Chapter 86; semifinals-round 1
"Finish this Entei! Sacred fire!"
Entei bursted down the opposing magneton in one blast, resulting in Sonic's undisputed victory, under the roaring cheers of the crowd.
Following Sonic's battle the announcer declared a two hour break so everyone's pokemon could get some rest. Afterwards they would proceed with the semifinals.
Sonic of course, immediately rushed to rendezvous with his friends.
"It's happening! You're in the top 4! Again!" Jet exclaimed almost jumping up and down.
"The tournament was brutal but we made it" Knuckles jabbed Sonic on the shoulder.
"We sure did".
"All right boys time to get some lunch" Jasmine teased them while giving Sonic a kiss on the cheek "our aspiring champions need strength".
"Hehe" Sonic giggled.
Heading outside to grab anything they could find to eat, all of the crew began discussing the best parts of the tournament. It had been a crazy day and a half.
The first major event was of course the opening of the tournament by Knuckles and his come from behind victory against Eusine, though that had already been discussed.
The next major event was the battle between Ash and Gary Oak. Their rivalry was pretty much still there despite the experiences with Sonic's crew. Unbeknownst to each other, Ash had looked at Sonic and Knuckles during his battle with Gary as if he was saying watch me, while Gary had done the same with Tails.
Gary ended up losing as Ash outplayed him by taking advantage of the field. When the battles got into the top 16, the tournament took a turn for the better by introducing a changing arena with habitats. Thought Gary had taken the lead in the first half and the mostly meadow field, when it came to a rocky field, Ash had Charizard dance around Blastoise's hydro pumps while using flamethrower on the field to the point it became a burning wasteland and essentially mimicking the effects of sunny day for Blastoise.
Sonic's crew were all impressed by this thinking. Knuckles specifically momentarily wondered how he would battle Ash if it came down to it as this was just too unexpected. Sonic on the other hand had smiled like a maniac for a moment, stating that this was exactly why he always pushed Ash to grow stronger and believed Ash not evolving his pokemon to their final stage held him back.
Ash then got the opportunity to have Charizard approach Blastoise when it attempted to use hydro pump to clear the battlefield only to create a smokescreen.
At first Ash wanted to use seismic toss on Blastoise but decided to instead take a page out of Knuckles' book first as he remembered Blastoise knew bite. Therefore he first had Charizard fire flamethrower straight into Blastoise's face, making it unable to fight off the seismic toss.
Ash's unpredictable nature and on-the-spot strategies also persisted on the next round on the top 8 when he battled Harrison, the Hoennian trainer who had promised to have a rematch with Sonic, making the stakes of their battle even greater.
Just like with Sonic, Harrison's Hoennian species had taken Ash by surprise, Blaziken specifically. It and Charizard's battle was brutal. Pikachu had to encourage Charizard to get up and not faint as losing would mean losing their chance for a rematch with Sonic. Charizard, frustrated from the many weeks it had spent at the Charicific valley, following its battle with Sonic's Moltres had become determined to not lose to another fire type and pushed itself beyond its limits, outlasting Blaziken and earning Ash the ticket to the top 4 just after Knuckles had earned his ticket.
Sonic and crew had ended up talking about those events almost all night last night and even today they couldn't stop discussing them.
Ash's unique strategies, Knuckles' warrior heart in battle, shared by his pokemon, and Sonic and his team's unrivalled power had become the all-star talk of the tournament. Fans of the Sonic heroes had even approached Ash during the lunch break to ask him about how he was able to rival them so effectively. That of course boosted his confidence as he finally started feeling the gap between himself and Sonic lessening.
Eventually of course the lunch break ended and with the atmosphere being very tense, everyone gathered back inside the stadium.
The announcer first gave a small speech while the matchups were being determined, about how this had been an incredible tournament conference thus far and how he sincerely hoped it would go down in history as the greatest tournament in the history of the region.
Immediately after the speech, on the stadium's big screen, the pictures of the four semifinalists appeared.
Sonic, Knuckles, Ash and a boy named Plata.
But the photo was that of Silver.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles exchanged a glance as they knew that meant Looker had kept his word about helping Silver bury his past forever, giving them a sense of peace.
"And without further ado, let's see those matchups!"
The 4 images were flipped to show the logo of the Silver conference and then started spinning round and round, as two frames appeared in the middle with a big VS between them.
