tyranitar, Togekiss, Metagross, Salamence, and a Ditto of all things. He practically had a team full of Pseudo-Legendaries. But like I said, the more impressive part was the fact that he actually managed to keep all of those pseudo-legendaries in line and maintained SOME amount of discipline.
Oh sure, a huge part of that was the amount of money he was able to throw around and the resources that he had on hand, but I didn't think that automatically made him incompetent. Plus, if he could actually bring out the full potential of his incredibly stacked team, then he would be a truly terrifying opponent.
However, that was a big maybe – and against Karen, I was certain that even the slightest hint of weakness would be crucially exploited by her.
The five of us returned to a peaceful silence as we waited for the battle to begin. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Agatha suddenly spoke up.
"Will. Before Karen achieves her inevitable victory, allow me to remove some of the uncertainty for you." She said, "You needn't worry about Karen. Her first challenge will NOT be made against you. It would be made against me."
Everyone, including my sister and I, turned to Agatha with shocked eyes. For everyone not in the know, they were surprised by the implications of that statement – that Agatha was willing to step down from the Elite Four in favour of Karen, assuming the latter won. As for me, I was just surprised that Agatha was not only willing to admit this out of the blue, but she also did so out of a desire to comfort Will.
Even though I knew she wasn't nearly as mean as others thought she was, I genuinely didn't expect that act of kindness from her.
"…Did you know about this, bro?" My sister whispered in my ear, and I silently nodded in response. That only seemed to cause further surprise to enter into her eyes.
"…Thank you for letting me know." Will said after he recovered from the revelation, "I…didn't think that she would fight you. I'm sure that's something you've planned in advance?"
"I'll let you think whatever you want." She harrumphed, but refused to say anything more. In the corner of my eye, I saw that Lance was staring searchingly at Agatha. I wondered what he was thinking about?
"Well, now you can just focus on fighting against Koga then." Lorelei said, bringing the topic back around, "You don't need to worry about how you'd deal with Karen."
"Yeah, I guess so." A smile formed on Will's face, and he sat a little straighter, "Thanks again, Agatha. I appreciate the heads up."
"Hmph. Just don't start blaming others if you lose to Koga." She waved him off, "It's all on your shoulders now."
Before Will could say anything else, the announcer finally made himself known as the two finalists of this year's Indigo Conference stepped onto the battlefield.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS IT! AFTER COUNTLESS BATTLES, THESE TWO TRAINERS HAVE MANAGED TO OVERCOME ALL THOSE THAT HAD ONCE STOOD IN THEIR PATH, AND HAVE FINALLY MADE THEIR WAY TO THEIR FINAL BATTLE! THEY ARE BOTH JUST ONE STEP AWAY FROM CLAIMING THEIR VICTORY IN THIS YEAR'S INDIGO CONFERENCE!"
"AND WHAT A BATTLE WE HAVE TODAY! ON ONE SIDE, WE HAVE TRAINER VETTEL, WHO HAS MANAGED TO STOMP HIS WAY THROUGH HIS OPPONENTS WITH HIS PLETHORA OF POWERFUL POKÉMON – PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT STRENGTH IS VICTORY! WILL HE ABLE TO MAKE FULL USE OF HIS POKÉMON'S MIGHT TO SECURE HIS VICTORY TODAY AS WELL?!"
"ON THE OTHER SIDE, WE HAVE TRAINER KAREN, WHO HAS DOMINATED HER WAY TO THE TOP WITH HER TEAM OF DISRUPTIVE DARK TYPES! WE'VE SEEN HER IN ACTION BEFORE, AND NOW SHE'S FINALLY HERE TO EARN SOME OFFICIAL RECOGNITION FOR HER STRENGTH! BUT WILL SHE BE ABLE TO BREAK THROUGH THE FULL POWER OF VETTEL'S TEAM?!"
"THIS WILL BE A 6V6 BATTLE WITH 3 SWITCHES AVAILABLE! AND WITHOUT FURTHER ADO…TRAINERS! ARE YOU READY?!"
