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 - Lickitung (Shiny)
The New Normal – 12-12 – Rise of Darkness
While the match was even at 3-3, the momentum had been completely swept out from under Karen's legs with the knockout of her Weavile, which was also her fastest attacker and the best Pokémon to use to catch up with Agatha's agile team of Ghosts.
Karen still looked a bit rattled at her Weavile's unexpected defeat as she fiddled with the Pokéballs on her belt, but after a moment, an expression of calm returned to her face as she prepared her next Pokémon.
I caught Agatha nodding approvingly as she sent out hers.
"Come out, Dusclops!"
"Go, Honchkrow! Lock it down!"
Dusclops emerged and wasted no time as it clapped its ghostly hands together in a Fake Out, sending out a shockwave that threatened to flinch Honchkrow. However, the Dark type swooped gracefully into the air, diving out of the way of the incoming Fake Out as her eyes locked onto Dusclops' as they flashed with a haunting purple and black light.
Dusclops shuddered as it became inflicted with a Mean Look and Taunt. Unsurprisingly, while Mean Look was usually ineffective against Ghost Types, Karen had obviously trained hers up to get around that restriction.
Then, to my surprise, another Taunt was fired off by Honchkrow as she flew in closer towards Dusclops. I was curious as to why – until I took a closer look at Dusclops. In those mere seconds, the effects of the first Taunt had already begun to fade away, with the irrational anger rapidly leaving Dusclops' eyes. Even after it was hit by a second Taunt, the effect looked very muted compared to Taunts that Karen was usually able to inflict on her opponents.
It was as if Dusclops was resistant to the effects of Taunt through Agatha's training. Karen must have known that too, hence why she was constantly reapplying the Taunt.
As Honchkrow got in range of Dusclops, she released a Dark Pulse towards the Ghost type. However, the Dusclops tried to block the attack with its own Dark Pulse, but Karen's one was far more potent and managed to break through.
Dusclops flinched slightly as it was struck by the Dark Pulse, which meant it wasn't able to react in time as Honchkrow came slamming into it with her powerful dark-infused wings, causing the Dusclops to stagger back.
But even as it staggered backwards from the impact, a small spark of electricity still managed to shoot out from Dusclops hands, and it was only due to the pure reaction speeds of Honchkrow that she was able to form a Protect shield to block the incoming Thunder Wave just in time.
The second Taunt had already worn off. How incredible.
Karen grimaced, "Taunt again! And Dark Pulse!"
A menacing grin split Agatha's face, "Gravity. Bring it down, Dusclops."
Honchkrow quickly swooped back around in the air as she fired off another Taunt, only to come crashing down into the ground as Gravity suddenly intensified. Even as the Taunt hit its target, the intensified gravity was still maintained, meaning that Honchkrow was permanently grounded and was deprived of most of its mobility.
Worse, Dusclops was renowned for being one of the bulkiest Ghost types, and Honchkrow was not one of Karen's stronger attackers. By my estimates, it would not have the power to bring it down in a dragged out battle, especially not when it was no longer able to fly.
Karen must have realised the same as well, as a slight frown graced her face for a brief moment before a hand suddenly went to her belt.
"U-Turn, Honchkrow! Switch out!"
Bursting forwards in a black blur of speed, Honchkrow dove underneath a Thunder Punch from Dusclops as she collided into her foe, before bouncing backwards a huge distance and returning to her Pokéball.
Only for Tyranitar to be sent out in her place.
"TYRANITAR!" The humongous beast of a Dark type roared out to the world as it smashed down into the arena, announcing its presence for all to witness. A massive sandstorm followed in its wake, flooding the arena with an ocean of sand.
No, it was more than just sand. The howling sand was as dark as the night, heavily infused with Dark energy. Karen had taken a page out of Sidney's playbook from their previous battle.
The Dark Sandstorm tore into the Dusclops, causing its' lone eye to squint in pain as the dark energies and harsh sand dug into it. As Dusclops tried to settle into the harsh environment that it now found itself in, another Taunt was blasted its way, causing the rage to grow in its eyes once more.
Karen was taking no chances, and once she was sure that the Taunt had settled in, she directed Tyranitar forwards.
The huge lumbering monster charged forwards, tearing through the arena with each step that it took – each footstep shaking the ground as it moved. Dusclops braced itself for the incoming charge and crossed its arms together while a ghostly aura began to surround it, but that did nothing as Tyranitar ploughed straight into it with the entirety of its humongous form.
