Sneasler resembled a larger version of a Hisuian Sneasel. The difference was that this Pokémon had a lankier body, and its claws were much sharper and larger. It had an almost arrogant look on its face as it stared at Mawile, which made it pretty clear to me that Sneasler was a recent capture. Something dripped from one of its claws, and I realized it was poison. I realized I had lucked out by sending Mawile out first.
The referee shouted to start the battle over the fervent cheers of the audience. Ash and I would be battling it out for a position in the Top 2.
“Stealth Rock!”
“Hone Claws, Sneasler!”
Mawile moved fast. Stones formed on her jaws and were flicked forward, not in an attack, but to lay traps in the ground on Ash’s side of the field. The sharpened rocks sunk slightly into the ground and changed color to blend into the even dirt terrain.
As she did that, Sneasler was already running forward. It rubbed its claws together and caused the sound of metal-on-metal to ring out in the air. Ash called for a Rock Smash, and Mawile reflexively used an Iron Defense to block the attack with her jaws.
“Again!” Ash shouted.
This time, Mawile wasn’t anywhere near fast enough as Sneasler easily moved around her back. Her jaws lashed out to try to catch it, but her opponent was moving far faster than Mawile could handle.
Despite her advantage, I chose to recall her here. To start this battle, I only needed Stealth Rock to go up, and it was clear to me that Sneasler’s speed would let it bypass Mawile’s defense.
“Already Alex is on the back foot!” an announcer shouted. “Being forced to return a Pokémon within the first few seconds of the match is not a good sign.”
I almost rolled my eyes at the comment. Even though all Mawile did was set up Stealth Rock, she had done what I needed her to do to start off the battle.
“Rapidash,” I said.
A majestic white unicorn appeared on the field, with his long, pastel-colored mane flowing behind him. The moment the battle was resumed, his black and white horn was already glowing for a Psychic. Sneasler had lunged forward at him, but he had caught it in the air.
“Take it out.”
Rapidash’s Psychic held Sneasler aloft as he began to dash around the field. Its hands clawed at the air to try to escape, but as it was both a Fighting and Poison Type, it was far too vulnerable to his telekinesis to resist the move.
Sneasler was kept in pace alongside Rapidash, and he brought it down into the dirt. It was dragged alongside him in a loop around the battlefield, until he finally released his attack and ran off to make distance.
Two sets of claws slammed down into the floor. The Sneasler pushed itself up from the attack.
“Sneasler, use—”
Before Ash could give a command, Rapidash’s Psybeam struck Sneasler in the chest. It coughed out from the force of the impact before its body collapsed downwards into a jumble of fur and limbs.
“Sneasler is unable to continue,” the referee announced.
Ash blinked and looked to his Pokémon. Sneasler laid unmoving, while Rapidash trotted in place to keep his blood flowing.
For me, I let out the breath I was holding. This may or may not be a good sign. This first match had been quick, but Ash had five more.
“Man, Alex. You’re really strong,” Ash said as he returned his Pokémon.
“Thank you. We’ve trained a long time for this.”
“But you know that we won’t fall that easily, right?” Ash grinned, and he reached down to pull out a ball from his belt. I could tell that this one was a little more worn than the rest. There weren’t scratches on it, but it definitely shined less.
As Ash sent out his next Pokémon, I immediately began to sweat. The bright lights shining down onto the arena glinted off the back of his glove, and an explosion of flame burst out across from Rapidash.
Ash wasn’t going easy on me. His Charizard appeared on the field. At the same time, he held up a gloved hand, and on the back of the black fabric, a perfectly spherical gemstone had been slotted in.
“Charizard, remember all the times we’ve gone through!” he yelled.
The great behemoth of a Fire Type roared. Around its neck, a necklace with a red and orange stone in it glowed.
“Remember the training we’ve experienced for this! You and me, Charizard! Mega Evolve!”
As brilliant light overtook the field, I couldn’t help but grimace.
Really? A Mega Evolution? In only the second match of the battle?!
Charizard, as a species, had two possible Mega Evolutions. The more commonly known one (at least where I was from) was the black and blue Mega Charizard X, which had it finally realize its true potential as a Dragon Type. In this case, however, Charizard didn’t turn into that form, but instead the more similar-to-its-base-form Mega Charizard Y.
This form left it with the classic orange body and blue wings, but its head now extended out into a cruel spike, and its arms gained a set of smaller wings on them to help enhance its speed. Spines grew down its neck, back, and tail, and the ever-present flame on the very tip of that tail now burst into a roaring inferno.
