Chapter 60 (Patreon)

The torch-bearer slowly ascended the large staircase in the back of the stadium. The fanfare slowly increased in volume as she made it up several stories, and reached a peak once she was only a few feet away from the massive brazier that stood above everything else. A platform under her feet extended upwards, and once she was level with the edge, she used the torch to light the brazier with Moltres’s flame.

The audience cheered uproariously as the 256 trainers stood in neat rows and columns on the base of the main field. The music played for a few more seconds until it stopped, giving the President of the Pokémon League, Charles Goodshow, time to give a few final opening remarks, starting the Conference proper.

Above the field, several large screens that were displaying a close up of Charles from where he was sitting in a box above the field switched over to start going over the initial match-ups for the first round of the tournament. Each time they shifted, they displayed the names of eight trainers, arranged against the other in four matches, one in each field: Ice, Rock, Grass, and Water.

These battles would take place over the next four days, fifteen minutes apart for a total of thirty-two battles each day, including today. Thursday night, a similar display of names would be shown off on the channel streaming the Ever Grande Conference. Those battles would take place over two days at a similar rate, and then there would be a break on Sunday.

After that, the real challenge would begin, but I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to see who I would be fighting first.

The first name I recognized was Wally’s, which meant he was one of the first people up to battle. It was a bit unfortunate for him, as he would be fighting today and would barely have any time to research his opponent. However, it also meant his opponent couldn’t research him, so there were pros and cons to the situation.

The second name I recognized was Winston’s. His opponent was someone I didn’t recognize, just like Wally’s, but it seemed he did make it into the tournament proper.

Hope and Rory were next, the two trainers who had placed within the Lilycove tournament. It actually seemed like they were fighting each other, which would be unfortunate for one of them. People would probably assume Rory would win, since Bug Types had the advantage over Grass Types, but honestly, after going over some of the recordings of the battles in Lilycove, I would put my money on Hope.

My name showed up after a bit of time, meaning I would be battling on the third day of the initial round, on Wednesday. My opponent was someone named “Theodora,” and we would be fighting on the Rock field. I would have to use the information provided to see what her team was and work out a strategy. I hoped that my relatively unknown team would work in my favor.

The very final name, both that I recognized and that I saw, was Thomas. He would fight at the latest possible time around dusk on Thursday. I was a little nervous seeing that, because in each round opponents were mostly randomized, except there was a tendency that if a trainer fought in the first two days of round one, they’d fight in the first day of round two, and if they fought in the last two days of round one, they’d fight in the second day of round two. There was a small chance of me fighting Thomas in the second round, but considering they tried to match up trainers to give everyone a fighting chance, I would probably be safe.

When the screen stopped showing off the names, it changed back to the announcers who went over the schedule for how the battles would be streamed on television and online. The trainers on the field were escorted off as the audience cheered one last time, and eventually, we made our way out of the stadium. Wally went off on his own to prepare for his upcoming battle, and I returned to my room to start my research on my opponent, Theodora.

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Everyone was out within my room as I turned on the provided computer and entered my trainer ID number to log on. A link to the League’s website was pinned to the desktop, and clicking it opened up the Pokénet and their main archives.

Behind me, my team was either relaxing or playing with their new held items. Florges was analyzing her Leftovers, Azumarill was staring at her Life Orb intensely, and Altaria was bobbing his head up and down, causing his bright yellow, star-shaped glasses to bounce in place. The Choice Specs looked ridiculous on him.

The past few days my team had figured out how exactly the held items worked, and were incorporating them in their strategies.

Florges’s Leftovers was insane, and to my understanding, could probably solve world hunger, if world hunger wasn’t already solved. Essentially, it was an apple core, but when Florges channeled a small amount of energy into it, it started to regrow. She could bite off the regrowing part to briefly have her regeneration speed massively increased, but it required a bit of energy and focus to do, so it wasn’t the same perfect passive healing like in the games, but it was good for quick fixes when a move wouldn’t be fast enough.