After a few seconds one of the images darted into one of the frames, though still upside down. And then the second one, again upside down.
"Our first contestant is…!"
The image flipped.
"Sonic the hedgehog!"
"That's all you!" Tails encouraged his friend.
"And his opponent will be…"
The other image flipped.
"Plata!"
The stadium erupted in cheers. Sonic was kind of disappointed as he wanted to battle Ash and Knuckles but now they would have battle each other first.
Coming to terms with this reality he got up to head to the arena. Tails and Knuckles followed him until the entrance.
"Are you going to be ok?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Silver masked his name and didn't attract too much attention on himself for the entire tournament. Like I didn't even know he was there" Tails explained.
"Neither did I but why is that so important?"
"I think what Tails is asking is, how can you be certain he is still not angry?"
Sonic took a deep breath.
"If he wants to hold onto hatred, he's free to do so. I can't forgive Giovanni for his crimes but I won't allow hatred to poison me anymore".
"That's something else I wanted to talk to you about Sonic" Tails tried to say "you let go of everything that befell us far too fast. Are you sure you're ok?"
The noise of the crowd brought them out of their conversation.
"Gotta go. I promise you, after the tournament we will have a chat, either by phone or before we leave. I promise" Sonic quickly said before entering the arena.
As the crowd cheered him on, Sonic stood face to face with Silver.
"Long time no see".
"Indeed".
"Has everything worked out?"
"A lot. Enough small talk. We have a score to settle".
"Hm. True. We never truly battled. So show me your power!"
The arena opened and a grassy terrain, similar to that Ash and Harrison's battle earlier was lifted from underground.
"Interesting setup" Sonic commented taking out Meganium's pokeball.
"Battle begin!"
"Go meganium!"
"Go Crobat!"
The matchup was very unfavorable for Sonic. To Silver's surprise the hedgehog smiled.
"Shall we start?"
"Crobat! Air cutter!"
"Meganium! Leech seed!"
Meganium stood strong against the air cutter despite the effectiveness, shaking Silver's resolve as he didn't expect Meganium to be this strong in the defense department. Meganium then seized the opening and fired leech seed on Crobat.
Vines came out of the seed and ensnared Crobat, causing it to fly unevenly. The effects of the leech seed then activated, draining Crobat's health and sending it to Meganium.
"I saw that strategy! It won't work on me! Crobat toxic!"
Crobat spat poison towards Meganium!
"Protect!" Sonic instinctively ordered.
Meganium shielded itself from the poison but it was obvious it couldn't stay in against Crobat. It was built to counter their stalling strategy.
"Meganium back!" Sonic recalled it "Raichu this Crobat needs to go down!"
"Rai rai!" Raichu charged in, as the effects of the leech seed kicked in again though Raichu was already at full health.
Silver hadn't really faced Raichu before but just knowing that this Raichu had contributed in the downfall of his father made him immediately pull back Crobat. He went with his next best pick for this as he knew Raichu was a physical attacker.
"Go Gengar!"
"He's got a gengar too?" Tails exclaimed.
"What do you expect? It's a very powerful species" Wave commented as she had seen ghost types in Hoenn, more specifically a species called duskull that could evolve into dusclops and anothee, shuppet that evolved into Banette but neither could really rival Gengar in power.
"Smart. But that's not going to cut it! Raichu! Quick attack to get close then thunder punch!"
Raichu dashed too fast for Gengar to make any move. But it as it expected the thunder punch, it barely dodged before landing a shadow ball on Raichu, sending shockwaves through Sonic's body.
Sonic groaned internally, getting more determined instead of faltering like most would.
"Iron tail!" his mind devised the idea for their next attack.
Mysteriously, Raichu span through the air before Sonic could call out the attack, delivering a devastating iron tail head-on on Gengar, knocking it out in an instant as it was pretty much a powerful glass cannon.
"Say what?!" Silver shouted in disbelief.
"Gengar is unable to battle! Raichu wins!"
Sonic himself was taken aback. Raichu had actually performed the attack before Sonic could even complete the thought.
"How did you do it buddy?" he wondered with a pleased smile as the battle was in their favor already.
"Did you see that?" Ash said with widened eyes.