Dusclops was unceremoniously thrown backwards from the colossal impact, skidding across the ground as it failed to regain its balance. But Tyranitar was far from done, and a gaping chasm began to tear through the ground as Tyranitar unleashed a devastating Earthquake, sending wave after wave of explosive tremors that brought the Ghost type down to its knees.
Only for it to be forcefully propped back up again as huge pillars of rocks erupted from below it, impaling the Ghost type within a field of sharp rocks.
And Dusclops was pinned in place for just long enough for it to be little more than a gift-wrapped present for the fearsome Tyranitar to get close to it and violently smash it back into the ground with a brutally strong Knock Off – the sheer force from the impact easily shattering the ground beneath them.
"CRIPPLE!"
Before going for the coup de grâce, Karen went out of her way to make sure that Agatha could pull no more tricks with her Dusclops – that there wasn't going to be any sudden reversals from her mentor. The bolt of Dark energy engulfed the fallen Ghost type, inflicting with a truly crippling concoction of status conditions as it became Taunted, Tormented, and flinched from a Dark Pulse.
It was only then that Karen signalled for Tyranitar to go for the final blow.
"TYRANITARRRRR!" Her Dark type let out one more bellowing roar before a huge fist came crashing down from above that mercilessly struck the Dusclops right in the head and pummelled the helpless Ghost type further into the crater that had been created with its body.
Impressive defences or not, even a Pokémon as well trained as this Dusclops was completely unable to withstand the overwhelming might and power of Karen's Tyranitar. Once deprived of its status moves, and trapped in the fight with a Mean Look, it had absolutely no chance of surviving the tremendous strength of the pseudo-legendary, and it was promptly taken down.
The battle was now at 4-3.
Yet despite this incredible display of strength and power from Karen, the smile never left Agatha's face, as if she had expected this outcome from the start.
"Finally – a familiar beatdown." Lance muttered, "As much as I can appreciate creative and unique strategies, there's just something pure about a good and honest beatdown. A display of strength was just what we needed from all these tricks."
"Not everyone has Dragons like you do." Lorelei rolled her eyes, "How else did you expect a Dark and Ghost specialist to fight?"
"Hmph." Lance scoffed, but he didn't deign Lorelei's words with a response as he blatantly changed the topic, "Glad to see that Karen knows how to keep things simple. At the end of the day, pure strength triumphs over a lot of things. And knowing Agatha's team, she doesn't have anything to match it."
"And if this was any other trainer, I would have agreed with you." Koga corrected, "But this is Agatha. I will not count her out until I see her last Pokémon going down. I'm certain she will have her own tricks to defeat that Tyranitar. Do remember that her Dusclops was somehow resistant to the effects of Taunt, covering a common weakness of defensive Pokémon."
"I've tried to replicate that before with my Psychic types." Lucian admitted, "Never found it to be possible, and I gave up after months of training. I could never get my Pokémon to properly resist Taunt, and just decided that other things were more worth my time. I wonder how Agatha did it."
"Knowing her, she'd take the secret to her grave." I joked, "Though I suspect that she just managed it with a lot of hard work. For all her vitriol and her perceived laziness, Agatha's been here the longest out of all of us."
"Her years in the Elite Four exceed all of us combined." Koga corrected, getting solemn nods from everyone. That was actually crazy to wrap your head around.
Our conversation was cut off as Agatha sent out her next Pokémon, which everyone who was familiar with her team could have already guessed what it was.
"Gengar!"
"Switch out, Tyranitar!"
Moving decisively, as soon as Agatha sent out another one of her Gengar, Karen instantly decided to switch out her Tyranitar. She must not have felt confident about trying to match Gengar's fast speeds with her much slower Tyranitar.
In his place, she sent out her ace – her Houndoom.
Gengar let out a haunting cackle as a huge wall of Shadow Balls was sent forwards, quickly bombarding Houndoom's position. However, Houndoom wasn't going to be brought down from just that, and she fended the incoming Shadow Balls off with repeated Dark Pulses as she rapidly charged towards her target – with her fangs oozing threateningly with dark energies.
But Gengar was unperturbed, letting out a sly giggle as it casually formed a Protect shield to block the incoming Taunt. Then its body started to flicker wildly before multiple Gengar popped up from nowhere, all of them cackling mockingly as they appeared.
The small army of Ghost types then unexpectedly charged towards Houndoom, meeting the Dark type head on.
"Dark Pulse, Houndoom! Clear them out!"
Unable to decipher which was the real one, a massive Dark Pulse shattered through many of the fakes, disintegrating any in her wake. However, to my surprise, the fake Gengar didn't just disappear. Instead, as they were destroyed, they released a bolt of shadowy energy that shot straight towards Houndoom, like an army of vengeful spirits throwing themselves at their target.