Azumarill’s Life Orb was more similar to how it worked in the games, but instead of boosting the damage of every attack, she could choose when to use it. The purple glass orb with spiraling energy inside of it provided Azumarill an absolutely insane amount of energy to draw from, which could “super charge” her moves. In exchange, the energy tended to burn her from the inside and cause pain, so she would have to choose to use it sparingly.

Altaria’s Choice Specs were the only truly passive item included in the set I had purchased. As long as they were worn on his head, they limited how much Type energy was sent through his body. The limit increased the metaphorical “pressure” of the energy in the body, causing his ranged moves to come out with much higher force, but in exchange, he could only use a single move safely. He could change which move he used when he was returned to his Pokéball, due to how turning to light interacted with his physicality, otherwise his singular choice of moves would wear off over time if he kept them on outside of his ball.

I also briefly met up with Wally to borrow his TMs, and taught Altaria both Power Swap and Wonder Room. We were still working on training them, but they could be useful in the upcoming battles.

Right now, Altaria was trying to subtly use Defog under the effects of Choice Specs, clearing the room of absolutely every little smell.

I shook my head in amusement and focused back to the computer in front of me. I entered “Theodora” into the search bar, and after narrowing my search to be my opponent in particular, blinked when only two videos of non-preliminary battles came up.

Well, I should have expected that. It makes sense to match two relatively unknown trainers up in the first round. She’ll have a similar lack of information when she prepares to battle me.

The two videos that came up were of Theodora’s two battles in a doubles tournament she entered in Petalburg. I was able to identify four members of her team from the video, but frowned. It seemed she specialized in double battles. That would put me at a disadvantage, because the first three rounds would be double battles. She would have much more experience and better combinations in our upcoming battle.

Worried about what I might see, I clicked on the first video, to see her using a Hariyama and Froslass together in a match.

The battle was against a Breloom and a Linoone, and she performed well enough. Froslass shut down and froze Breloom before it could do much, and Hariyama fought against the Linoone. The slow moving Fighting Type struggled a bit against the speedy Normal Type, but Froslass snuck in and grabbed Linoone, letting Hariyama get a clean shot in on its opponent, attacking it with a Fighting Type move that went straight through her Ghost Type body.

I would need to be wary of Theodora pulling a similar trick against me.

The second battle was a lot more straightforward, although somehow more worrying despite the relative strength of the Pokémon she sent out. While each of them were weak on their own, they performed exceptionally well together, as she commanded a Plusle and Minun pair that almost won against an Electrode and Dusclops duo. The only reason they lost was because the Dusclops managed to hold them in place when the Electrode used Explosion. Their tactics and strength were far superior than their opponent’s, up until that point.

The tournament Theodora competed in took place back in November, which meant it took place long enough ago that any weaknesses I saw would have probably been fixed by now. However, it still didn’t hurt to keep them in mind, just in case. I watched the recordings a few more times, as well as her preliminary battle recordings of Froslass and Hariyama, committing what moves her Pokémon knew to memory and formulating a strategy in my mind to use against her team in our upcoming match.

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The four elemental arenas sat off to the side of the main road of Ever Grande City. They were separate from the main arena, which was much larger than all of them individually. Each elemental arena contained a battlefield themed after their appropriate Type, and today, my element was Rock.

The Rock Type arena was reminiscent of Roxanne’s arena, except that it was significantly larger and rather than just a couple smaller rocks, this field had huge boulders littering the terrain, creating an environment full of cover and shadows. Despite it being a Rock Type field, I could imagine that a Ghost Type would have a field day in this arena, and focused on thinking about how I could best use it to my advantage.

Rather than approaching the field ourselves, there was a section underground underneath the field that my opponent and I entered. I found myself on a platform that slowly raised up into the trainer box, which was elevated above the field to let the trainer's line of sight not be blocked by the number of rocks.

As both of us were slowly elevated to our proper positions, the announcers, who I didn’t recognize, gave us both an introduction.

“Coming up in the green trainer box is the terrific Theodora! This is her first year competing in a Conference, after dropping out of the League early on last year. She’s sponsored by Breloom’s Beans, your favorite independent coffee shop, located right past the doors of Mauville City.”