"I have never seen anything like that in all my years" Professor Oak said rubbing his chin "Raichu acted entirely on its own. It's certainly not an illegal move but usually trainers and pokemon work together coordinating their attacks. Yet young Sonic doesn't seem bothered by this, almost as if he welcomes it".
"But what does that mean? That Sonic and Raichu are two beings battling as one?" Gary, who had joined them to watch the semifinals asked his grandfather.
"But to do that they would have to…" Brock tried to say but stopped. The idea was ludicrous.
"They would have to read each other's thoughts. And that would that would make them nearly invincible as noone would ever see any of their moves coming" he thought to himself.
Ash took to observing Sonic as he pondered what that meant. Did his rival and his partner had such a powerful bond that something like this was possible? And if so, what had caused it?
Silver recalled Gengar. That Raichu would be very annoying to beat. And he had no actual counter to it. Furthermore he knew from his father, or at least what was said about his father, that Sonic had an Alakazam so using his Alakazam wouldn't be as effective. Feraligart was also a bad choice. Crobat too.
One by one his choices were being deemed as bad.
Sonic saw the hesitation in Silver and called out to him.
"Don't lose faith. Our battle's only just began. Remember who you are and what you stand for!"
Silver was amazed that even after everything and especially now that Sonic was winning, he was still willing to encourage his opponent. And with a smile no less.
Even though none of his options was really good, especially with Raichu's well rounded moveset, Silver picked one and smiled as he sent it out.
"Magneton!"
A magneton appeared.
"Battle resume!"
"Magneton! Thunder wave!"
"Dodge with quick aattack, then brick break!"
It was the exact same combo. Although the power made it very hard to counter, Silver already had a plan for it.
The moment Raichu ricocheted from the quick attack Silver unveiled his plan.
"Tri-attack!"
Magneton created three elemental spheres, each containing the essence of ice, thunder and fire.
Just as the brick break connected, the tri-attack was launched, sending Raichu flying back.
Magneton survived the attack because of sturdy. And top it off, the additional effect of tri-attack kicked in, freezing Raichu solid.
"Raichu!" Sonic called out to it, impervious to the tri-attack effects as they were not much damage.
"Now's our chance magneton! Thunderbolt!"
Magneton zapped the frozen Raichu with thunderbolt. The ice shook as Raichu wiggled inside trying to break free.
"Again! Beat it before it breaks free!"
Another thunderbolt landed. The effects were starting to actually take their toll on Sonic. Before long his pain would be visible.
"We didn't come this far to lose! Raichu!"
"Raaaai!" the electric mouse broke free with a loud cry terrifying Silver.
"Quick attack!"
Raichu moved like a blur, smacking the barely standing Magneton into unconsciousness.
"Magneton is unable to battle! Raichu wins!"
Silver recalled Magneton.
"Raichu back!" Sonic called back his partner as he knelt to supposedly pet it.
"Hey buddy, get some rest for now. The shared pain part of our bond has been amplified over our Johto journey. Let us both recover and if necessary you can wrap the battle up ok?"
"Rai rai!"
"Was calling Raichu back a wise move? Now he's only got one chance to switch" Ash questioned his rival's move.
None of his friends replied. Neither did Gary. But his childhood friend knew what he had seen in the Kanto league. And remembered what Sonic had stated.
"My Raichu is twice as strong as others of its kind".
And he remembered how the other finalist in that tournament, Mike, had pushed Sonic and Raichu to the brink. Both of them looked like actually sharing the pain back then.
And it was just as obvious now.
"Please send out your next pokemon" the referee ordered Sonic and Silver.
Both took out a pokeball.
"Go sneasel!"
"Quagsire give me a hand!"
A fairly even matchup was in order.
"Sneasel! Faint attack!"
Sneasel being faster than Quagsire landed the attack without fail, giving him a small lead.
"Quagsire, use surf!"
Quagsire unleashed its water attack only for sneasel to dash on the grass, avoiding the water barrage with ease.
"Icy wind!"
Quagsire was hit with a cold breeze from Sneasel, slowing down its movements and its attacks.
"Sneasel is all about speed" Sonic thought "Quagsire is not good about it. But I shouldn't blindly switch back into Raichu or even hitmontop for that matter. Not yet anyway".
"Sneasel! Metal claw!"
The attack was weak against Quagsire's typing but its additional effect kicked in, raising Sneasel's power.
"Sonic might want to do something fast" Jasmine said anxiously "sneasel will become too strong too fast".