I felt Whitney's hands clenching excitedly around mine as both trainers nodded and held a Pokéball in their hands.
"THEN LET'S GO! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!"
"Come out! Dragonite!"
"Weavile, you know the plan."
The fight began with Weavile dashing forwards in a blur, firing off an immediate Taunt that shut down any attempts to Dragon Dance from Dragonite.
"Fire Blast, Dragonite!"
In response, a large ball of flames shot out from Dragonite's mouth, but Weavile proved too quick to be hit by the Fire Blast as it nimbly rolled out of the way. Instead, Weavile fired off a quick burst of Ice Shards that struck like knives into Dragonite, causing it to wince and breaking through its Multiscale.
"Dragonite, switch!" Vettel suddenly changed tactics as he withdrew Dragonite into its Pokéball. As Dragonite was recalled, Weavile immediately began setting up with a Swords Dance.
"Metagross, your turn!"
Vettel likely thought that his Metagross would prove to be a more appropriate opponent for Karen's Weavile. And I could see why – a single hit from its titanic metal fists would undoubtedly break Weavile.
"Bullet Punch, Metagross!" As if copying my thoughts, Vettel went on the offensive – confident in the superiority of his Pokémon to bring down a Weavile.
However, even with the use of a priority attack – the supposedly quick Bullet Punch missed its mark as Weavile agilely backflipped out of the way. Not wanting to give up, Metagross tried for another – only for it to go wide yet again as Weavile slid under its extended arm and struck Metagross' underbelly hard with a boosted, supereffective Knock Off.
Metagross was knocked back as the attack struck, letting out a pained whirl as it did. Fearing a further follow-up, Vettel immediately had Metagross throw up a Protect shield to stop any further attacks, but an attack never came. Instead, Karen had accurately predicted Vettel's move and had Weavile fall back and set up with a quick Hone Claws, boosting its Attack even higher.
Combined with its earlier Swords Dance, Weavile had skyrocketed its own attack so high that it would have enough power in its blows to rip through Metagross' once-formidable defenses.
Realising this as well, Vettel had his Metagross go fully on the offensive as it unleashed a rippling Earthquake to try to trip up Weavile while it launched itself forwards with another Bullet Punch. But Weavile had already leaped into the air to dodge the Earthquake, and then spun out of the way of the incoming Bullet Punch before retaliating with a quick Taunt to the face.
A haze of rage enveloped the Steel type, causing Metagross to recklessly charge forwards again at Weavile – only to be out sped and immediately smashed in the face with a powerful Assurance.
Knowing what I did about Karen, this had always been her favoured strategy – to force the enemy's Pokémon to lose themselves to their rage and open themselves up for a counterattack. And here, Metagross was doing that to the dime, revealing that whatever training method Vettel had imparted onto it, he had clearly skipped out on training its mental discipline.
Perhaps this was a condition that would be shared among the rest of Vettel's Pokémon.
Therefore, so lost as it was to its own rage, Metagross was completely unable to heed the voice of its own trainer as it furiously tried to bring down Weavile with a flurry of Bullet Punches and Metal Claws. However, even if it had four arms, Metagross was still too slow and too predictable to land a good hit on Weavile, who nimbly and dexterously evaded Metagross' attacks while constantly landing powerful Dark type blows in-between Metagross' attacks.
Eventually, Metagross' injuries began to slow it down, leaving it ripe for the finisher. Weavile jumped over a Fire Punch, fired off a spray of Ice Shards to distract Metagross, then came crashing down with a devastating Sucker Punch into Night Slash combo that brought down the Steel type.
Allowing Weavile to get off those earlier Attack buffs was a fatal mistake for Vettel, and it had been taken down before it managed to land anything more than a glancing blow on Weavile. I thought if Metagross wasn't so trapped by its own rage, it could have fought more creatively.
A single good hit would have killed any of Weavile's momentum, since it was so fragile.