“With her experience with double battles, she’s favored to win this one,” the other announcer said. “She performed well in the November Mauville Doubles Cup- Oh? What’s this? The challenger seems to want to say something.”

As the announcers were speaking, Theodora had crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, then hit the button that signified you wanted to speak to the crowd. The sounds of the announcers ceased and Theodora leaned in to say just two words with an extremely annoyed voice.

“It’s. Tiffany.”

There was an awkward pause as the news that she had been called by the wrong name this entire time settled in and the announcers were left speechless.

“Ooo, Looks like we messed up, Bob. Seems like the challenger wishes to go by a nickname instead.”

“That’s right, Jim. Sorry about that, Tiff, we’ll call you by the right name from now on.”

She pressed the button to speak again, and this time spoke more than two words.

“Only people who beat me in battle can call me Tiff.”

There was another awkward silence as the announcers realized they messed up again, until they shifted the topic.

“And in the red trainer box is the adept Alex! They’re a Fairy Type specialist who’s both sponsored by a Pokémart, of all things, and was the runner up in the Lilycove tournament. As one of the placing trainers, they are one of the few to own one of those vaunted Key Stones. Think we’re going to see a Mega Evolution, Bob?”

“I doubt it, Jim. The Hoenn League has banned the usage of Mega Evolution in this tournament, outside of the finals. If you’re interested in seeing Mega Evolutions used in competitive play, check out the Lumiose Conference from Kalos, taking place this June.”

“That’s right. That’ll be the first Conference to allow Mega Evolution. Until then, we’ll just enjoy seeing Alex’s Fairy Type team battle it out against Theod- Tiffany.”

With the announcing out of the way, a referee with a bright red sweatshirt climbed up a short staircase to position himself above both trainers on the side of the field, and began to speak. His voice was carried out over the audience, so everyone could hear him properly.

“This will be a double battle between Tiffany and Alex. Trainers will use six Pokémon each, sending out two Pokémon at a time, until one side has no conscious Pokémon left. Each trainer has six switches available, to use at their discretion. Trainers, are you ready?”

“I am.”

“Yyyup.”

“Then begin!”

The referee swung down their red and green flags, and Tiffany and I sent out our Pokémon.

“Let’s go, Hariyama, Froslass!”

“Like we planned, Ninetales, Mawile!”

I half expected Hariyama and Froslass to be sent out first, and smiled, seeing my prediction was correct. Tiffany frowned in her trainer box when she saw the unfamiliar Ninetales, but smirked when she realized that Ninetales’s Snow Warning would create hail for Froslass’s own Snow Cloak to hide in.

As both Ninetales and Froslass disappeared into the snow, I didn’t feel much worry.

“Set up Stealth Rock, Mawile. Ninetales, you know what to do.”

Mawile created chunks of rock on her jaws that were flicked forward and blended into the terrain with Stealth Rock, and Ninetales started to run around the edge of the field with Agility boosting her speed. Hariyama approached Mawile with its palms held out in a fighting stance, and Froslass floated above the field somewhere I couldn’t see.

Tiffany didn’t give any orders, merely watched the field intensely as Mawile and Hariyama had a brief staredown. While Mawile was focusing on the Fighting Type, a cleverly disguised breeze of Icy Wind blew down onto Mawile from above, frost forming on her body, which initiated the battle as everyone jumped into action at once.

Taking advantage of Froslass’s hidden attack, Hariyama lunged forward with its palm thrusting forward, attempting to use Force Palm, but Mawile didn’t move to defend herself. Instead, Ninetales jumped out from between the rocks to use Confuse Ray on Hariyama, the illusions causing its attack to go wide. Mawile bit down on the extended arm with Psychic Fangs as Hariyama slammed the ground, and Froslass, above, saw Ninetales’s revealed position and launched a Shadow Ball her way.

