John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon-Z
Euphie - Sylveon
Ornstein - Obstagoon
Wraith - H-Zoroark
Winston - Lickilicky (Shiny)
The New Normal – 14-5 – The Gauntlet
So many things had happened in the last few months after Team Galactic was taken care of.
Like I had hoped, there was a return to normalcy, which was the perfect opportunity for me to start working on my more ambitious plans once again. So even though things were peaceful, I was actually swamped with work, of my own accord, because of how many things I was juggling at once.
Starting from the most important of these was the new transport system that was currently being built up in all three regions. It was something that Will and I ended up working together on, as we both realised how much of a boon that would be for our regions – even if there was a huge upfront cost. The economical and commercial benefits would be massive, hence why our idea had gained a lot of traction politically.
However, even with the assistance of Pokémon, building a train system that stretched out that far would take years. Furthermore, there was a whole set of other logistical issues that accompanied such a project, such as ensuring the security of the train guards, protecting the whole structure from wild Pokémon, and having service stations set up so that any faults could be quickly fixed.
Therefore, even with approval, it still wouldn't be completed for a while, and it was going to be a very costly endeavour that I was sure was causing a lot of headaches for many administrators and engineers (though not me, since I scrubbed my hands of the matter after proposing it). But it was clear that it was something everyone wanted done. Air travel was also considered as an alternative.
But once we had some kind of reliable transport system set up, it would just make things so much easier for literally everyone.
Will had told me that part of the reason he wanted to push for this was because it would only further solidify his Goldenrod City as being the commercial hub of Johto. If his city was subsequently connected to both Hoenn and Sinnoh as well, then it'd be all the more prosperous.
In the midst of all that, I didn't realise that my sister had gotten into a battle for her own honour. It was definitely surprising to hear about, and I was pretty furious when I heard that she had been insulted, but after hearing of the outcome I quickly calmed down. After videos of that battle were spread online, she had certainly shown her critics why insulting her like that was such a bad idea.
The battle was a stomp, with her Miltank thoroughly pummelling her opponent's Pokémon into the ground. I was proud of her for that.
Additionally, on other personal matters, I had been keeping track of Daisy's journey through the Indigo Circuit – as was my duty as her unofficial 'mentor'. Slightly unfortunately, she was not able to replicate my sister's own feats at defeating every Gym in the first go. She ended up losing her first attempt against Erika, due to the Poison types.
However, she insisted she didn't need any advice from me and managed to clear through that small roadblock on the second attempt. Now, after a string of successes with the next Gyms, she was currently waiting for her rematch against Dorothy, who she had also lost once to. But after I had helped her with some advice, I was confident she would be successful in her rematch.
In the meanwhile, I knew that Karen had spent a lot of time focusing on Lavender Town, where the new Radio Tower was now up and running. The 'Kanto Radio Tower', as it was now called, with its traditional and cultural-centric broadcasts, had rapidly garnered interest amongst the populace.
Furthermore, there had been a slew of additional renovations and improvements for the Lavender Gym. Dorothy had decided to play up the 'haunted house' theme for the Ghost Type Gym. From what Karen told me, it seemed to have been successful.
On the topic of successes, Cynthia had also made some waves in Sinnoh, earning back some of that goodwill that she had lost, where she decided to develop that small sub-region to the north east of Sinnoh that would later be known as the Battle Zone in canon. Previously, the only interesting thing in the area was Stark Mountain, and everything else was mostly left to their own devices, much like how the Sevii Islands were before development began on it.
However, she had proposed a huge construction project where she would be turning the area around Stark Mountain into a Battle Zone – creating a place that would be the home of her newly proposed Battle Frontier. Much like the games, the Battle Frontier was intended to be the gathering point for experienced trainers to test their skills against each other, while also offering unique challenges through its different battle facilities.
I hoped that her Battle Frontier would be as successful and as popular as it was in the games. I had also given her my own suggestions, including adding in a points system to allow successful trainers to convert their wins for certain prizes. She took my comments under advisement, but told me that she already had a pretty clear vision on what she wanted to do.