The field shook when it roared. The Stealth Rock Mawile placed earlier finally dislodged themselves to jab forward. Charizard brought its head down, allowing a powerful Flamethrower to incinerate most of them, taking a much more reduced amount of damage than it should have.
The Stealth Rock were still present for Ash’s next Pokémon, but the power of the Mega Evolution had weakened my goal. Those Stealth Rock should have been vastly more debilitating than they actually had been.
“Rapidash. I’ll be keeping you out. You understand why, right?”
Rapidash's eyes furrowed. He gained a serious expression on his face. The sheer energy and heat Mega Charizard was emanating was causing the field to be extremely dry and hot. As a Mega Pokémon, it gained the ability Drought, but rather than automatically sending up fire into the sky, it was Charizard’s innate radiance that was creating the weather.
The battle resumed.
“Psybeam!”
Rapidash actually used Agility first, his feet becoming a blur as he dashed away from a powerful Flamethrower. The Mega Evolution caused the field itself to melt and be burned, the dirt becoming molten stone under the dragon’s fiery breath.
With Charizard’s attack literally being hot on his tail, Rapidash’s horn glowed blue and shot out a beam. Two wings flapped down hard to lift Charizard high up in the air, but the attack still struck true right into its chest.
So those sub-wings on its arms don’t increase its speed, it just lets it move at roughly the same pace as before with its extra bulk. It looks like this Mega Evolution is simply pure offense.
The Psybeam left a bruise, but the Mega Pokémon barely reacted. Another Flamethrower was breathed out, this one encompassing Rapidash from dead on.
Charizard flew forward, its breath still aimed at Rapidash. Just like Rapidash had done to Sneasler before, it did an entire lap of the field before the breath finally ended.
Yet, when it did, Rapidash was still standing strong.
“W-What?” Ash stuttered.
Rapidash was unfortunately limited to Psybeam and Mystical Fire as his long ranged moves, with Psychic serving as a mid-ranged option and the rest of what he could do limited to melee. With Charizard still flying, the burnt—and with a shorter mane—Rapidash unleashed a Psybeam that struck Charizard across the face.
I paused briefly to mentally apologize to Altaria. This was supposed to be his battle, but Rapidash was in the perfect position to weaken Charizard down.
“Charizard! Don’t let it get to you! Go ahead and grab it for a Seismic Toss!”
With Charizard getting closer, Rapidash could tell he wouldn’t be able to outrun it. Instead, he braced himself for impact and used the move that allowed him to withstand the Mega Pokémon’s flames.
Charizard’s arms scooped the horse up right as Rapidash glowed for a Morning Sun. The heat Charizard was giving off was absorbed to heal Rapidash, letting him recover from the harsh burns from touching Charizard. Mega Charizard Y's ability Drought was the true reason I had decided to keep Rapidash in.
If any other Pokémon of my team had been out, Altaria would have been switched in. Instead, Rapidash was turning Charizard’s strength into his own power.
“Slam it!” Ash yelled.
Charizard's wings flapped hard once more to bring the pair up into the sky. It pulled back, looping around, and that momentum allowed them to crash towards the floor.
But, as they fell, an idea came to mind.
“Grab its wings,” I shouted quickly.
Rapidash’s Psychic let him lock up Charizard’s wings. Since all he was doing was preventing them from flapping, the Mega Pokémon didn’t notice till it was too late. It dropped its arms to let go of Rapidash and pull away, but with the Psychic up, Charizard continued sailing into the ground.
Both Pokémon hit the floor. Rapidash may have heavily resisted the move, but being slammed into the ground like that still hurt.
“Overheat!” Ash screamed.
Ah.
That move was a little too powerful for Rapidash to withstand.
Even through his attempts to use Morning Sun, Charizard’s Overheat was on a whole different level. Both Pokémon had crashed into the floor from the same move, meaning Charizard was right next to him for this attack too.
Strangely enough, I actually felt myself become cold when Charizard used the move. It felt as if every ounce of heat was sucked up into it to power this move, and it was unleashed in a massive blast of fire that took up practically the entire field.
When the flames ended, Rapidash was smoking and completely unconscious. Charizard stumbled a bit, and I could see Ash waver on his feet briefly, but unlike Dawn, it seemed these two had a much firmer grasp on Mega Evolution.