"Don't let up sneasel! Shadow claw!"
Sneasel wound up its claws heading straight for Quagsire.
The attack landed, surprisingly on Quagsire's stomach.
Silver was perplexed as to why Sonic would leave one of a pokemon's most vital parts of body open on purpose.
That was until he witnessed the smile on Sonic's face.
"Thank you for that".
"What?!"
"Quagsire? You feel sick enough? Let it all out! Sludge bomb!"
Quagsire essentially puked on Sneasel, the shadow claw having shaken it to the point the sludge bomb was maximum power.
The ice and dark type, already at point blank range and not expecting such an attack, giving it no chance to dodge, collapsed fainting.
"Sneasel is unable to battle. Quagsire is the winner!"
"What a move by the hero of Kanto!" the announcer nearly screamed sending the stadium into a frenzy of cheers.
The battle was cut once again as now three of Silver's pokemon had fainted. And all of Sonic's pokemon, albeit with some injuries, were still battle ready, giving him a decisive lead.
Meeting up with his friends, they congratulated him on a well battled match thus far.
"I think Ash and I have our work cut out for us. You battle like a hedgehog possessed!"
"Your lead is immense! I can't help but wonder why he is not giving up?" Wave wondered aloud.
"The battle's not over yet everyone. I don't know Silver but I believe him when he says he battles for power. I think he hasn't shown his true strength in battle yet" Sonic brought them back down to earth.
As they discussed the battle, Jasmine turned to Sonic.
"Why did you recall Raichu back there? It seemed just fine".
"Our bond. It makes me feel Raichu's pain. I didn't want it to show".
"But you told me it wasn't all that serious".
Tails took over.
"That connection has been amplified over our Johto travels. To the point that Raichu getting stabbed back then and Sonic experiencing that pain were one and the same".
Everyone was shocked to hear that besides Knuckles.
"And even though it's not a very common occurrence" Sonic decided to add something "this connection is a two way street. Raichu can also feel my pain. It was revealed to us very early on our journey here".
"You know I have a theory about this" Tails suddenly remembered what he had been toying over with in his mind over the last few weeks, especially following the display of Sonic's speed at Alto Mare.
"I think that these two additions to your bond, pain sharing and your speed abilities… are like yin and yang. One completing the other".
"Almost like those 'deal' memes online" Jet brought up an example "you get this but under this condition".
Sonic nodded. That certainly seemed like a legit explanation. Despite that the lightning phenomenon still lingered in the back of his mind. If that was to ever fully manifest what would the catch be, if any?
The announcement of the ending of the break ended as he was called back to the arena.
Wished good luck by his friends, Sonic stepped back into the arena. The grass habitat was lowered under the arena and a new habitat took its place. A beach habitat. Half water, half land.
Sonic's eyes narrowed. Although he had a major lead, he didn't know how strong Silver's Feraligart was. Adding the habitat to the equation evened things out a little too much for comfort.
He took out Tyranitar's pokeball. It was a risk but with three of Silver's pokemon down and the knowledge of Crobat and Feraligart as his 4th and 5th pokemon, choosing Hitmontop didn't seem as good anymore. He needed something strong overall. Tyranitar was the perfect pick.
"Battle resume!"
"Come forth! Alakazam!"
"Tyranitar! Let's rumble!"
The two pokemon emerged, Sonic's sparkling in the process. Watching the sparkles spin outwards was a very satisfying feeling for Sonic.
Silver was in a bit of a bind. Tyranitar was too powerful of a pick against either Alakazam or Crobat. But at this point his only choice was to set up for his most powerful team member to try and sweep.
"Alakazam return! Take flight Crobat!"
The Crobat appeared again, slightly annoying Sonic. Tyranitar gave him a reassuring look, letting him know it was going to be fine. Sonic nodded back.
"Knock that bat out of the sky! Rock slide!"
"Dodge it, then toxic!"
Tyranitar fired its move. Taking advantage of the open space, Crobat dodged all of boulders coming its way by flying just over the surface of the water. Once the move was over, Crobat spat poison on Tyranitar, poisoning it.
Silver grinned, thinking he had done it. But getting poisoned was within Sonic and his pokemon's training. After all they had also trained with Sonic's Kanto pokemon a lot before the league.
"Tyranitar crunch!"