Ninetales managed to dodge the attack through an Agility-boosted jump, and retaliated against Froslass with a Moonblast, sending out a sphere of her own. Hariyama pulled back its arm, the damage it sustained breaking the illusions, and tried to pull Mawile off of it. She held on and continued to pump Psychic Type damage into her target as it reared back its other arm to attack.

Meanwhile, Froslass conjured a series of ghostly wisps of flame around her body, half illuminating her face and making it look like a skull, then sent the Will-O-Wisps forward. They burned into Ninetales’s body, but by not bothering to dodge she was able to land her second Moonblast on Froslass.

Hariyama slammed its free arm into Mawile as she continued to hang on and squeeze, using Arm Thrust to unleash a series of powerful hits against her. Mawile let go but before Hariyama could take a step back, she dashed underneath its spread apart legs and jumped up to bite down with Psychic Fangs again, but this time on Hariyama’s back.

I would have liked her to use Fire Fang to burn Hariyama and reduce its attack, but Tiffany’s Hariyama was likely to have trained its Guts ability, which would have meant the burn would have boosted its attack instead.

The two Ice Types continued to battle it out in the air, launching balls of energy at each other as Ninetales jumped from rock to rock with Agility. Despite both Pokémon having Snow Cloak, their familiarity with the weather condition meant they were able to find the other in the hail easily. The sky was alight with the exchange of attacks as Hariyama and Mawile battled it out below.

Hariyama, at this point, was already looking seriously wounded from the sheer amount of Psychic Type damage it had taken from Mawile. If she was able to use Sheer Force with Psychic Fangs, the added damage would have likely KO’d it by now, but Psychic Fangs didn’t have the excess energy to be shifted into her move’s damage.

The Fighting Type had enough of Mawile’s assault, and jumped into the air and spun with unexpected grace. Mawile barely hung on with her jaws, but Hariyama reached back to pull her off and chucked her at the ground with Vital Throw.

Mawile hit the ground hard while Hariyama simply spun around and slowed its landing speed with Whirlwind. It looked like this was the end, but instead, I called out my orders.

“Now, Ninetales!”

Considering Froslass was the only Pokémon that could handle Ninetales in the snow, Hariyama wasn’t expecting her to fire a Moonblast at it. It barely saw the attack coming and braced itself with Endure, only for Froslass to swoop in and take the Moonblast for it. Hariyama relaxed to focus back on Mawile, but she had already got up from the ground and slammed a powerful, Sheer Force Iron Head into its stomach, knocking the air out of Hariyama and bringing it to unconsciousness.

Froslass grew angry as its partner was returned and conjured a powerful Blizzard that whirled around her, the move enhanced by the current weather. Ninetales tried to counter it with a Blizzard of her own, but the burn from Will-o-Wisp was tiring her out, and she couldn’t get the attack out fast enough with all the energy she already expended on Moonblasts.

The attack hit Mawile and, despite her resisting it, knocked her out.

I returned Mawile to her Heavy Ball, and Tiffany took advantage of the moment where Ninetales was the only Pokémon on the field to send out something I didn’t expect to see: a Lanturn. The blue and yellow fish appeared on the ground and flopped forward, unable to move that well outside of water. A few Stealth Rocks dug into its side as it sent forward a Water Pulse at Ninetales, distracting it long enough to let Ninetales dodge the wobbling circle of water. She quickly ran to position herself behind one of the boulders for cover, trying to hide from the enemies that outnumbered her.

Not wanting to let Ninetales be outmatched for any longer, I grabbed the Love Ball at my belt to send out Altaria.

My choice definitely got a confused reaction from the audience, and the announcers specifically.

“Look at that Bob, Alex just sent out Altaria, which removed the hail from the field. I get that they wanted to clear the weather, but was that really a good decision?”

“I’m not sure, Jim. Altaria, as a Dragon and Flying Type, is especially vulnerable to attacks from Ice Type Pokémon. I’m not sure what Alex is thinking, guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

The crowd laughed at Altaria’s appearance, not necessarily because of a poor choice, but because his bright yellow Choice Specs made him look a little dopey. He didn’t attack immediately, waiting for me to choose what attack he would be using, and flew around in the now clear skies from Cloud Nine.