Rapidash was returned to his Dream Ball, and I brought it up to my mouth for a whisper.
“Great job. Against a Mega Evolved Pokémon, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Rapidash’s Pokéball was clipped back to my belt, and I finally grabbed Altaria’s Love Ball. It was tossed forward to allow Altaria to emerge on the field in a very dramatic fashion, his wings flapping to let him spiral up into the sky to drift above the field.
“Altaria. You know what we’re going to do.”
I held up my wrist in the same way Ash had held up his hand not too long before, and both Altaria and my Mega Stone glowed. I knew how Altaria thought, he would want to defeat Charizard and prove himself to be the stronger Dragon. When it came to a goal like that, it was easy to bring Altaria and I to the same mindset.
The light coalesced and shattered once Altaria’s form finished shifting, the energy allowing Altaria to take on his temporary enhanced form. Above the field, he looked like a slowly moving, calm cloud, but the expression on his face was anything but.
“Cotton Guard. Wonder Room.”
Charizard stayed on the ground, taking a moment to recover from its Overheat. Such a move had guaranteed the knockout against Rapidash, but it had forced it to expend much more energy than needed. It would be slightly weakened for the rest of the battle as a result, though, that didn’t mean it wasn't still a threat.
As for the commands I gave, Altaria’s fluff puffed up in a protective layer, and he started using his rarely used TM move to modify the battlefield. Squares formed in the air like walls and a floor, sliding over one another to slowly encase the field. Charizard seemed to not be willing to let that happen, as the Pokémon took to the air to chase Altaria down.
“Slash!” Ash ordered.
It was a clever move, as a melee attack shouldn’t be affected by the weakness put in place by Overheat. However, Altaria had been preparing for Latios, so only the barest edge of his Cotton Guard was severed from his body.
Altaria dived down, still forming the Wonder Room, and Charizard gave chase. Two sets of glowing claws extended out from each arm, and the sub-wings behind them let it attack with surprising grace.
Yet, Altaria continued to dodge. None of the attacks were ever direct blows, and more and more of his Cotton Guard was slowly severed. For all Charizard could do, all it was succeeding at was giving Altaria a nice trim. Ash could tell this strategy wasn’t properly working.
So, he returned his Charizard.
“Pikachu. Do you have this?”
Pikachu, the big boss himself, gave Ash a nod and an affirmative “Pi!” in return. He jumped off the elevated platform to land on the field, and his body sparked aggressively with threatening electricity. A few Stealth Rock jabbed into his side while he landed, but for Pikachu, that damage was minor at best.
I hated to admit it, I was scared. For however weak a Pikachu was supposed to be, Ash’s Pikachu was a monster in rodent form.
The Wonder Room finally finished forming.
“Hopefully this will make Pikachu more vulnerable to Altaria’s attacks,” I murmured. “Altaria! Hyper Voice!”
From his position in the sky, Altaria let out several loud squawks. Pink rings of Fairy Type sound energy were launched forward at the ground. Pikachu proved that having the Wonder Room swap his physical and special defenses was pointless, as his Quick Attack let him easily move out of the way.
Behind him, at each point he lingered, the Hyper Voices brought up large plumes of dirt and dust. As I watched, I could feel my heart pounding just as hard as it did in the Tobias match. I’d seen so much of Ash, I was terrified at what he would do.
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For a moment, I could see Ash resisting giving any commands. His eyes flicked about the field, taking in everything there: the groove from Sneasler, the pits from Altaria and Charizard’s impact, and then the walls of the Wonder Room around the sides.
His sudden look of excitement filled me with dread.
“Up the walls! Use Quick Attack!”
My shouted “What?!” of disbelief did nothing to dissuade him. Pikachu used Quick Attack to reach the edge of the Wonder Room in seconds, and it started to used that momentum to build up height.
Paw after paw, Pikachu climbed, scaling a surface I hadn’t even known was physical. Several more Hyper Voices shouted out, but Pikachu continued to dodge each one before pushing off the wall to lunge right at Altaria.
“Iron Tail!”
Pikachu’s speed was ridiculous. The Iron Tail landed right across Altaria’s face. His head was snapped to the side from super effective damage, but then his mouth started to glow with embers for Flamethrower.
He didn’t have a chance to use it. I used my second switch here to bring Altaria back.