Taken by surprise, Houndoom let out a pained grunt as it was bombarded by these spectral bolts, but that grunt turned into a pained howl as the real Gengar unexpectedly rushed forwards and bashed Houndoom with a shadowy fist, smashing Houndoom's snout into the ground. Before Houndoom could recover, Gengar swiftly retreated while firing off a Focus Blast, interrupting any attempt to retaliate as Houndoom was forced to throw up a Protect shield to block the supereffective attack.
I had never seen a Gengar fighting at close range like that before.
Enraged from being beat down by a Gengar of all things, Houndoom used her rage to stoke her flames, causing a plume of pure black flames to burst out from her neck and tail – forming a collar of flames that wreathed around her neck.
"DOOM!" With a roar, the flames blazed outwards, flooding the arena in a tide of searing flames as they burned away all of the shadows. In response, Gengar leaped over the flames as it floated in the air, only to immediately be struck by a quick Taunt from Houndoom.
"NOW! CRUNCH IT!"
Sensing the opportunity, Houndoom rocketed forwards into the air, leaving a trail of burning flames behind her as she tanked through the instinctual Shadow Ball that came out from Gengar before clamping down hard on the Ghost type with her serrated teeth, landing a devastating Crunch. Taking advantage of the slight flinch from Gengar, she followed up with an explosive point-blank Dark Pulse that blasted Gengar down – and straight into the waiting flames below.
But just like its fellow Banette, Gengar merely let out a haunting laugh even as the scorching flames burned its body. The pain merely amused it.
Gengar then exploded with a burst of shadow, dispersing the nearby flames for long enough so that a shadowy portal could form underneath it. Houndoom released a Snarl as she rushed down to stop it from escaping, but Gengar proved too quick as it sunk into the shadows before Houndoom reached her target.
"Don't let it get away, Houndoom! Pursuit!"
But as Gengar appeared only a short distance away, Houndoom rapidly pivoted from where she landed and leapt again towards her target; her powerful legs clearing the short distance in an instant as she rushed down her target and slammed into it with a devastating Pursuit. An audible cackle could be heard as Houndoom proceeded to Crunch down hard on the Gengar.
…Wait, cackle?
I sat up straight as I concentrated on the shadowy figure held in Houndoom's jaws. My eyes immediately widened as I saw that the figure had no eyes or mouth.
It was a fake! Agatha had clearly taken some notes from Wraith.
Then the ghostly figure exploded, sending a devastating wave of shadowy force in all directions. Houndoom was forced to take the brunt of the impact, letting out a pained howl as she skidded back from the sheer power of the spectral detonation. As she was distracted, the REAL Gengar appeared to her side and ruthlessly blasted her with a quick barrage of Focus Blasts.
"ALL OUT, HOUNDOOM!"
Instantly reacting to her trainer's commands, an enormous eruption of black flames flared out from Houndoom in an outburst of raw power, melting the Focus Blasts away before they could hit its target. Despite her wounds, Houndoom was now thoroughly enraged by the deception, and she let out a menacing roar as she sent forth a scorching wave of black flames that she rapidly charged alongside with.
The flames were as dark as midnight, symbolising just how completely infused with Dark energies they were.
Houndoom proceeded to mercilessly crash straight into Gengar like a flaming meteor, burning and searing the Ghost type with an enormous explosion of black fire. But instead of the knockout that everyone was expecting, Gengar's figure once again exploded into a burst of spectral energy – it had been another fake!
However, the real Gengar was close by. And with a grin on her face, Agatha dared Karen to go for the knockout.
"Destiny Bond."
"IGNORE IT AND END IT, HOUNDOOM!"
Yet Karen was done with Agatha's tricks, and so was her ace. Maintaining full trust in her trainer, Houndoom allowed momentum to carry herself forwards as she pushed past all her injuries and vengefully slammed into the real Gengar, not allowing herself to be deterred by the Destiny Bond. There was a brief look of surprise on Gengar's face before that was quickly wiped off as Houndoom Crunched down hard as she unleashed all of her pent-up rage and frustration with that single bite.
The Gengar was finally silenced. And so was Houndoom, as the Destiny Bond brought her down alongside it. Admittedly, even if she hadn't, Houndoom was so injured already that she probably would have succumbed to her injuries anyways.
With the knockout of her Gengar, Agatha seemed as surprised as her Pokémon was.
"I didn't think you would make the trade." She admitted as the arena was quickly being repaired from all the damage that had been done to it, "I wanted you to back off and hesitate when you saw the Destiny Bond."