Nevertheless, several members of the crowd definitely made their displeasure known about Metagross' swift defeat, but others were cheering loudly for Karen at her dominant takedown.
"…I suppose I should have expected nothing less from Karen." Lorelei commented thoughtfully, "I thought Metagross would have a bit more of a fighting chance – but she clearly proved me wrong."
"I'm just glad I don't have to fight off against that." Will agreed, "Though compared to a few battles that I watched where Steven Stone utilised his own Metagross…I found Steven's to be more resilient. Even with Weavile's attack buffs, it probably wouldn't have gone down so easily."
Well that was probably because Steven trained with Bruno to help raise his Pokémon's endurance up to absurd degrees.
"He will send out his Ditto next." I predicted aloud, "It's his best option for dealing with a buffed-up Weavile." And sure enough, a pink, gelatinous blob emerged onto the battlefield before it swiftly began glowing white as the Ditto morphed itself into the shape of a Weavile.
However, if I could predict what Vettel's next Pokémon was going to be, then Karen certainly did as well. And she was more than prepared to face off against a Ditto.
In the brief moment where Ditto was sent out and was stuck Transforming, her Weavile had already burst forwards, instantly closing the distance between itself and the newcomer. So, just as Ditto finished transforming, an instant Low Sweep sent the Ditto-Weavile tumbling to the ground before it could even realise what was happening.
Karen's Weavile immediately pounced on top of its opponent, straddling and keeping the imposter pinned beneath it. However, using its newfound speed and copied attack boosts, the imposter struck quickly with a sharp Brick Break to the face.
Yet in an almost reckless display of confidence, Karen's Weavile had allowed itself to take most of the hit by only partially moving out of the way – all to supercharge its own Counter as it held on to consciousness with pure grit and determination.
With the imposter's boosted attack and its own weakness to Fighting type moves, Weavile was practically burning in a bright orange glow as it channelled all of that energy into its fists as it unleashed a single PUNCH, smashing straight down with an exterminating Brick Break that destroyed the imposter.
Coupled with its own critical weakness to Fighting type moves and the fact that Ditto were even more frail than Weavile, it proved completely unable to withstand the sheer power of Weavile's counterattack.
One punch, and it was out.
The whole engagement between the two Weavile barely lasted a whole ten seconds. Ditto, the supposed revenge killer that was likely supposed to be Vettel's ace in the hole against buffed up threats like Weavile, had the entire situation reversed on it and was brutally taken down.
Of course, Karen's Weavile swiftly collapsed from its own injuries as the adrenaline finally ran out. But it had more than done its job.
Karen now held a firm 2-1 lead against Vettel, and she still held the momentum in her hands.
"Aw, I wanted to see more of that Ditto." My sister whined, barely audible over the loud cheers of the crowd, "I've never seen a Ditto used in battle before."
"They're a very niche option, so that's why they're rarely used." I explained, "It's very difficult to train them up, and they will never be more powerful than the Pokémon you're copying. Some trainers like to have it as an emergency last resort against Pokémon that completely overpower them, but even then you're still going to be fighting at a disadvantage. Your Ditto will never fight as well as the original." That's why I never really considered adding one to my own team.
"I dislike trainers that use Ditto." Lance added, "I find them to be Pokémon that many attempt to use as a shortcut to strength, though that strength is merely copied and borrowed. It is not truly yours, and it rankles me that all of your training can be copied like that."
"Of course you're bothered by it." Agatha rolled her eyes, "You're just upset that a Ditto can copy all of that effort you Blackthorns put into training your Dragons in under a second. A victory is a victory, no matter how it was earned."
Yes, that sounded exactly like how someone who had trained up a Dark type specialist would say.
But it appears my sister had other topics on her mind, "Do you think I should get a Ditto?" She asked me.
I shrugged, "Well, that's totally up to you. Niche as they are, they are strong in the right circumstances. If Vettel had managed to copy and then take down Karen's Weavile, then he would have a super-buffed Weavile of his to make use of against Karen's other Pokémon. But like I said, it's very hard to train up a good Ditto."