In total, that was twice now, in this match, that a normal Pokémon had fought off a Mega Pokémon in one way or another. Rapidash only managed to do it thanks to his Morning Sun, but I could tell that Pikachu could handle Mega Altaria through his own power.
Rapidash was out. Mawile wasn't a good match-up, and I had just returned Altaria from this. Going over the Pokémon I brought with me, I briefly considered the merits of letting Dedenne try to absorb Pikachu's attacks before settling on someone else entirely.
Any lingering heat from Charizard was swept away by snow. A snowstorm overtook the field, and Ninetales howled to announce her presence.
"Starter against Starter," I whispered. "Come on, Ninetales. Show your stuff."
The moment the battle resumed, Ninetales dipped into the snow to disappear from view. A Thunderbolt hit the spot she had just been in, shocking the ground but no Pokémon.
In the center of this blizzard, Pikachu's eyes darted around. He backed up slowly, doing his best to anticipate his foe.
"Ready yourself, Pikachu," Ash warned.
The field was tense with anticipation. The audience, Ash, and the announcers were all on the edge of their seats to see what Ninetales would do.
Honestly, I too was unsure what would happen next. I had given Ninetales a lot of strategies beforehand, but I didn't know what she would choose.
Then, the ground shifted beneath Pikachu's feet.
"Jump!" Ash yelled.
Pikachu managed to escape Ninetales leaping out of the ground with Dig, but he didn't manage to escape the follow up attack. Like a cannon, snow was sucked into the hole Ninetales left behind to shoot out of the one she had just popped out of. A full-on Blizzard caught Pikachu while he was in the air, frosting him over and subjecting him to Ninetales's icy blast.
"Iron Tail!"
Pikachu spun, and his tail turned metal. Defying the laws of physics, he changed directions in the air to slam the attack at Ninetales. Her Aurora Veil came up to block it, but the attack pushed through and caught her in the side.
As a Steel Type move, Ninetales took four times the damage. It left a nasty welt, and when Pikachu pushed off of her, she ran away to hide in the snow once more.
Ash didn't seem intent on letting that happen.
"Oh, no you don't! Pikachu, it's time! VOLT TACKLE!"
Pikachu gave chase, charging after Ninetales. His speed slowly picked up as his feet rapidly pushed off the ground. Pikachu's electricity kept zapping the snow, clearing his line of sight just enough to let him always see her partially, and soon enough, the field was glowing yellow from the sheer amount of energy he was giving off.
"Dazzling Gleam!" I yelled as a last ditch effort.
Ninetales sparkled, but she didn't sparkle enough. Her flash of light hit Pikachu, but her foe was still able to land his attack. Pikachu slammed into her side with Volt Tackle, delivering thousands of volts and blasting her across the field.
What I hated most about this is that with Wonder Room up, Ninetales had increased physical defenses to withstand that attack. Pikachu just fainted her anyway.
And then the Wonder Room faded away too right after that.
I returned my starter, falling back to the idea I had before. Dedenne appeared on the field, his nose twitching as he stared at Pikachu.
"Dedenne, don't forget what I said earlier, alright?"
Dedenne nodded. He stared Pikachu right in the eyes. While both Pokémon were on a friendly basis with one another, neither of them moved to wave or greet each other on the field.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"
"Charm."
The attack missed Dedenne. He stared up at Pikachu with his eyes wide and his whiskers twitching, almost pleading for Pikachu to not hit him. The hardened tail struck the floor next to Dedenne, and he purposefully stared down at it, aghast that Pikachu would even think of hurting him in this match.
Pikachu landed, then he leaned up to stand on his hind legs. The electric rodent scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Tackle."
Dedenne only knew Electric Type moves. That was fine, as while Tackle wasn't a move we regularly practiced, it was still decent enough to land a hit.
My smaller mouse hit Ash's bigger mouse right in the stomach, using the lowering of Pikachu's guard to his advantage. Pikachu's eyes bulged from the impact, and a brief flashback to Carbink's attack on Dragonite appeared in front of my eyes.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt."
Hearing that let me breath out in a sigh of relief. Dedenne was waiting for this, already knowing that using an Electric Type move against Pikachu too early would have spelt his defeat.
Dedenne made no moves to dodge, instead, he willingly took it. Pikachu blasted him with electricity, and his Charge let him try to absorb as much of it as he could. This was a strategy stolen straight from the anime.
"Thunder!" Ash yelled.
"Endure."