"And if I did, your Gengar would have gotten away." Karen shook her head, "I couldn't risk that. You taught me to not hesitate in situations like this – I was just applying what I had learnt."
"I didn't teach you to be cheeky." Agatha countered.
"No, I learnt that by copying you." Karen fired back.
"Hmph." She didn't deign to give that a response, "Very well then. You've brought me down to my last. I hope you're ready for it."
Karen tensed briefly at her mentor's words, but eventually settled down with a determined expression, "I will win."
Agatha nodded approvingly, but the two of them said nothing else as they waited patiently for the arena to be repaired, which had been completely scorched black and even melted in some areas by Karen's Houndoom.
Once it was, Agatha released her final and most powerful Pokémon.
"Gengar, serve as the final test. Our apprentice thinks she's ready."
"Once again, Tyranitar!"
And so, Agatha's final Gengar made its appearance on the battlefield, giggling eerily as it did so. The ground around it, which still contained a few lingering embers from Houndom's previous attacks, were immediately snuffed out by the large circle of shadows that spread out from the Gengar.
The shadows consumed all in their pitch-black maw, and even watching it through the cameras, I felt the unsettling aura of terror radiating out from Agatha's starter. It might be a lot less physically intimidating than the massive Tyranitar, but make no mistake – it was no less terrifying.
But that was enough posturing, and Agatha gave her first command.
"Attack."
Enormous shadowy arms shot out from within the dark circle, wrapping themselves around Tyranitar in a powerful stranglehold.
"Dark Pulse!"
Tyranitar let out a roar as it unleashed a powerful Dark Pulse, but to everyone's surprise, it wasn't enough to break free of the shadowy hold that Gengar had on it. Worse, I could see small orbs of energy that were being drained by the shadowy tendrils, indicating that Gengar was actively draining Tyranitar's health with its suffocating grip on it.
Realising that Gengar's shadowy arms were somehow resistant to Dark type moves, Karen switched tactics.
"Earthquake, Tyranitar!"
Using its massive reserve of strength, Tyranitar struggled through its spectral bonds as it stomped hard on the ground, unleashing a devastating Earthquake. The newly repaired arena was torn apart yet again as a huge fissure split the ground, ripping apart the shadows that were holding it in place and forcing Gengar into the air to avoid being crippled by the Earthquake.
But Agatha's tricks didn't end there. Extending its arms, spectral portals formed on either side of Gengar as it floated into the air, shooting a barrage of Focus Blasts into each one. Those Focus Blasts emerged from within Tyranitar's shadow, blasting it from multiple directions.
Tyranitar was immediately forced onto the defensive, forming Protect shields to block out the incoming attacks. Yet it wasn't enough, and the Focus Blasts were quadruply effective against the Rock/Dark type. Even as much of a defensive monster as a Tyranitar was, it wouldn't be able to endure through that for much longer.
Knowing she could not remain on the defensive, Karen revealed a trump card of her own.
"OUTRAGE! NOW!"
"TYRANITARRR!" Unleashing a primal roar to the skies, Tyranitar exploded with power as a pulsating aura of darkness violently erupted outwards. Tyranitar charged forwards, letting nothing bar its path as it turned into a barrelling monster of destruction. The shadowy tendrils that had once been strong enough to hold it down were now nothing more than twigs to be batted away.
Of course, Gengar wasn't about to sit there and tank the hit, choosing to instead retreat into the shadows as it peppered Tyranitar with a further barrage of Focus Blasts. But Tyranitar wasn't done yet, and it shrugged off the attacks with its rage as it slammed both fists powerfully into the ground, causing enormous pillars of rocks that were suddenly torn out of the arena in such numbers that they began to block out the sky.
Then a creeping darkness began spreading across the rocks as Dark energy was infused into them. The newly blackened rocks began circling around the edge of the arena before they impaled themselves into the ground, forming an impassable barrier of Dark-infused stone that would prevent any shadows from coming close, cleverly denying that space for Gengar to teleport to.
As expected, Gengar was forced to reappear much closer than it would like to Tyranitar, which was exactly what Karen hoped for.
"Sweep the skies, Tyranitar!"
A sweeping torrent of darkness shot out from Tyranitar's mouth, shredding through all of Gengar's attacks as the beam chased down the Ghost type. Gengar did its best to remain one step ahead, relying on its superior mobility to just stay out of the line of fire, but it couldn't do so for long.
That was when Agatha revealed her final trump card.
"Match its power, Gengar."