My sister nodded thoughtfully, "Then…is Karen doing well so far?"
Will answered before I did, "Considering what she's accomplished, this fight would be hers to lose. She's clearly gotten into Vettel's head, and I haven't seen anything uniquely exceptional from the man yet. If she's able to snowball this advantage, and I'm confident that she will be, then this battle is hers."
"Aren't you lucky that you don't have to face her?" Agatha taunted, but there was no heat in it.
We all returned our focus to the battle as the two trainers sent out their next Pokémon; Karen had sent out her Spiritomb, whereas Vettel's Dragonite was returned to the field.
"Will-O-Wisp, Spiritomb!" Karen ordered, immediately starting off the fight by attempting to Burn her opponent, looking to completely cripple Dragonite's Attack.
"Take to the skies and Hurricane, Dragonite!"
Dragonite flapped its wings and soared into the air, easily dodging out of the way of Spiritomb's Will-O-Wisp before unleashing a huge vortex of gale wings that ripped through the arena as it hurtled its way towards Spiritomb.
However, with a malicious cackle, Spiritomb disappeared into its own shadow and reappeared right below the Dragonite, firing a volley of Shadow Balls that the Dragonite barely managed to dodge. This time, the Dragonite quickly released a Dragon Pulse that came much faster than the earlier Hurricane, giving no time for Spiritomb to dodge as it was blasted in the face by a torrent of concentrated Draconic energies.
Yet Spiritomb hardly even reacted to the attack. Instead, it continued letting out its haunting cackles that swiftly turned into a cacophony of warped shrieks of agony as an unsettling ghostly aura erupted out from it. The many ghosts that comprised Spiritomb's 'face' wriggled and shook erratically as Spiritomb cut its own health in half to release an aura of pure malice and cruelty that engulfed the surprised Dragonite.
Caught within this spectral Curse, Dragonite let out a groan of pain as it began to drop out of the sky; the pain from the Curse ripping through its body was too much for it to sustain its flight.
A Will-O-Wisp was flying towards the Dragonite before a red beam of light hit it first.
"Return, Dragonite! Go, Togekiss!"
Vettel evidently didn't want to risk his Dragonite in an endurance battle against Karen's Spiritomb before it succumbed to the ticking timebomb that was the Curse, so he likely swapped to his Fairy type for a more favourable matchup.
But Karen had the same thought, "Return, Spiritomb! Go, Honchkrow!"
The release of her starter made it clear that Karen intended to challenge Togekiss in an aerial fight. But as I looked at both trainers, I saw that they were both equally as confident as the other about their victory – Vettel seemed perfectly happy, almost eager, for their Pokémon to fight an aerial duel.
His confidence was very quickly tested as Honchkrow dove down with a screeching Brave Bird that just narrowly missed Togekiss, forcing Vettel to refocus his efforts on the fight as he ordered his Togekiss to maintain its distance and make use of its superior Special Attack to blast down Honchkrow from a distance.
Yet Honchkrow was now showing off the fruits of its training as it swooped under a Moonblast, spun away from an Aura Sphere, and nullified an Air Slash with a repelling Dark Pulse. Despite this show of aerial manoeuvrability, Togekiss was able to keep up with Honchkrow's speed and aerial mobility with its own impressive agility so that it was always able to maintain its distance, never allowing Honchkrow to get in close.
That was, until Togekiss got overconfident with an Aura Sphere. The orb of concentrated Fighting energy flew straight towards a charging Honchkrow, and instead of further repositioning itself to make more distance, Togekiss focused on charging up another Moonblast – thinking that it would have the time since Honchkrow would be forced to evade its attack.
Yet, to its surprise, Honchkrow rammed through the Aura Sphere, letting out a small squawk of pain but nevertheless maintaining its momentum as it slammed into Togekiss with a powerful Wing Attack.