Tiffany must have realized what Altaria was capable of, and in a panicked voice called out for Froslass to switch targets.

“Froslass, Ice Beam Altaria! Lanturn, try to lock down Ninetales!”

Froslass turned around in the area to shoot the crackling beam of light blue energy at Altaria, but a shout from me let him obliterate the incoming attack.

“Flamethrower!”

An absolute gout of flame flooded towards Froslass, melting the Ice Beam and encompassing her with the flames. The boosted super effective attack ended up finishing Froslass, and the moment it fainted, I called Ninetales over and returned her before Lanturn could regain line of sight as it searched for her position, a small Surf pushing it along.

“Looks like both trainers have to choose who to send out. Alex has the advantage here, as Ninetales was returned after Froslass fainted. They’ll be able to react to whatever Tiffany chooses.”

Tiffany pressed her lips together while she thought and I hovered my hands over two options. At the same time, Lanturn sent out a Thunderbolt towards Altaria, who nimbly avoided it midair.

Trainers only had thirty seconds at most to choose who to send out, and right now, the field was at a partial standstill. Altaria could avoid Lanturn’s attacks by flying far above the field, but he couldn’t attack back since it would require him to move in close and most likely suffer damage. There was a low effort exchange of weak bursts of lightning and fire, until Tiffany made her decision.

“Let’s do this, Plusle!”

Her choice let me decide on mine as well.

“Florges, I believe in you!”

The small red and white mouse Pokémon appeared on the field, and Florges appeared across from it as well. Florges closed her eyes and focused while Plusle ran on all fours to get next to Lanturn, getting jabbed with a few Stealth Rocks in the process. Once Plusle arrived at its destination, the field was encompassed by a light pink fog from Misty Terrain.

I’m glad we planned that in advance. Those Electric Types shouldn’t be able to paralyze my team now.

Florges floated up into the air, staying near one of the large pointed rocks, while Plusle went over to hop onto Lanturn’s back as it swam around with Surf. I leaned forward to try to get a closer look at what it was doing, but the announcers already began to explain it to everyone.

“Would you look at that, Jim? Rather than attacking, Plusle entered a pure support strategy. I’ve never seen Lanturn’s Volt Absorb be used like that.”

“It’s a wonder. Plusle is constantly using Spark where it's standing to both help it stick to Lanturn’s back, which also lets Lanturn absorb the electricity and heal itself with its ability.”

With the energy provided by Plusle, Lanturn’s speed suddenly increased as anything it spent was immediately restored. It shot through the field, its Surf carrying it at speeds it wasn’t reaching before, all while Plusle easily stayed on its back.

Despite Flamethrower being so effective before, I didn’t expect Altaria to be much help here, so I used my second switch to return him as the surfing pair positioned themselves underneath Florges. As I grabbed the Dive Ball at my waist to send out Azumarill, Lanturn sent out a powerful Thunderbolt, enhanced by the electric energy provided by Plusle. The attack was strong, but Florges was able to withstand it decently well and it ended just as Azumarill was sent out.

“I’m not sure what Alex is playing at, but isn’t this the second time they’ve sent out a Pokémon at a Type disadvantage?”

“Well it worked last time, Bob. Let’s see how it works now.”

As the announcers talked about what I could possibly do with Azumarill, I gave my team new instructions.

“Azumarill, stay behind the cover of the rocks. Florges, focus on Calm Mind and staying healthy. You’ll be the one to finish the battle.”

Azumarill shot off behind a boulder with Aqua Jet before Lanturn could use its super effective Electric Type attack, and Florges positioned herself to float just over the tip of one of the sharp boulders and focused.

What was nice about Leftovers was that while each bite only healed a small amount, it didn’t require much effort to use alongside a move. Florges pulled her held item out of her flowers and began to nibble on it while she boosted herself with Calm Mind.

My opponent now had a dilemma. Azumarill was clearly up to something as she moved between the rocks, but Florges was setting up. Lanturn could hardly hurt Florges, even with Plusle’s help. Tiffany had to make a decision who to go after, and while I thought she would choose between going after Azumarill or Florges, she took the unexpected third option.