Without missing a beat, Tyranitar's massive jaws locked down on Crobat, the momentum even causing Tyranitar to stumble and fall, with Crobat taking the brunt of the fall as Tyranitar chewed down on it, damaging it.
Crobat flapped its wings as hard as it could trying to break free but Tyranitar's grip was just too great. Although bubbles came out of Tyranitar's nose, indicating poison damage, the massive shiny pokemon didn't budge.
Silver hoped he could reveal this move against either Raichu when it was already weak or against Entei but no longer had the luxury of biding his time.
"Crobat! Confuse ray!"
Crobat unleashed a small golden glow from its eyes which took the form of a sphere. The sphere flew in front of Tyranitar's eyes, hypnotizing it and causing it to get confused and weaken its grip over Crobat, allowing it to break free.
Tyranitar shook its head trying to snap out of its confusion.
"Bite Crobat!"
Crobat sank its sharp teeth into Tyranitar, which roared and attempted to punch Crobat to get it off but in its confusion, the punch ended up on its cheek instead. And the increasingly severe poisoning kept chipping away at the massive dark and rock type.
"Tyranitar listen to my voice! You are strong remember?! Like your mother!"
The mention of its mother reminded Tyranitar of the day its mother was taken. How those bad people had arrived and forcibly captured her and its older sibling before it could hide.
With a powerful roar Tyranitar shook itself out of the confusion.
"Finish this! Rock slide!"
"Dodge it crobat!"
Crobat dodged a few of the boulders but still took major damage. It landed to catch its breath.
Just as Sonic was about to grin and have Tyranitar crunch it down again, the poison completely drained Tyranitar's energy, knocking it out to everyone's surprise.
"Tyranitar is unable to battle! Crobat's the winner!"
It was the first defeat for Sonic's pokemon in this battle. Tails had an eerie feeling the tide was going to turn. Sonic would have to stay on his toes.
"Tyranitar return! You were great. Your mother would be proud of you. Leave the rest to us" Sonic said to the pokeball before assessing his choices.
He smirked upon deciding to overwhelm his opponent.
"Roar with pride!"
A pillar of fire erupted as the volcano pokemon, Entei, let out a mighty roar, shaking Crobat and the viewers to their very cores.
Silver found himself unnerved against Entei. For Sonic to call it out, it meant he was done playing around.
"Crobat! Confuse ray!"
"A trick like that only works the first time! Entei! Dodge and stomp it down!"
Entei, moving incredibly fast despite being the slowest of the three beasts in terms of speed, dodged the confuse ray before making its way to Crobat.
Entei then leaped upwards, shoving its massive paw against Crobat and stomping it down. Crobat's wings flapped for a while before stopping.
"C-crobat?!"
Sonic's friends looked unnerved at this. That move was a little bit of overkill.
"Entei back".
Entei backed off Crobat so the referee could check if it was ok. It was merely knocked out.
"Crobat is unable to battle! Entei's the winner!"
Silver recalled Crobat.
"That was a bit uncalled for don't you think?"
"Entei only knows to fight at full force" Sonic shrugged off the question "so you should understand it. Maybe in another life you two would be allies".
Silver gritted his teeth. He hated when Sonic could read him.
His mind went back to before the disappearence of his father. To the Kanto league.
He had watched it on TV, at the time hating only Sonic, thinking his father would come for him so they could work together to take revenge on the blue hedgehog.
And he had seen how Sonic had defeated Ash so undisputedly.
He was now in a similar predicament.
"Maybe you were right all along. Maybe I can't beat you. Not yet anyway".
Sonic was genuinely not expecting this reply.
"But that doesn't mean I will go down without a good fight first! Come forth Alakazam!"
Alakazam appeared. Entei growled at it.
"Psychic!"
"Entei Sacred fire!"
Entei was not quick enough to fire its move before the psychic connected. The pain angered the beast of fire, empowering sacred fire further.
"Reflect!"
Alakazam barriered itself. The sacred fire, being weirdly a move inflicting physical damage despite being ranged, was greatly weakened because of the reflect, allowing Alakazam to survive.
"Not good enough! Flamethrower!"
Learning from his usage of Moltres, Sonic had kept flamethrower on Entei for reasons like this despite training with it in physical attacks like Raichu.
The flamethrower connected, knocking Alakazam out. Silver recalled it.