Togekiss spun around from the force of the blow, and Honchkrow quickly pivoted on the spot as it followed up with a Drill Peck and a flurry of Air Slashes, ripping through Togekiss as the Fairy type tried to throw up a Protect shield.
That was instantly shut down with a Taunt just as Honchkrow latched on with its sharp talons – and in a move that I had frankly never seen performed by a Flying type before, the Honchkrow piledrived the Togekiss head first into the ground.
Before Togekiss could recover, Honchkrow followed up with a Thunder Wave that cut off its mobility, preventing it from easily taking flight. Now trapped on the ground, Togekiss was forced to engage in close-range combat with Karen's Honchkrow, which is not a position you ever wished to be in if you were the Togekiss.
It was a beatdown.
The paralysed Togekiss was hardly able to put up a fight as Honchkrow landed an uppercut with its wings, before following up with another a winged bash that sent Togekiss tumbling to the ground.
A weak Moonblast formed in Togekiss' mouth, but Honchkrow smashed its head into the ground with one of its talons before another Wing Attack bashed into the Fairy type once again. Togekiss desperately tried to fend off Honchkrow's assault with an Aerial Ace, but that was parried and blocked by one of Honchkrow's wings.
Then, with its sharp beak shining brightly with power, Honchkrow brought its beak down with a powerful Drill Peck that elicited a sharp cry of pain as the Togekiss went down.
That put the score at 3-1, leaving Vettel with only 3 remaining Pokémon. His injured Dragonite, and a fresh Tyranitar and Salamence. We didn't have to wait long before Vettel selected his next Pokémon.
"Tyranitar! GO!"
"PERISH SONG, HONCHKROW!"
As soon as Tyranitar emerged onto the field, whipping up a harsh Sandstorm in its wake, a sharp and harrowing screech echoed throughout the battlefield. It was a jarring and painful noise, and even in the shielded VIP room I instinctively covered Whitney's ears to block out the ear-piercing shriek.
Despite the pain, it wasn't hard to figure out Karen's plans. She was trying to force Vettel to use his last switch so that his remaining Pokémon would be vulnerable to being worn down by Karen's plethora of crippling support moves.
And Honchkrow was never going to be a good matchup against Tyranitar anyways.
As Honchkrow finished with its Perish Song, a large barrage of rocks erupted from beneath it. Honchkrow was barely able to fly out of the way in time, but the heavy Sandstorm slowed Honchkrow down considerably.
"Get close and Thunder Wave, Honchkrow!"
"Keep up the Stone Edge, Tyranitar!"
Instead of trying to dodge, Honchkrow committed to the plan and dove in closer towards the Tyranitar, becoming increasingly vulnerable to the onslaught of rocks. Sure enough, it didn't take long before Honchkrow was pummelled out of the air as the rocks shredded through its Protect shield, but not before it managed to get off the Thunder Wave that Tyranitar was unable to block.
Tyranitar visibly tensed as the paralysing electricity surged through it, but it managed to maintain control of its body for long enough to finish off the grounded Honchkrow by burying it under a tomb of rocks.
With Honchkrow knocked out, Karen withdrew her starter back into her Pokéball. However, she didn't send out another Pokémon immediately, seemingly content to make full use of the allotted 'thinking time'.
She was waiting for the Perish Song to tick down; forcing Vettel to burn his last switch before she sent out her next Pokémon.
"HAH! She's watching him squirm!" Agatha cackled, "That's what I like to see!"
"He's going to have to switch." I agreed, "It's too big a risk to lose a Pokémon like this."
We watched as the two trainers traded gazes, staring at each other intently as Tyranitar began to stumble around uncertainly; the ticking clock of doom moving ever closer to the inevitable end. The crowd at this point was screaming at Vettel to switch, and he eventually succumbed to the pressure.
"Tyranitar, come back." He said with gritted teeth.
Karen grinned and sent out her next Pokémon, "It's your turn again, Spiritomb!"
"Come out, Dragonite!"