Pikachu's next attack was even stronger, and it threatened to prove the notion of there being such a thing as Type resistance wrong. The attack blasted Dedenne with such power he would have fainted otherwise.
When Pikachu landed, he was panting. Ninetales's Blizzard had hurt him, and against Dedenne, those two moves had spent a good chunk of his energy.
He and Dedenne were still close together, and now Dedenne's whiskers were sparking with raw voltage. Pikachu's eye twitched, and he stepped back. A paw went up to try to gesture an apology for Dedenne.
"Discharge," I said.
The move was an undirected blast. Pikachu was hit with the energies of both his and Dedenne's Electric Type moves. If this attack was more targeted like Thunderbolt and Thunder, I would have been worrying about charging Pikachu up.
Instead, he met with the fate of both Ninetales and Rapidash, and he hit the ground smoking.
Oh, thank god.
The match was called to a halt as Ash descended the platform to recover Pikachu. As he did, Dedenne turned to me and put his paws on his hips as if to brag that he was the stronger Electric Type.
I gave him a smile. It was one of those smiles a parent would give to a child to say "You sure are." Without using Charge and Endure, I doubted Dedenne would have won. I was just thankful to have enough knowledge of Ash's journey to have an inkling that our risky and untested strategy would actually work.
Pikachu is down, yet I still don't know what Ash has left. He still has his Mega Charizard in his pocket, too.
Pikachu was handed off to a nurse, and Ash ran back up the steps to the platform. A new Pokéball appeared in his hands, and a new Pokémon appeared on the field.
"Nuzzle," I said, panicking once the battle resumed.
Dedenne rushed forward at his foe, but a blade caught him in the gut. On the verge of unconsciousness, he rubbed a sparking cheek against the offending attack, but paralysis failed to take hold. Sceptile followed through just enough to take out Dedenne.
I recalled my Pokémon before he landed. Ash's Sceptile, one of his strongest Pokémon, crossed its arms and grinned.
It didn't have it when it first appeared, but a short twig was now being held in its mouth like a toothpick.
"Scept," it said, almost to brag. It hadn't even flinched when the Stealth Rock struck it.
The way it looked at Dedenne was almost like it was disappointed. Not because Dedenne was weak, but because Sceptile expected a fight rather than a cleanup.
This Pokémon choice was clever but risky. Both Rapidash and Ninetales could have had a decent chance against it with their super effective moves, but with them fainted, I had few answers to one of Ash's strongest Pokémon. I had to give it to him. He had planned this out quite well.
Reappearing on the field was Mawile. Her elemental fang attacks gave her decent options against the Grass Type. Not only that, but she was strong in melee, which I knew Sceptile was likely to resort to.
Ash's hand flashed forward when the battle resumed, and he called out an attack.
"Bullet Seed!" he said.
"Iron Defense!"
Seed after seed slammed into Mawile's jaws as Sceptile ran closer. The impact of the move actually caused Mawile to be pushed back despite it solely being ranged. Sceptile leaped over Mawile once it got close, purposefully staying just out of her range, and a glowing Leaf Blade was swung at her back.
"Dark Pulse!"
Mawile was already using the move before I ordered it. She burst with Dark Type energy, forcing Sceptile to back off to not take the hit.
It nimbly landed on the ground not too far away and stared into the move that Mawile had just used. The blackness obscured her form for just long enough to let her use an attack, and Sceptile brought up a hand to catch the item she used Fling to throw.
Sceptile paused, and its head turned to see what it was. A brilliant glow reflected the light of the battlefield, and the Grass Type's mouth dropped its twig when Sceptile saw what it was.
Both Mawile and Altaria might have had their Mega Stones as their held item, but that was to let me choose which one of them I wanted to Mega Evolve. I had no way of knowing Ash would have his Charizard and Mega Evolve it, too.
Sceptile flinched back from the Mega Stone, shocked Mawile would use such a precious gem to attack like that. Mawile used this opportunity to dash forward while it was distracted, her jaws snapped around Sceptile's legs.
She caught her stone before it hit the ground, too.
Sceptile pushed through the freezing Ice Type energy being sent into it from Ice Fang to swing at Mawile's exposed body with another Leaf Blade. However, Mawile punched Sceptile's stomach with a Sucker Punch before the attack landed, and her Ice Fang turned to fire.
With Mawile latched to Sceptile's leg, the normally threatening Pokémon was unable to use its impressive Agility to its advantage. She prevented it from going anywhere, and whenever Sceptile attacked, a Sucker Punch struck it in the stomach again and again.