“Lanturn, Plusle, return. Go, Wobbufett! Minun!”

The two new Pokémon appeared on the field, with Minun specifically jumping around to tank and destroy the majority of the Stealth Rocks heading towards the mostly immobile Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet was in mostly perfect health, with Minun slightly more damaged than it.

With that, the entirety of Tiffany’s team had been revealed, and honestly, I was scared shitless by that Wobbuffett.

While right now only one of my Pokémon had fainted, that Wobbufett could potentially mean two easy wins on Tiffany’s part. It was great at reflecting empowered versions of moves right back at whoever attacked it, and even more, could both lock in a Pokémon’s attacks with Encore and guarantee a tie with Destiny Bond. Fighting it was a sure loss.

But then again, Whimsicott could completely shut it down. But do I want to reveal him this early in the tournament?

While it was a flawed tactical decision, I wasn’t having Azumarill use Work Up or Belly Drum to buff herself while her opponents got ready. Those moves could have been used to help me win this battle, but I didn’t want to reveal that to future opponents either.

Florges continued to use Calm Mind as I stared at Wobbuffet, worry clearly visible on my face. The announcers were speaking about Wobbuffet as if it wasn’t a real threat, but I knew the truth.

Wobbuffet was a monster.

While this all was going on, Minun was looking over Wobbuffet with mischief in its eyes, mimicking stroking an invisible beard. Azumarill was positioned nearby, ready to attack at a moment's notice. I soon realized that Minun was setting up with Nasty Plot, and desperately needed her to move in.

“Liquidation on Minun!” I yelled.

Azumarill moved in, reaching speeds she hadn’t reached before with Aqua Jet thanks to her speed training in the Weather Institute, but rather than Minun reacting by solely attacking Azumarill, it purposely hit everything around it with Discharge.

Azumarill shoulder checked Minun, slamming into its body with Aqua Jet, and in response the Electric Type squeezed its arms and legs together to send out its attack. The electricity hit Azumarill in especially vulnerable points, dealing extra damage thanks to Nasty Plot, but it also hit Wobbuffet. In response, Wobbuffet’s blue body glowed blue as it took a large amount of damage and reflected that back with Mirror Coat. Since Azumarill was right next to Minun, the attack hit her instead, and the combination of the two moves immediately knocked her out.

The crowd roared at such an unexpected play, and I returned Azumarill while frowning.

At least she’ll be underestimated in future battles, now.

I still didn’t want to reveal too much of my team, so I sent Altaria back out. I already revealed most of his moveset back in Lilycove, so I didn’t feel the need to hide anything. The audience cheered when the bird and his goofy glasses returned to the field.

Florges continued to use Calm Mind, not moving in to attack, and I could tell that Tiffany was getting nervous. She clearly only had Wobbuffet to counter a set up strategy by using Destiny Bond, and Wobbuffet was already pretty wounded. I knew this would spell the end for Altaria, but I didn’t feel like I had another choice if I wanted Whimsicott’s capabilities to stay hidden. I doubted I could take Wobbuffet out without sacrificing another Pokémon, anyway.

“Dragon Pulse!” I called out.

Altaria formed a near-blinding ball of purple and white pulsating draconic energy, enhanced with his Choice Specs, which fired at Wobbuffet. It used a Mirror Coat and reflected the attack. The energy was converted into a large wave that slammed into Altaria, who managed to survive, only for him to use Dragon Pulse again. This time, Wobbuffet’s shadow stretched out to reach where Altaria’s shadow was being projected onto the ground. Both Pokémon glowed red, and when the Dragon Pulse hit the incredibly wounded Wobbuffet, Altaria screamed and both Pokémon fainted.

Like I predicted, Wobbuffet managed to faint two members of my team, using its counter damage and Destiny Bond.

Because of how Altaria and Wobbuffet fainted at the exact same time, the timer to send out the next Pokémon was the same for both Tiffany and I. However, instead of waiting until the end to not give me the advantage of knowing who would be sent out, Tiffany sent out Lanturn.