Both trainers had decided to restart their previous battle. Vettel must have decided to send out his wounded Dragonite rather than risk his fresh Salamence to a Will-O-Wisp, which would have doomed its fighting capabilities.
"Dragon Rush, Dragonite! Don't let it Curse you!"
With a flap of its powerful wings, Dragonite charged forwards in a deep blue blur as it quickly rushed to take down the Spiritomb.
However, in its haste, Dragonite had not seen how the shadows had extended ominously from around the Spiritomb, nor how they spread out like a vice as Spiritomb waited for its prey to step into its hungry maw. So as Dragonite closed the distance, the trap was sprung.
Two giant spectral claws ripped out of the ground, delivering two painful slashes to Dragonite's sides before they latched on and kept it bound in their shadowy grasp, killing whatever momentum it had built up with the Dragon Rush. As it struggled within its shadowy binds, Spiritomb let out a mocking cackle as it watched the Dragon and further enraged it with a Taunt.
Yet a Dragonite, even if it wasn't at the level of Lance's, was still a Dragonite. A Pokémon that's strength was the envy of all others. And now this beast of nature was thoroughly enraged. How dare this measly Ghost Taunt it so? Dragonite had already been denied a fight twice in this battle, and now, when it finally had the chance to fight, instead of the glorious fight that it had expected, it found itself being laughed and mocked by a Ghost?
That was unacceptable. Its pride wouldn't allow it.
So, with a defiant roar that unleashed all of its accumulated wrath, Dragonite exploded with power as a draconic blue aura flared out from it. It had Outraged.
With the power boost from the Outrage, it could no longer be contained by a measly false prison. Charging forwards with rage filling its eyes, it locked onto its target and smashed into the Ghost type with wanton abandon, unleashing a flurry of wrathful Dragon Claws that ripped into the vortex of Ghosts.
But in its rage, it didn't notice that it had it already been burnt by the Will-O-Wisp.
Of course, just because it was Burned doesn't mean that it made Dragonite's Outrage any less difficult to deal with. Even if Spiritomb was considered to be among the more defensive of the Ghost type, it still lacked the defenses or the mobility to withstand or get away from an Outraging Dragonite. Nor would it ever be able to defeat a Dragonite in close range like this.
However, Karen was content on doing nothing. Instead, she watched the Dragonite beating down on her Spiritomb with a patient smile on her face, simply waiting for the right moment to strike.
And then, just before Spiritomb would fall, she gave the command that I knew she would give.
"Destiny Bond."
"NO! STOP YOURSELF!"
Despite the desperate cries of its trainer, the Dragonite was too lost in its rage to listen to his words. It was too consumed by its primal instincts to win that it remained blind to the flash of haunting purple in Spiritomb's eyes.
And so, with a final Dragon Claw, Dragonite struck down the cackling Spiritomb and achieved victory over its opponent. However, before it could even celebrate its win, an unsettling and trembling ghostly aura emerged from Spiritomb's fallen body and wrapped itself around the Dragonite. Still ignorant to what had just happened, Dragonite's eyes suddenly rolled up in its head and it collapsed to the ground, fainted.
"That brings back good memories." Lorelei chuckled. She must be referring to her Froslass defeating Walker's Crobat.
"Heh, Destiny Bond is always delightful to watch." Agatha smirked, "It never gets old."
"…I nearly lost like that to Koga too." Whitney admitted, and I patted her on the head for that.
"So how do you think Karen will close this one out, Agatha?" Will asked me, and Whitney perked up in interest as well, "You know her the best."
"John can answer that." She passed the baton to me.
I shrugged, "It's simple. Vettel only has two Pokémon left, a paralysed Tyranitar and a fresh Salamence. Karen still has her Tyranitar, which I have no doubt will win against his Salamence. So she'll stack the deck as favourably as she can with her Umbreon to set up as many protective screens as possible and cripple the Salamence with her status moves. Then, she'll secure her victory with a Tyranitar."