Yet, despite all of this politicking and region building, the first and foremost purpose of an Elite Four is to be a symbol of strength for the region. Subsequently, now that we were more than halfway through the Circuit, Lance had informed us of his idea to host a small tournament for the Indigo Elite Four to allow Ace Trainers an opportunity to challenge us, even if they hadn't won the Indigo Conference yet.
It was a one-time thing that was meant to capitalise on the large PR win that Koga and I had for participating in the Day of Calamity in Sinnoh, and to ease up on the public pressure that the both of us were getting from overeager trainers desperately trying to request a battle against us.
Though I suspected that the real reason was to serve as a fundraiser for the League, given that we had so many expensive projects in the pipeline.
However, we soon realised that adopting the usual tournament format wouldn't really work out due to just how many trainers wanted to challenge us. So instead, after some discussion, we revamped the entire idea into a gauntlet run. Lance also was 'given permission' to participate.
Or in other words, he basically ignored the protests of his advisors and decided to participate anyways.
Basically, instead of a usual tournament where we weeded out potential challengers until the best amongst them got to challenge us, we would allow anyone to challenge us in an unending series of 1v1 battles which would keep going until our six chosen Pokémon were knocked out. Therefore, everyone got a chance to battle us, and it would be a test of our Pokémon's strength, endurance, and stamina.
Obviously, we all understood that your average Ace Trainer would not really be much of an opponent for us. However, by pitting us against an endless stream of trainers, it would not be a matter of if they could defeat us, but rather when we would be defeated.
It didn't matter how strong your Pokémon was. They all tired eventually.
With that in mind, we refined the idea further, adding in small prizes for being the one to successfully defeat one of our Pokémon. That added an element of strategy for the Ace Trainers – if they wanted to claim the prize, then they would have to be the one to deal the knockout blow. But since they could only use one Pokémon, they would ideally have to try to time their battles to take advantage of when our Pokémon are most exhausted to secure a knockout. Yet they also couldn't come in too late, or else someone else would take the prize and glory.
We all liked the idea enough, and it was determined that the 'Elite Four Gauntlet', as it was called, was going to be hosted at the partially rebuilt Cinnabar Island – as a way of showing the public that the Island had indeed been gradually returned to its former splendour.
Or hopefully, even more than that.
"Feels like it's been an eon since I've stepped foot on the Island." Karen muttered as us four Elite Four members sat together in the newly built arena at the Cinnabar Islands. It was a grand thing, almost as large as the one on the Indigo Plateau, and was able to host thousands of spectators.
The thing was, it was clear that the Cinnabar council prioritised the building of the stadium over almost everything else. I heavily questioned the rationale behind such a decision, but soon figured that this was likely just a play by the local council of Cinnabar to eventually have the Gym be relocated back here. They probably wanted to show off that since there was now a perfectly suitable stadium to make use of, therefore they were eligible to have their own Gym back.
Though I didn't think that Agatha would relinquish her hold of her new Gym anytime soon, nor would Karen allow it. Perhaps if another Kanto Gym failed, then perhaps Cinnabar Island would be able to regain its Gym.
However, it did feel weird that this giant arena was among one of the first things that the Cinnabar council decided to build when much of the city was still being reconstructed. It felt like they had decided to focus on regaining their lost prestige first rather than anything else.
I shook myself from my thoughts as I replied to Karen, "Eh. There was little reason to with everything still being under construction. Honestly, Lance invited me over once to sit in on one of the planning committees for the rebuilding process, but I didn't know why I was even there. I certainly didn't know anything about how to organise a city to limit the damage from a potential eruption."
"At least they have clearly made the effort to do so." Koga nodded, "It is obvious that the city has been built with safety as its core concern." He gestured to the enormous walls that were being constructed around the Cinnabar Volcano, "If nothing else, I am sure that the ex-residents would at least feel that it is safe to return to their former homes."
"I heard that the monitoring systems were really expensive, amongst all the other protective measures that they've included." Lorelei added, "I doubt they'd be able to afford everything if Lance hadn't granted them a loan on behalf of the League."