For a Pokémon that was so strong, it fainted surprisingly quickly.
I sent it a silent apology. Sceptile was one of my favorites to watch.
Mawile turned to face Ash now that Sceptile had fainted, her Mega Stone already placed back in her jaws. As she did, I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh. Sceptile's twig was now being held in her own mouth.
"Don't get too cocky, Alex! We're not done just yet!"
Charizard hit the field, appearing in the air still Mega Evolved. With Mawile out, she was in extreme danger, so I grabbed her ball to—
Charizard let out a pained roar. Unlike last time, it was caught off guard by the Stealth Rock. The entry hazard was especially effective against it, as both Charizard's Fire and Flying Type made it vulnerable to the move.
The Mega Pokémon fell to the floor, heavily wounded after all the previous attacks it sustained and now these Stealth Rock. Instead of recalling Mawile, I quickly gave her a command to capitalize on this surprise.
"Fling!"
In a moment of mild irony, the Mega Stone struck the Pokémon between the eyes. There was a mixture of shocked gasps and wild cheers as the Fling was just enough to finish Charizard off.
That was...
That was a stroke of luck.
There was a genuine moment of stillness on the field as Ash, Mawile, and I had to process the fact that, yes, that had actually happened. The announcers weren't anywhere near as surprised, yelling about how Mawile had just demonstrated a repeat of what had happened in my show battle against Maylene.
Ash sighed and returned his Charizard. Mawile turned away, and I gave her the biggest, most proud smile I could.
"Are you good for the next, too?"
The way Mawile turned back to face Ash, still as motivated as before, told me she was.
Ash only had two Pokémon left, whereas I had three. One of those three was a Mega Pokémon, too, so whatever he sent out had to be good.
Ash sent out his Swellow. The Stealth Rock jabbed into it, causing the bird to screech in pain. Outside of Ninetales and Altaria, Flying Type Pokémon generally had the advantage against my team (either in maneuverability or Type), so Swellow wasn't that bad of a choice to bring with him.
However, I had to question his reasoning to send it out here. Mawile may have sustained several direct body blows at this point, but she’d be able to grab Swellow with her jaws quite easily. Not only that, but Swellow was a primarily physical attacker. It would need to get close to deal damage.
“Double Team!” Ash yelled.
My brows furrowed as Swellow started to dash around in the air, leaving behind illusions of itself as it did. There weren’t as many illusions as with Gardevoir’s usage of the move, but there would still be much difficulty actually telling which one was which.
“Taunt into Sweet Scent,” I ordered.
Mawile was still limited against Swellow. As a Normal Type, it was immune to her Shadow Ball, leaving Stone Edge as her only real ranged option. She looked up to Swellow to goad it into attacking aggressively, preventing more uses of Double Team as long as the effects stayed up. Similarly, when I called for Sweet Scent, Mawile didn’t bother to hide the move. Pink mist left her jaws, and a sickly sweet smell wafted over the field. The move would ensure that even with Swellow’s Double Team, it would relax and make sloppy mistakes.
“Grab it!”
So that’s your game, hm?
Swellow and its numerous copies all dove in the air right towards Mawile. Her eyes scanned the countless illusions, trying to find her actual foe. Her eyes settled on one that seemed to be out of sync, but when her jaws lashed forward, nothing was hit.
A set of talons grabbed her jaws from above. We’d practiced breaking through binds that held her mouth closed, but the sheer grip strength of Swellow’s claws prevented her from opening her mouth.
“And up, Swellow!”
Swellow pushed through the reactionary Dark Pulses Mawile let out to try to get the bird off. Its wings flapped hard to bring it higher and higher, and soon enough, Mawile was high in the air above the field.
“Grab it before you fall!”
Mawile was too slow. The claws relaxed, releasing her from Swellow’s grip, but even with Sweet Scent up, it easily moved out of the way. Mawile hurtled towards the ground as Swellow pulled up into a loop. Ash shouted for an Aerial Ace, and with a loop, Swellow struck the defenseless Mawile in the air.
When she slammed into the ground, she finally fainted.
I returned Mawile to her Heavy Ball, praising her for her actions up until now. Swellow landed on the dirt floor, puffing its chest up with pride and roosting—not using the move, just taking a breather—in preparation for whoever came out next.
Unfortunately for it, I sent out the threat that had been lurking in the background.
“Hyper Beam.”