I responded by sending out Ninetales.

“Heal her, Florges,” I said.

Florges had almost maximized the buffs from Calm Mind, and with extreme focus, quickly refreshed the Misty Terrain to prepare for the orders I gave her. Lanturn suffered from another round of Stealth Rocks as Minun jumped onto its back, mimicking Plusle before it, and the two of them took off.

Hail surrounded the field with Ninetales’s presence, and she began to run around the rocks to dodge Lanturn chasing her with Surf. Florges stayed where she had been for quite some time now, and prayed to create a healing star with Wish.

I’m not happy about having to use this move here, but I can’t hold every strategy back.

Ninetales’s Snow Cloak and Agility let her weave between the numerous boulders to constantly break line of sight with Lanturn, but she was soon caught and cornered against the side of the battlefield. Ninetales backed up cautiously while both Lanturn and Minun charged their attacks. At this point, Florges had waited long enough since using Wish, and made her move.

In an instant, Florges and Ninetales disappeared and swapped positions on the field. Two powerful Thunderbolts shocked Florges, who managed to easily withstand them thanks to the effects of Calm Mind. Retaliating, Florges twisted around then snapped back to her normal position, creating a billowing spiral of pink petals that tore into Lanturn and Minun.

The Water Type almost immediately fainted to the boosted super effective Petal Dance, and Minun only barely managed to escape with Quick Attack, Florges’s attack following it and carving into a nearby rock.

Ninetales, meanwhile, just barely caught herself before getting stabbed by the tip of the boulder Florges was floating over, and the star from Wish entered her body, healing her of some of the damage she sustained against Froslass. From her position up high, she could make out the form of Minun dashing between the rocks as Tiffany sent out her last Pokémon, Plusle.

“Ice Beam! Take it out!” I yelled.

A series of Ice Beams from the healed Ninetales hit the ground around Minun. It desperately dodged, and tried to run to reach Plusle to work together to create the famed Plus and Minus duo. However, Ninetales managed to land one final Ice Beam on it dead on, and Minun fainted, having sustained too much damage from the boosted Petal Dance earlier, preventing it from ever working together with its partner.

At this point, it was a boosted Florges and a hidden Ninetales against a lone Plusle. Both Florges and Plusle were taking damage from the hail as chunks of ice impacted their bodies, but Florges could resist it thanks to her Leftovers and Plusle was even more damaged than before thanks to Stealth Rock. As Plusle carefully considered what it could do on its own, Florges’s Petal Dance faded and due to the Misty Terrain, she wasn’t confused.

Tiffany sighed, and returned Plusle.

“I guess I forfeit,” she said.

The crowd cheered as the battle finished, having enjoyed the proceedings. I felt great about my victory as I returned both Florges and Ninetales, who were both healthy and still able to battle. Even more, I still had the perfectly healthy Whimsicott in reserve, too.

In truth, this battle was finished when Florges began to set up. Lanturn just didn’t have the damage to take out a special wall like Florges, and Wobbuffet couldn’t counter her setting up since it required a Pokémon to attack it to retaliate. Minun could have boosted itself up to comparable levels with Nasty Plot, then aimed a Mirror Coat towards Florges, but since it was forced to defend itself against Azumarill, Wobbuffet had become too damaged to go through with that strategy.

A staircase from our platforms extended down onto the field, and Tiffany and I walked toward each other to shake hands.

“Your strategies are incredibly impressive,” I said when we neared. “Your surfing Minun was a surprise, and I’ve never seen a Wobbuffet used like a cannon. That was a great battle, Tiffany.”

She let loose a sad smile, and softly shook her head.

“My team is strong in double battles, but outside of Froslass and Hariyama, they’re weak individually. I wouldn’t have even been here if Mossdeep didn’t offer double battles for their eighth Gym. You did a good job, Alex. And please, call me Tiff.”