"It'll be worth it." Karen said, "Cinnabar has a lot of potential once it's redeveloped. The League will make its money back."
"I hope that they do preserve some of the destroyed remnants from the eruption to serve as a memorial." Koga said, "It will be a good reminder for the people about why such extensive protective measures were put in place, and to not forget the importance of memorising the evacuation procedures. All the protection will be useless if you have people running around in a blind panic when another eruption comes."
The sound of a man's footsteps could be heard before another voice spoke out, "And hear I thought you all would be talking about the gauntlet ahead of you." Lance chuckled, "But of course, I find you all four of you talking about the Island instead."
I shrugged, "It's more interesting. It's not like we'd be nervous for something like this." My colleagues nodded alongside me.
Lance raised an eyebrow, "You say that, but I thought there'd be a competition among you for who will defeat the most challengers."
Now that was an idea.
I deliberately shrugged as casually as I could, "Well that's easy. It's obviously going to be me. There's no chance your Pokémon can match mine with their stamina and endurance."
I was being intentionally boastful just to stoke the flames. And it worked.
"Woah, calm down there with your big head." Karen whacked me lightly on the shoulder, "I think I'm going to have to disagree with your analysis. Most of your Pokémon are bruisers who like to get in close. Even if they'll beat up a few opponents, they'll get worn down quickly by having to always exert their strength. And you won't be able to heal them either since we can't switch out."
"We've worked on our stamina quite a bit too." I remarked, "Besides, you rely too much on Taunts anyways. Eventually someone's going to catch on and you're going to find yourself cornered and overpowered."
"And yet it is not about how long you last, it is about how many Pokémon our six can defeat." Koga spoke up, "My Pokémon may not be able to match yours in stamina, but I believe they will be able to secure enough knockouts for that not to matter."
"A forest of frozen statues will remain in my Pokémon's wake – I promise you." Lorelei added, "You will find yourself eating those words soon enough, John."
It was then that Lance let out a large laugh, "I think you're all forgetting about the Dragon in the room. My Dragons will easily be the victors in this competition. You may as well all prostrate yourselves before me now and accept your defeat."
Even though it was all said in jest, no one could deny the burning competitive spirit in the room. Even if it was for fun, we were all far too competitive to allow ourselves to 'lose' this challenge. At the end of the day, even if it didn't really mean anything since the Ace Trainers we would be fighting against all had different levels of strength, we all wanted to be the one with the most knockouts.
As there was five of us here, and six Pokémon each, it was decided that we would have to take turns since there wouldn't be enough space for all of us to fit at once. After some truly intense games of rock-paper-scissors, I ended up being the first to go. Therefore, I'd be setting the score for my fellow Elite Four members and Champion to beat.
Looking around, there was a truly massive crowd of people that had come to watch our battle today. Many were Ace trainers that were looking to be participants, but many more were merely spectators that had come just to see who were the trainers who would 'beat' an Elite Four/Champion's Pokémon. Or perhaps they were just here to see us in action once again.
As I took up my position on one end of the battlefield, I saw that an utterly enormous line of trainers began to form on the other side of the stadium – all of them waiting their turn to fight me and my colleagues.
It really put into perspective just how popular we were.
Nevertheless, I had already planned out in advance which of my Pokémon I was going to use in this gauntlet. Sufficed to say, any of my 'support' Pokémon would not be used – they simply didn't have the firepower necessary to secure consecutive knockouts.
Therefore, the six Pokémon I had chosen to use would be: Tyrant, Vordt, Smough, Klaus, Winston, and Pixel. Admittedly, the choice to bring out Winston over my more experienced Pokémon may seem odd, considering he wasn't nearly as strong as the others, but there were three main reasons I chose him.
One, this was an excellent way for him to earn battle experience against Pokémon that he didn't normally fight against, since I mostly trained against Karen during my spare time. Secondly, since Pokémon were able to maintain their buffs so long as they weren't switched out or knocked out, I had a strategy in mind where I could set up with an early Belly Drum and then keep that maximized attack against every opponent until Winston fell.