Ash shouted for his Pokémon to dodge, but the move was too much. I wanted a quick and fast knockout to bring Ash down to his last Pokémon. Fortunately for me, the Hyper Beam struck the bird true.
Fairy Type energy seared into Swellow, the bird suffering from a single usage of Altaria’s Hyper Beam that he didn’t even bother pouring everything into. The difference between a Mega Pokémon and a normal Pokémon was made clear, as the previous matches had shown the exact opposite, and Swellow laid on the ground fainted, without putting up much of a fight against him at all.
Altaria screeched in his victory. I could tell he was upset he hadn’t been the one to take out Charizard.
“One left,” I mumbled. “Who is it going to be?”
As Ash returned Swellow, he whispered praise to his Pokémon, a habit I had blatantly stolen from him in my own journey, and he clipped the ball back to his belt. In its place, a single Pokéball was gripped, secured, and tossed forward.
“Infernape!” Ash shouted.
It seemed that he would end Sinnoh with one of the strongest Pokémon he had befriended in the region.
A red and white furred primate with thin yet muscular limbs hit the field. A mane of red fire seared out of the back of its head. Its two long arms dragged on the ground for a moment before it shifted onto its back haunches, and its head was brought back for a scream. A few Stealth Rock jabbed into it, but at this point, enough had been either destroyed or broken from being triggered that Infernape hardly noticed.
“This is it, Infernape! You’re our last Pokémon! Alex has two left, a Mega included, but I believe in you! Show them your strength!”
Ash’s words caused Infernape’s fire to blaze even hotter, and when the battle started, it charged forward. Altaria was keeping to the sky, staying away from the ground as he recharged his Hyper Beam. Infernape moved to be right underneath him.
Infernape jumped, leaving the ground. It drew back an arm then punched forward. Its Mach Punch let it shoot through the air in a ridiculous defiance of physics. Living up to its monkey physiology, it then grabbed Altaria’s wings like a tree branch and started to drag him down onto the field.
“Uproar!” I shouted.
Altaria screamed. And I mean he really screamed. Infernape flipped around such that its feet were grabbing Altaria rather than its hands, and its hands went up to cover its ears.
Ash wasn’t able to give a new command. When the pair crashed into the ground, Infernape was still covering the ears, but it showed just how much of a monkey it was by bringing up a foot for a Fire Punch, of all things, and smacking Altaria across the face.
The Uproar stopped. Altaria’s mouth hung open, stunned by the unexpected move. His eyes locked onto Infernape, not fully understanding why and how Infernape just did that. There seemed to be a pause as Infernape also processed what just happened, and then Altaria demonstrated why Uproar was listed as a multi-turn move.
He screamed even harder. Infernape let out a cry of pain, then its two arms left its ears to lay into Altaria. Fire Punch after Fire Punch was sent forward, even a Mach Punch or two for good measure. Altaria continued to scream, Infernape continued to punch, but even with the power of Mega Evolution behind him, he’d already taken several hits in the match, and it was only a matter of time before he fainted to Infernape’s power.
Infernape stood there, panting and heaving. Altaria’s extra fluff turned to light and broke away as his Mega Evolution faded. As I returned him to his Pokéball, my eyes widened as I realized our mistake.
Uproar was a powerful move that had been on track to fainting Infernape. The thing was, it had been on track, and not successful. In its hard fought victory, Infernape roared a roar not unlike one of Mawile’s, and a Blaze around its body went aflame at full force.
“And Infernape demonstrates once more the power of its ability!” an announcer shouted. “Alex is on their last Pokémon. Will this be enough to turn the match in Ash’s favor?”
I hesitated as I grabbed my last Pokémon’s Pokéball. Infernape’s eyes were red, and the glow of its mane of fire was making its body tint red. Even with it being near fainting, I wasn’t sure if we were going to pull this off.
I took a deep breath, and sent out my final Pokémon. Whimsicott appeared on the field. More specifically, in the air.
“Worst case scenario, Whimsicott,” I instructed him in the moments before the match resumed. “You know what we have to do for this, right?”
The referee called for us to continue, and Infernape rocketed forward.
“Full defense.”
Protect blocked a Flamethrower, and a chunk of fluff for Substitute ensured the jumping Mach Punch hit nothing too damaging. Like with Altaria, Infernape grabbed Whimsicott out of the air to slam him into the ground, but this time, a powerful Flamethrower was breathed onto him the whole way down.