Despite the overwhelming display of power that it was faced against, Gengar once again let out another haunting cackle as it was suddenly engulfed and wrapped up within its own shadowy tendrils. A swarm of shadows rushed towards Gengar, as if it was a vortex sucking up nearby ghosts, as a spectral figure began to take shape that began to grow larger and larger.
Then, in a shocking reveal that took everyone by surprise, what emerged from the shadowy cocoon was the form of an enormous Gengar that actually matched Tyranitar in height and size.
It wasn't a Mega Evolution, or even a Gigantamax. It was just Agatha at her best – proving to the world that her Gengar was no lesser than Tyranitar in the realm of power.
The figure proceeded to unleash a huge beam of deadly ghostly energies that crashed against the incoming Dark Pulse; the two beams of power vying for dominance over the other. The air twisted around both beams, distorting wildly from the sheer energy being emitted by the attacks.
At the same time, spectral tendrils began spreading out from underneath Gengar, wrapping themselves around Tyranitar's legs as they started to drain its energy once again. But Tyranitar wasn't having any of it, and fired off its own volley of rocks to both break off the attempt and to pummel Gengar with.
Both Pokémon pushed themselves to their limit as they rapidly burned through their energies as they dedicated every last drop of it into this one attack. To my utter surprise, Tyranitar was being pushed back – the ghostly torrent of energy actually managing to overpower the boost of power from its Outrage.
Agatha's starter was REALLY that powerful.
Yet Tyranitar was still a pseudo-legendary for a reason, and even as it was pushed back it still managed to strike at Gengar's side with a barrage of dark-infused rocks. Gengar staggered, its attack interrupted, allowing Tyranitar to muscle itself forwards and ferociously bash the Gengar with a meaty fist. The shadowy tendrils tried to hold it down, but Tyranitar once again erupted with Dark power, buying itself some space as it furiously wrestled the Gengar into the ground before unleashing a point-blank Earthquake right on top of the Gengar.
Completely against anyone's expectations, the battle had turned into a contest of strength, which was completely against the usual tactics of a Ghost or Dark specialist. The time for tricks was over; Agatha had shown her most powerful hand, and it was time to see if Karen could overcome this final hurdle – to prove to the world that she was stronger than the mentor that had trained and raised her.
To prove that she had truly overcome her teacher.
Explosions of Dark and Ghost energies could be seen as the two Pokémon viciously brawled each other on the ground. Spectral tendrils and chunks of rock smashed against each other repeatedly, and it looked like the two Pokémon were evenly matched in strength.
Which was an insane thing to say about a Gengar matched up against a Tyranitar.
However, that state of affairs didn't last for very long. As the brawl continued, I noticed that the once huge figure of Gengar was starting to shrink rapidly, and its torrent of spectral power was suddenly growing weaker and weaker. Tyranitar's own dark aura was also shrinking too, but nowhere near as fast as Gengar's.
I realised that Gengar was burning through its own energy reserves far quicker than Tyranitar was.
Eventually, Gengar shrunk back down to its normal size, and Tyranitar instantly capitalised on that brief moment of exhaustion with a quick Taunt to distract it just for long enough before it Crunched down with all of its might.
But even as the attack brought Gengar low, it still had the spite to throw out one final Focus Blast that struck Tyranitar centre mass, sending the Dark type stumbling backwards.
Yet that attack was the last that the Gengar would make. Its wounds were too numerous, and it finally collapsed to the ground, having fought to its very last.
Thus, Agatha's final Pokémon had fallen. The battle was over.
Tyranitar was about to roar out in victory before a bolt of purple energy shot out from Gengar's fainted body, causing Tyranitar's eyes to roll to the back of his head as it promptly collapsed to the ground.
…A final 'present' from Agatha.
Karen rolled her eyes at the display, but she couldn't keep the wide smile off her face. And despite this final 'surprise' from Agatha, Karen couldn't hide the look of gratitude that she shot towards her teacher either.
She had done it. She won. She had overcome her mentor.
And now she was Elite Four.
A.N. ANNNDDD Karen won! She's finally done it! After so long, she has finally made it into the Elite Four, overcoming her mentor in a 6-5 victory, with only her Honchkrow remaining (though it could be 6-4 if you don't count the Destiny Bond knockout at the end)! Like I said previously, I wanted to show off more creative tricks from Agatha since this was her opportunity to shine.
So I know the Ghost and Dark types aren't known for raw displays of power, but as Agatha once said to Karen, you need to have pure power sometimes – so I wanted to show Agatha was more than capable of that too. Again, I tried really hard to be creative with these matchups and the tricks Agatha would pull off, so I hope you enjoyed the battle overall!
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!