"Alakazam is unable to battle! Entei's the winner!"
"Is this going to be like his battle with Ash? What you described as an undisputed win?" Cosmo asked Tails.
"It looks like it. Kind of an anticlimactic end honestly".
Silver took out his final pokeball. Feraligatr's.
"Now or never! All or nothing!"
The way he spoke those words had Sonic questioning the odds for a moment. But the thought was absurd.
Silver had one pokemon left while Sonic had five, including Entei and Raichu.
"Go Feraligatr!"
The water Johto starter appeared and growled at Entei while giving off a teasing look.
"Go ahead. Make your move" Silver invited Sonic to attack.
Sonic was now in total loss. Regardless he wouldn't hold back.
"Entei! Bite!"
Entei charged Feraligatr, intending to bite it.
"Jump into the water!"
Feraligatr immediately retreated into the water section of the arena, before Entei's attack could connect.
"Don't let it get away Entei! Use Sacred fire to force it out!"
Entei charged up sacred fire, intending to nuke the water and blow Feraligatr out.
"Now! Waterfall!"
Feraligatr jumped out of the water with terrifying speed, slamming its body against Entei, as waterfall connected.
Entei was pushed to the ground, Feraligatr all over it.
"Finish this! Dragon claw!"
"Bite the dragon claw!"
Entei chewed down on Feraligatr's claws, canceling out a big part of the attack.
"What a strategy!" Ash commented impressed.
Silver grinned despite the supposed lock they were in.
"Checkmate!"
"Huh?"
"Waterfall!"
Using its other hand, Feraligatr created another, weaker version of waterfall. Or to be more accurate the normal version of waterfall as the previous one was empowered because of the attack coming from inside the water.
Entei got blasted with the attack before shoving Feraligatr off with a bite.
The two pokemon faced each other down for a moment, growling at each other.
The next moment, Entei fell on its side, toppling over and fainting, leaving Sonic to stumble back and gasp.
"It's down!" Brock exclaimed in shock.
"This is quite unexpected" Professor Oak said with a serious face "so far every time either Entei or Suicune were brought out, the battle was decided. But now… for it to go down so easily…"
"The battle is not over" Tails told his friends in realization on the other side of the arena unbeknownst to Oak "that Feraligatr is Silver's comeback plan!"
"Couldn't it be just the type advantage?"
"No. That gyarados in round 3 struck Entei with hydro pump and it didn't go down. That means this Feraligatr is hypertrained quantitywise. It won't go down easily".
Knuckles and the others looked at Feraligatr and then back at Sonic while he was trying to make a decision as to how to proceed.
It suddenly felt like Sonic was fighting an overleveled boss.
"Aggressive huh? Time for some defense! Go! Meganium!"
Meganium came out, ready to take some punishment for the team.
"Not going to help! Bite!"
Feraligatr launched itself at Meganium, sinking its teeth into the grass type's neck, like a vampire.
"Leech seed!"
The attack connected, ensnaring Feraligatr as its health was drained.
"Not going to be enough! Ice punch!"
"Ice punch?!" Sonic thought in shock as he didn't see such a move coming.
The ice punch was brutal but thanks to its high defense, Meganium survived.
"Again!"
"Protect!"
Meganium shielded itself, blocking the ice punch as the leech seed drained more of Feraligatr's energy.
"Get into the water quick!"
Feraligatr jumped back. Sonic was perplexed.
"Synthesis quick!"
"No you don't! Waterfall!"
The attack, once again empowered by the terrain, toppled Meganium but also had an unforseen side effect or at least unforseen for Sonic; the expulsion of power removed the leech seed.
"There goes your wall" Silver grinned.
"Poison powder!"
Meganium, using its last bit of energy, expelled its poisonous powder, infecting Feraligatr, before completely fainting.
"Meganium is unable to battle! Feraligatr's the winner!"
Silver looked at his poisoned Feraligatr and grinned.
"So you gave yourself a lifeline. Question is, can you last long enough to win?"
Sonic closed his eyes with a hint of guilt.
"I lasted long enough against him the first time".
Silver's eyes widened. This was exact same scenario his father had been in when he first fought Sonic.
Back then Sonic and his Raichu were beginners and his father played with his food which cost him the win.
But now they were strong. And Silver knew it.
He vowed it wouldn't repeat. He wouldn't lose like his father.