Lastly, I really just wanted to show off just how much stronger he got after the past few months of training.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WHAT A MARVELLOUS OPPORTUNITY THAT WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TODAY! OUR VERY OWN ELITE FOUR AND CHAMPION WILL BE FACING OFF AGAINST AN UNENDING GAUNTLET OF HOPEFUL ACE TRAINERS, WHO I'M SURE ARE ALL CHOMPING AT THE BIT TO BE THE ONES TO TAKE DOWN ONE OF THEIR SIX POKÉMON!"
"REMEMBER, PARTICIPATION IS OPEN TO ALL! SO IF YOU'RE AN ACE TRAINER, THEN WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO TEST YOURSELF AGAINST THE VERY BEST OF THE INDIGO LEAGUE?! MAYBE YOU'LL BE THE ONE TO BRING THEM DOWN YOURSELF!"
"EITHER WAY, I WON'T WASTE ANY MORE OF YOUR TIME, FOR WE HAVE A LOT OF BATTLES TO GO THROUGH TODAY! SO FIRST UP, WE HAVE OUR VERY OWN ELITE JOHN – THE AWAKENER OF LEGENDARIES HIMSELF! WHO WILL BE THE ONES TO BRING DOWN HIS POWERFUL ROSTER OF NORMAL TYPES?!"
I frowned as I heard my new unofficial title. I didn't mind it too much, but I'd rather be known for something else.
"LET'S FIND OUT RIGHT NOW! SEND OUT THE FIRST TRAINER!"
The first Ace Trainer stepped up to me nervously, though his eyes betrayed just how awe-struck he was. That nervousness never really left him as he sent out his first Pokémon.
"Come out, Machamp."
"Go, Pixel."
I wasn't surprised that he sent out a Fighting Type. Unfortunately, unlike with Koga and Lorelei, I didn't really have any Pokémon that could set up something that would benefit my other Pokémon without needing to switch. For example, Koga could set up Toxic Spikes that would linger on the battlefield until they were removed, while Lorelei could set up the Snow.
But my Normal types didn't have such moves to make use of – meaning that it didn't really matter which Pokémon I started off with.
"Conversion – Fairy! Then blast it!"
Wanting to really show off the fruits of Pixel's training, I had Pixel immediately switch its type to Fairy, before firing off a Fairy type Tri-Attack that instantly interrupted Machamp's reckless charge.
My opponent shot me a look of confusion, not understanding just why the Tri-Attack was so effective against his Machamp. I kept my smirk hidden; not wanting to reveal that Pixel had successfully managed to manipulate its Tri-Attack to match its current Type as I had trained it to.
It was a lot of hard work, but it was absolutely worth it. Pixel would now always have a supereffective move that it could bring to bear against any opponent.
The opposing Machamp then tried for an Earthquake, but a swift Magnet Rise quickly nullified any damage that Pixel would have taken before it started blasting Machamp with an unending barrage of Tri-Attacks. The Rock Slide that Machamp threw out defensively was ripped through, providing no protection for Machamp to hide behind – giving Machamp no other options but to dodge.
The Machamp dove to the side, desperately trying to scramble out of the way. It didn't matter, as a Psychic managed to slam into its chest and sending him careening backwards before a Moonblast finished it off.
The crowd went silent for a brief moment as they were stunned by the very quick defeat of an Ace Trainer – who were normally seen as just being one step below your average Gym Leader, and two steps below an Elite Four. And yet I had blown through him like it was nothing; not even breaking a sweat.
My Pokémon had grown to be that far ahead of them in strength. Which sent a message to the challengers to come.
For them, winning would be a miracle.
Seeing what happened to his predecessor, my next opponent looked even more hesitant as she stepped up to face me. She didn't have a trace of confidence in her expression as she sent out her Scizor. It rushed forwards with a Bullet Punch, flying quickly through the air.
Pixel swapped to Fire and fired off a Tri-Attack. Scizor dodged, but a Protect shield from Pixel blocked its Bullet Punch before a surprise Gravity sent it crashing to the ground.