We shook hands as the audience cheered, and the announcers shared some final thoughts about the battle that just happened. With this victory, I had made it past the first round of the conference, and would fight in the second round in a few days.

Only seven rounds left until the top.

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Author Note:

Theodora aka “Tiffany” aka “Tiff” and her team was suggested to me by a friend. I had a lot of fun writing both her and the battle.

Froslass:
Both Froslass and Ninetales were capable of Aurora Veil, but both Alex and Tiffany were hiding that move to use in later rounds. However, it wasn’t like that would have made much of a difference, as Psychic Fangs could have broken it to remove it.

Froslass’s attacks:
210 SpA Froslass Shadow Ball vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Ninetales-Alola: 75-88 (22.1 - 25.9%) -- 3.8% chance to 4HKO

Ninetales’s attacks:
210 SpA Ninetales-Alola Moonblast vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Froslass: 112-133 (33.6 - 39.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Altaria’s attack:
210 SpA Choice Specs Altaria Flamethrower vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Froslass: 194-230 (58.2 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Hariyama:
Not much to say about this guy. He’s just a big, beefy, Fighting Type.

Hariyama’s attacks:
210 Atk Hariyama Arm Thrust (4 hits) vs. 210 HP / 210- Def Mawile: 96-112 (32.7 - 38.2%) -- approx. 96.9% chance to 3HKO
210 Atk Hariyama Vital Throw vs. 210 HP / 210- Def Mawile: 108-127 (36.8 - 43.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
210 Atk Hariyama Force Palm vs. 210 HP / 210- Def Mawile: 93-109 (31.7 - 37.2%) -- 82.3% chance to 3HKO

Mawile’s attacks:
210+ Atk Mawile Psychic Fangs vs. 210 HP / 210 Def Hariyama: 168-198 (34.9 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
210+ Atk Sheer Force Mawile Iron Head vs. 210 HP / 210 Def Hariyama: 153-180 (31.8 - 37.4%) -- 87.6% chance to 3HKO

Ninetales’s attack:
210 SpA Ninetales-Alola Moonblast vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Hariyama: 246-290 (51.1 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Lanturn & Plusle:
Lanturn’s a fish. It can’t move on land. However, like Lisia’s Corsola, Water Types can be trained to use Water Type moves to help them get around. And for Plusle, well, you’ve heard of a surfing Pikachu, but have you ever heard of a surfing Plusle?

Stealth Rock dealt normal damage to both of them, which was about 1/8 of their health.

While Plusle never directly attacked, every one of Lanturn’s moves benefited from Helping Hand and increased in effect as a result.

Lanturn’s attack against Florges:
210 SpA Lanturn Helping Hand Thunderbolt vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Florges: 88-105 (25.2 - 30%) -- 0.2% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

Florges’s attack:
+5 210 SpA Florges Petal Dance vs. 210 HP / 210 SpD Lanturn: 782-920 (176.5 - 207.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Plusle is more powerful here than its ingame stats suggest, so no numbers are provided for it.

Wobbuffet & Minun:
I like the color blue so I paired these two together. What’s that? Lanturn is also blue? Well, it’s also yellow, and yellow is the worst color.

Also, Wobbuffet is one of my favorite Pokémon, so I had to include it in one of these battles. You can probably tell by how much I hyped it up. I love Wobbuffet.

Wobbuffet’s Mirror Coat reflects double the damage it takes back towards the direction of its target. When it came to Minun’s Discharge, it more than doubled the damage Azumarill took from Minun.

Wobbuffet isn’t trained to defend itself, because the power of its moves is based on how much damage it takes from attacks. So when you see the arbitrary EVs I put in to represent general training, Wobbuffet is missing the ones for defense and special defense.
210 SpA Altaria Dragon Pulse vs. 210 HP / 0 SpD Wobbuffet: 138-163 (24 - 28.4%) -- 96.9% chance to 4HKO

Minun is more powerful here than its ingame stats suggest, so no numbers are provided for it.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Breloom
Dusclops
Electrode
Froslass
Hariyama
Lanturn
Linoone
Minun
Plusle
Wobbuffet

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