Sonic recalled Meganium, thanking it for its effort. Now he was down to 3.
"Got to weaken it! Go! Hitmontop!"
Hitmontop came out, its ability immediately going off, weakening its opponent.
"Meaningless tricks! Just bring out your Raichu already and come at me with everything you got!"
Raichu looked up at Sonic, begging him to comply.
"Not yet" Sonic nodded negatively "we need to weaken it first, let the poison do its work".
"Hitmontop! Fake out!"
Hitmontop faked out the Feraligatr, catching it by surprise and causing it to flinch, giving the poison more time to act.
"Now! Triple kick!"
"Dragon claw!"
The first kick landed but dragon claw stopped the second in its tracks before slashing at Hitmontop, sending it rolling down on the ground.
"Don't let up! Ice punch!"
Moving with scary speed, Feraligatr's fist slammed into Hitmontop's face, sending the shiny fighting type at Sonic's feet. Fainted.
"Hitmontop is unable to battle! Feraligatr's the winner!"
Sonic felt numb. Even weakening it had not worked.
"Enough playing hedgehog! Face me head-on! Strike me with all your might like you did him!"
Sonic looked into Silver's eyes.
"Come on then! Come at me already! Show me your power! Let our pokemon clash!"
Sonic then recalled Silver's words at the lighthouse.
"I am Silver! And I want to be the strongest! And I want to do it for myself. Not for my father".
"And now's your one chance to live up to your words" Sonic spoke to his opponent in understanding "Raichu!"
"Rai!"
"To heck with hiding! We got a battle to win!"
"Rai! Raichu!" Raichu jumped into the field, staring down Feraligatr.
"This is it!" Tails said, bursting with anxiety.
"But Sonic still has Quagsire" Jasmine reminded him.
"If Raichu loses, I don't think Sonic will be able to continue" Tails spoke grimly, worrying Jasmine as she remembered the bond connection.
"Finally! To hell with winning! To hell with the Johto league! Just you and me!"
"Raichu! Quick attack!"
Raichu moved before Feraligatr could even think, slamming into it and ricochetting.
Silver expected this opening.
"Ice punch!"
"Thunder punch!"
The two pokemon's blows collided, shaking the field slightly. The shockwave was felt by Sonic and Ash's groups. Ash especially got nervous at this level of power.
"Iron tail!"
"Dragon claw!"
The iron tail met the claws, barely deflecting them. Sonic gritted his teeth at the wasted chances of static kicking in. But because of the poisoning, it would never work.
Feraligatr was affected by the poison again, roaring.
"Not now Feraligatr! Stand strong! You can't go down! Not before we beat them!"
Feraligatr looked back and nodded. The trust between the two was clear to Sonic and came to believe Silver was not his father more than before.
"Bite!"
"Brick break!"
The fangs bit down on Raichu, sending the feeling through Sonic's body. Raichu immediately slammed its paw into Feraligatr's face, causing it to let go.
Silver carefully observed his pokemon, like he was expecting something to change after the attack.
"Not yet. I need to force it out" he thought "Feraligatr! Ice punch! Knock it out!"
"Thunder punch!" Sonic instructed.
The two pokemon at first repeated their punches colliding before Feraligatr went for another punch with its left hand. Raichu was taken by surprise, the attack connecting because of it.
Sonic rubbed his right cheek which was burning from the punch.
"This is how it's going to be? Raichu! A flurry of thunder punches!"
"Eye for an eye! Feraligatr a flurry of ice punches!"
The two pokemon began trading blows with incredible speed and horrifying ferocity. Each punch that landed felt like the receiver had attempted to kiss the express train. And yet with each such punch, the desire to push on increased.
"Get them Feraligatr! Show them who we are!"
"We have not come this far to lose so easily Raichu! You got this!"
The whole stadium was in total awe. This was truly a marvelous fight.
It was like the spectators or the referee weren't even there.
The two trainer and pokemon fighting were the only ones there in the moment.
Feraligatr punched Raichu one more time, causing both it and Sonic to kneel.
"Now to finish this! Feraligatr! Get in the water and use waterfall!"
"Not even Entei could stop that attack!" Knuckles spoke to the others with widened eyes.
"He can't lose like this!" Ash gripped the seat in front of him anxiously.
Feraligatr jumped into the water. The attack was launched, like a huge wave heading for Raichu.