Lance nodded, "That does sound like her. I have to say, Vettel has been played like a puppet this entire fight. I don't think there was a single moment in this fight where he didn't act to Karen's expectations. This whole fight he was in the palm of her hands."
I agreed. This was a stomp, but not like my 6-0 victory against Shin, where Tyrant had brutalised his opponent with raw strength. No, this was a fight that was an excellent demonstration of Karen's ability to methodically dismantle her opponents, turning their strengths into weaknesses and securing victory against an opponent that, on paper, should have absolutely no problem crushing her.
And that was exactly what happened. The next battle between Umbreon and Salamence proceeded just as I said it would. Salamence was Taunted, denied any opportunity to set up, and Umbreon both set up a Reflect and Light Screen that would further bolster the defenses of her own Tyranitar. Then, despite Salamence's best efforts to dodge, it was still hit by a Thunder Wave that paralysed the Dragon, halving its speed and making it especially vulnerable to the storm of rocks that would be unleashed by her own Tyranitar.
However, what I didn't expect was for Umbreon to have enough time to also set up a few Calm Minds and then Baton Pass those buffs to her Tyranitar.
And now, Karen's buffed up Tyranitar emerged onto the battlefield with a bellowing roar that caused the howling Sandstorm to grow even harsher, becoming so dense that it became almost impossible to see into the fight.
But there was just enough visibility for the crowd to gape at the tremendous storm of rocks that suddenly shot up from the ground; enough to make Vettel's earlier attempts by his Tyranitar look paltry in comparison.
Before Salamence could move out of the way, Karen ensured its defeat by firing a quick burst of concentrated Dark energy at the Dragon – her Tyranitar's signature Cripple.
Instantly, Salamence's eyes once again grew wroth with rage, yet it simultaneously flinched. The sudden mental assault distracted it for long enough so that it was directly in the line of fire of Tyranitar's Stone Edge, which ripped through the distracted Salamence in a devastating series of critical hits.
Salamence roared out in pain, but that roar was quickly silenced as the rocks came back down again, burying the Salamence in a tomb of rocks as it was pinned to the ground. Then the coup de grâce came in the form of a terrifying Earthquake, sending explosive tremors to rip through the fallen Salamence's body and knocking it cleanly out of the fight.
Karen's Tyranitar proved that she was not outmatched in a pure battle of strength.
Finally, Vettel's last Pokémon came out into the fight. But the disparity in strength was almost pitiful. It was not a mirror matchup that would be remembered for the years to come. There was no sudden reversals, no surprise attacks that caught Karen's offguard. No, it was the sad beatdown of a weaker Tyranitar by a far stronger one; as Vettel's so-called prized and 'perfect' Tyranitar was upstaged by Karen's own.
As soon as Karen's Tyranitar got close to his, after managing to overpower its geokinesis, Vettel's final Pokémon was knocked to the ground from a Low Kick from Karen's. An Ice Beam began to form in its mouth, but it was interrupted as Karen's Tyranitar smashed it into the ground with a double Brick Break before pinning it down with its fearsome claws.
It struggled, but it was not stronger.
It thrashed, but the opposing claws only dug deeper into its skin.
It raged, but no amount of emotion could stop the pummelling it was receiving.
Then the earth shook, a punch came, and his final Pokémon fell.
And with the defeat of Vettel's last Pokémon, putting the final score at 6-3, Karen had secured her victory in this year's Indigo Conference.
A.N. I know I haven't been showing off Karen's fights through her time in the Indigo Conference, but this final fight was one I wanted to show off. And yes, like I mentioned in the chapter, I wanted to write a different kind of curbstomp, one that was more suited to a Dark specialist like Karen. The final score might have been 6-3, but that is not reflective of Karen's dominance.
Admittedly, Vettel would have put up a good fight against another other finalist that wasn't Karen. But his Pokémon, strong as they are on paper, were denied the ability to fully utilise their full potential. Hope you enjoyed!
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!