This time, it couldn't dodge. And it was completely immolated by another Fire Tri-Attack. A second one made sure it stayed down for good.
After that came a Kingdra. It landed a glancing blow with a Hydro Pump, only for Pixel to hit back even harder with a critical Fairy type Tri-Attack. Kingdra tried to duel my Pixel with its Special Attacks, but it quickly found out that it most certainly did not win such a battle. So after only a few exchanges, Kingdra fell too.
And then the next challenger came up, with the cycle of defeat repeating itself over and over again.
Pixel left a mound of bodies in its wake. Challenger after challenger fell to its overwhelming might. Any injuries that Pixel may have sustained was quickly healed up with a Recover, ensuring that it was always topped up for the next battle.
With its constant ability to heal itself, Pixel was able to sweep through what felt like dozens of challengers, to the point where some challengers were even feeling demoralised the moment they realised they were going to be next to face off against Pixel.
However, even with such a domineering performance, Pixel inevitably grew tired. Even using Recover wasn't able to make up for the growing exhaustion that it felt. Therefore, Pixel began to slow down, its attacks began to weaken, and it gradually lost a lot of its once-enormous firepower.
Eventually, Pixel's fatigue became too much for it to sustain, and it finally fell to an opposing Heracross, who managed to avoid a very lethargic Psychic and take down Pixel with a well-placed Close Combat.
Seeing Pixel finally fall, and ignoring the loud celebrations of the crowd and the trainer that took Pixel down, I went to take a brief look at the Ace Trainers who were still lining up to face me. I had expected that line to be cut down by a huge amount, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
If anything, it looked like the line actually grew longer, because I saw that it now extended all the way back up to where the seating areas were.
Fuck. And here I was hoping that I could pull off something really cheeky and defeat so many Ace Trainers that there wouldn't be enough to face me down. That would have been quite embarrassing for the event in general, but not for me.
Oh well. I had five more Pokémon to go, and I was going to make sure I would take down as many as we could before we went down.
I stared down my opponent as I withdrew Pixel. He grinned back at me, surging with renewed confidence now that he had taken down one of my Pokémon.
I was going to wipe that smile off his face.
"John's really setting quite the high score." One of the analysts commentated, "How many trainers has he gone through now?"
"I've lost count!" His partner added, "Don't know why we thought that he would slow down after his Porygon-Z went down. Clearly that's not been the case!"
"Can't believe we forgot about his shiny Lickilicky too! I think the last time we really saw it in a public fight like this was when John used it against the new Gym Leader Dorothy – and it was definitely not this strong!"
"Well that's because he's set up with a fully Belly Drum. Just look at it go!"
"Nah, it's way more than just that. With the way it's rolling around like that, doesn't it remind you of his sister's Miltank? It's surprisingly agile!"
"Indeed! Look at that mobility! No wonder his sister's so good with Rollout. It must really roll in the family, hah!"
"Think we'll be seeing more trainers make use of such a move?"
"Most definitely! I used to think Rollout was a weak move, but now I see that it's able to boost a Pokémon's mobility to incredible heights! And it can also be a very powerful attack!"
"…Ooooh and on that note it looks like another challenger has been knocked out! Wow, will his Lickilicky be able to surpass Pixel's record!?"
"And Lickilicky finally goes down! Not quite managing to take out as much as Porygon-Z did — but it looks like John's not giving his opponent any opportunity to breathe as he sends out his Pokémon, his famed Wyrdeer… and oh! They've already secured their first knockout with a powerful Psychic!"
"My word. It's extraordinary to think that the gap in strength between your standard Ace Trainer and an Elite Four like John could be so huge."
"Well that could just be John being John. Don't forget that the man has somehow managed to survive an encounter against a full-on Legendary. Obviously his Pokémon aren't going to be easy to defeat!"
"…Wait, what is that large psychic field that the Wyrdeer just set up?"
"I don't know, but it looks like some kind of psychic terrain to me. Does it increase the damage from Psychic type attacks?"