“Flare Blitz!”
Infernape jumped, and it slammed down, elbow first, right into Whimsicott’s gut. He managed to use a second Protect in a row, his third overall, to prevent the damage, but he already wasn’t looking good.
A bit of Poison Powder was puffed up into the air on impact, poisoning Infernape, but I wasn’t sure that would be enough to pull it off.
With how things were going, we would need to pull off something crazy. At least, Infernape had already been poisoned for this.
“Misty Terrain,” I ordered.
There was the briefest of delays for Infernape to back off after using Flare Blitz, having sustained a slight amount of damage when using its whole body for an impact like that. I could feel the nervous sweat on my back as Whimsicott’s Prankster let him send out a pink pulse almost instantly. However, he had to use Substitute just as fast to prevent a Mach Punch from slamming against his face.
“Infernape,” Ash called out. I really didn’t like the sound of his voice. “After all of our training, all of our practice, we’ll end the match right here and now. It’s time to use that move! Infernape! USE BLAST BURN!”
An endless series of curse words flew through my head. Whimsicott hadn’t left the ground, needing a moment to recover from all the stalling he had done. This battle was coming down to the very wire. There was no lucky match-up. We were at a complete disadvantage.
The screens around the field flared. The heat coming off of the field felt as hot as an oven. I forced my eyes to stay open.
No matter what happened here, I would witness this outcome. I also subtly made a mental note to try to fix my team’s mild weakness to the Fire Type after this.
Then, something popped.
Just barely in time, proving that our training hadn’t gone to waste, a technique we developed in Sinnoh sealed the match in our favor. With Misty Terrain placed, Nature Power allowed Whimsicott to send an extremely fast Moonblast forward. It was sent up from the ground, slamming into Infernape’s chin and creating that popping sound I heard.
The flames died down, Blast Burn was never used, and Infernape succumbed to its wounds, finally unconscious.
As the audience cheered at the top of their lungs, all I could do was bring my shaking hand through my hair to try to get a handle on my sweat. I thought the Tobias match had been something. This pushed my team to the edge in a completely different way than that.
But here, we had won. Ash might not have lost to Tobias, but Ash had lost to me. Once more, he was eliminated in the Lily of the Valley Conference in the Top Four, securing his place as one of the strongest trainers in the region, but not quite able to reach the top.
...No, that wasn’t right. That couldn’t be true.
As I returned the exhausted and rest-deserving Whimsicott, my eyes flicked around and my expression cooled into one that was completely neutral.
I did the math in my head. All of my minor meetups with Ash. The way I introduced both the Fairy Type and Mega Evolution to him.
My appearances in Contests. My assistance against Hunter J. And then finally, the battle that proved my team’s strength when we fought against Darkrai and the other Legendaries.
I totally just usurped Tobias’s role as the powerful trainer that blocked Ash from winning the Conference, didn’t I?
I laughed a manic laugh, both to release my nerves from the battle and to express my joy at a great match won. I couldn’t think of this world in tropes. There were signs that things might behave somewhat the same, but this wasn’t an anime. This was my life, my journey through this world that had brought me to this victory.
From the elevated platforms, staircases extended downwards onto the field. I glanced over to Ash, who had turned his hat back around and tilted it down to cover his face.
As we descended these steps, I understood what he was feeling. Losing hurt. To have a goal held so close in front of your face only for it to be snatched away at the very end was one of the worst feelings in the world.
Yet, when stopped onto a foot away from each other, Ash looked back up, and there was a clear glint of determination in his eyes. Like all great trainers, he accepted the pain from the loss, and he would use that to push himself forward to greater heights.
"Great battle, Alex," Ash said.
"Best one of the Conference so far," I replied.
Ash blinked before throwing his head back in a laugh, looking a bit better after his loss.
“You know,” I said. “I had a friend show me this one nice restaurant back in Ever Grande, and there seems to be a secondary location here as well. It was a good battle, Ash. Let’s get some dinner, and we can discuss what happened in it over a meal. My treat.”
Ash’s smile widened, and his handshake became a lot more tighter. Pikachu, who seemed to have been healed to a better state during the last fights of our match, hopped up to stand on Ash’s shoulder.
“I’ll hold you to that, Alex. I hope it’ll be okay if I invite all my friends, too.”
Ash’s grin was completely innocent, but my own smile suddenly felt strained. I know I promised I would pay, but just how expensive was this going to be?