Lightning crackled on Raichu's tail.
"Huh?" Silver managed to hum for a moment.
Thunder crashed on Sonic and Raichu for a moment before instantly converging and becoming a singular thunderbolt uniting them.
"What the hell?!" Silver stumbled back as Feraligatr was heading for Raichu mid-air.
For a fleeting moment Tails saw through the glow of the thunderbolt. He managed to get a glimpse of Sonic's outline. But it was different.
There was no greenish glow from the mix of the yellow of the lightning and Sonic's blue. Only a golden glow.
And his quills. They were pointing upward.
Sonic's silhouette made a gesture as if he was ordering an attack.
Thunderbolt was launched against Feraligatr while at the same time it was stopped mid air for a moment before being launched back, the thunderbolt colliding just as Feraligatr crashed on the shallow waters.
The result was both apparent and shocking. Literally.
When the attack stopped, the thunderbolt dissipated and Sonic stood strong albeit clearly drained of energy, same as Raichu. Feraligatr had fainted.
A few seconds of silence ran by with no one making a sound, everyone trying to process what happened.
Eventually the referee snapped out of it.
"Feraligatr is unable to battle! Raichu wins! The winner of the first semifinal round is Sonic the hedgehog!"
Cheers erupted as Sonic raised his tighened fist high in the air despite the exhaustion.
Raichu rushed to his side, despite its own injuries.
"We did it partner" Sonic said as they hugged.
Upon leaving the arena, Sonic was joined by his two friends, Jet and Jasmine who helped him back to his seat as Tails examined him as best he could.
"Man… the fight took a serious toll on you. Any more and you could have collapsed then and there".
"Well thankfully we didn't" Sonic smirked as Jasmine hugged him tightly.
He then remembered Silver was nowhere to be found.
"Wait. Have you guys seen Silver?"
"I think he was leaving" Cosmo informed them.
"Get me to him please. I don't think I'm in much shape to catch up".
Tails nodded and took off, holding Sonic by the arms.
The two flew over the town for a few minutes before finally spotting Silver who was already at the outskirts.
"Silver wait" Sonic called out to him as they landed.
Silver turned around, a look of apathy on his face.
"Have you come to gloat?"
"No. I came to thank you".
"Thank me? For what?"
"For the good fight. You lived up to your word and I respect that".
Silver scowled.
"Don't patronize me hero of Kanto. I lost. I failed myself".
"No you didn't" Sonic insisted "you proved yourself today. You proved you are strong and you're not… him".
Silver was annoyed that Sonic was playing on that heart string.
"I lost just like he did. So quit your sugar coating. You prevailed. That's all there is to it".
"But you have done something he didn't. You didn't abandon your pokemon. You walked this path with them. Hell you have a Crobat, a pokemon that requires love to evolve. And your Feraligatr… you said during the battle that it would show me and Raichu who you both are. Plural. This already proves you are not Giovanni Silver. In just a few months, your Feraligatr became a force to be reckoned with. It almost swept my team man".
Silver held Feraligatr's pokeball in hand, looking at it with a mix of emotions.
"You lost our battle Silver. But you won the battle with yourself. And that makes you one of the strongest trainers I know".
Silver cracked a very faint smile.
"You have a taste for trying to push others forward don't you?"
Sonic also smirked.
"What can I say? Good influence shows" he said as he looked towards Tails and the stadium.
Silver closed his eyes, his back turned towards Sonic at this point.
"We're not friends just so you know. But you're alright. Sonic the hedgehog".
Sonic nodded.
"We'll battle again one day. Be ready for it".
"We will" Silver said as he left, doing a thumbs up gesture as he walked away.
Sonic and Tails watched him leave.
"Redeeming your archnemesis' son. Not something I imagined would come out of today".
"He was lost in his rage. But just because someone stumbles and loses their way in darkness, doesn't mean they're lost forever. Sometimes all they need is a little help and a little understanding".
Tails jabbed Sonic which hurt because of his exhaustion.
"Ouch".
"Sorry. Just when did you become so wisecracking?" Tails joked.
"Hehe. Let's go back to the stadium. The others will be waiting".
"Hope Knuckles' match with Ash hasn't started yet".
"Oh this we got to see" Sonic eagerly said as they soared back towards the stadium, eager to find out who would be Sonic's opponent in the finals.