"…OH! That's a BIG HIT! That Poliwrath just ran straight into that Future Sight trap. And John's Wyrdeer managed to Teleport out of that Dynamic Punch – it's just too mobile for that Fighting type to hit!"
"Mhm. He's really trained up that Psychic type really well, hasn't he? It's almost like he's a Psychic specialist with how quickly his Wyrdeer is able to Teleport around… and that's another knockout! A fine Zen Headbutt to finish the fight…"
It took almost the entirety of the morning, but eventually they managed to bring down all but one of my Pokémon.
Tyrant was my only remaining Pokémon, but what a Pokémon he was.
I don't even remember how many Ace Trainers it took before they managed to take down Vordt, and he wasn't even the strongest of my Pokémon. Now Tyrant was on the field, having already established his complete and utter dominance by thoroughly thrashing a Dodrio and burying it into the ground with absolutely no opportunity to retaliate.
Honestly, by this point, I was actually getting a little tired myself. Though I hadn't done any of the actual fighting, I had spent the past few hours constantly commanding my Pokémon to the best of my ability, and it had worn through my mental stamina. The Ace Trainers that I fought against had long become nothing more than faceless beings that I quickly shuffled through.
So when the next person stepped up to the plate, I didn't even bother sparing them a glance as I got ready for the next fight.
That was, until I heard a very familiar voice call out.
"Aren't you going to say anything, bro."
My head snapped up so quickly that I almost gave myself whiplash. My eyes widened like saucers as I saw my sister standing there opposite me, before all of my tiredness instantly left me as a smile broke out on my face.
"Hello, sis. I didn't know you would be here today."
"I was given the morning off." She replied, "And I was waiting for an opportunity to challenge you at your best. I kept letting others go first until you were just down to just Tyrant."
"I see." I nodded, "So, are you trying to test how far your Miltank can go? I know you've trained her up very well."
"I'm confident she'll be able to give Tyrant a good beating." She grinned, "Let me show you!"
"Go, Miltank!"
Her Miltank came charging out in her signature Rollout, and the battle began. I deliberately held off from giving Tyrant any commands, allowing Miltank to slam a hard hitting Brick Break right into Tyrant's face.
"Counter!"
However, that was the only free hit she was going to get, as Tyrant then glowed a deadly orange as he converted all of that damage and supercharged his next attack, throwing out a lightning fast and devastatingly destructive punch that drove deep into Miltank's stomach.
Miltank was launched backwards by the blow; the attack was too powerful for her to block.
I gave Whitney a look – warning her to not try that again. Against most of the opponents that she would face, having Miltank try to pummel an opponent after slamming into them with a Rollout would be pretty effective. Her Miltank hit hard enough to force an immediate response or risk getting knocked out.
However, she had forgotten that against a superior brawler like Tyrant, that method wouldn't work. Simply put, there was no chance that Miltank could out-brawl Tyrant, and therefore she needed to try something else. If she wanted to make this a good fight, then she was going to have to rely on her other arsenal of moves.
She met my stare with a short nod, and changed up her tactics.
"Belly Drum, Miltank!"
I nodded at her choice, while also acknowledging that she must have intentionally trained up Miltank to learn Belly Drum since Miltank did not naturally learn the move. Still, I didn't make things too easy for her and had Tyrant fire off a volley of Thunderbolts to punish the attempt before also charging forwards with a Brick Break.
As I expected, thanks to her impressive Special Defenses, Miltank practically shrugged off the Thunderbolts like they were nothing. Not only that, but her Belly Drum completed quickly enough that Miltank was able to Rollout away before Tyrant could connect with his Brick Break.
Miltank rolled around to the side before rushing towards my starter once more. Thinking that she was going to go for another direct hit, I had Tyrant prepare a Counter. My starter crossed his arms together as he moved to a defensive stance, getting ready to unleash a devastating counterattack that would have undoubtedly brought down Miltank.
However, I caught a glimpse of pink light glowing out from Miltank. Before I could figure out what that was, Miltank crashed into Tyrant — but the signature flare of a Counter didn't light up.
To my complete surprise, Tyrant actually reeled back from the blow, before Miltank followed up with a crushingly powerful uppercut to his jaw and delivered a brutal, maxed-out Hammer Arm to the face that sent Tyrant flying backwards.
I had absolutely no idea how Whitney managed to circumvent Tyrant's Counter, but that was a problem for later. Instead, I forced myself out of my surprise and immediately ordered Tyrant to keep his distance and start harassing Miltank down at a distance with his Special Attacks.
Seeing this, Miltank immediately returned to her signature Rollout and began to dodge and roll past the incoming barrage of Ice Beams, Thunderbolts, and Psychics. She did so magnificently, and she managed to close the distance once again and was about to slam into Tyrant with another fully-powered Rollout.
I spotted the same pink glow from Miltank just before she crashed into Tyrant, and I acted on my gut instinct.
"SUCKER PUNCH, TYRANT! THEN COUNTER!"
Tyrant struck first, snaking out with a Dark-infused fist and striking Miltank before it could slam down with her Rollout. The Dark energies managed to disrupt whatever Psychic attack it was building up, and Tyrant immediately reformed his Counter.
This time, the moment Miltank struck with her Rollout, Tyrant's Counter activated. And he briefly burned with a blindingly orange light as he converted all of that damage into an earth-shattering Giga Impact.
A loud, deafening BOOM echoed throughout the arena, nearly obliterating the psychic shields from the shockwaves alone.
Sadly for Whitney, that attack proved far too much for her starter, and her Miltank did not get up from such an apocalyptic attack. But she knew there was no shame in that; it was a blow that only a Champion's Pokémon could realistically survive.
Therefore, despite her defeat, she didn't look bothered. Rather, she was shooting me quite the smug look.
"Were you surprised just now?" She grinned at me as she returned her now fallen Miltank back into her Pokéball, "That your Counter didn't work?"
"…I was. What was that?" I asked, "Why didn't your attack trigger it? It must have had to do with whatever Psychic trick you did."
She nodded, "Yep! It's a move I developed with Sabie! I wanted a way to get around tough physical brawlers like your Tyrant, and Sabie wanted her Psychic types to be able to reliably knock out opponents that also had high Special Defense."
"So we came up with a way of switching our Physical Attacks and Special Attacks, making one the other." She explained, "So that strike that Miltank landed on you? It didn't trigger Counter because it was a Special Attack."
...OH! I see! So she and Sabrina basically developed both Psyshock and a physical variant of it. That was pretty cool.
"That's actually a really neat idea." I praised, "Maybe I'll steal it for myself."
She pouted, "Oi! No copying!"
But then she broke out into a smile, "I'm just kidding. I don't mind. I came into this battle intending to test it out against you, after all. Besides, after this battle, I'm sure people will be trying their best to copy what we did anyways."
"And you're okay with that?" I asked.
She shrugged, "Sabie and I are fine with it. We had to show it off one day anyways, and what better way to do so than against you?"
I chuckled, "Sure. If you're fine with it. But again, this move is honestly incredible. Well done, sis."
"Hehehe." She giggled, "No problem bro. I'm just glad I was able to teach you a thing or two too."
"And I look forward to learning more." I nodded, before my smile turned a little nostalgic, "You really have grown, sis. Who thought this day would come so soon."
I patted her on the head, "You deserve to stand proud. From today onwards, I see you as an equal."
A.N. This chapter really fought with me, and I wanted to try out a slightly different style of battling. As much as I would have liked to write out the full gauntlet run, that would have been impossible. Instead, I hope you enjoyed this kind of more summarised style of battling. It won't be what I use for most of my standard battles, but I hope it worked for this chapter.
Also, this chapter was really meant to cement just how much John has grown in strength since the start of the story. Though take his performance in the Gauntlet with a grain of salt – since these are all 1v1s with little tactics involved. If these were your standard 3v3s or 6v6s, then John's Pokémon would not be so dominant. Still, this chapter aimed to show the difference in strength between John and other ace trainers, just to lay the foundation for the events to come.
For example, the Battle Frontier is coming! More about it will be elaborated on later. 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!