Chapter 94 (Patreon)

Remember to check out yesterday's Chapter 93 if you missed it!

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Since our battle would be a show battle, rather than a normal battle, Roark and I spent a while to make sure we agreed on the same limitations. While we both wanted a real fight, we had to make sure the battle would both entertain the audience and demonstrate that Mega Evolution was not something to fear, but to strive for.

Our battle would be one of the first demonstrations of Mega Evolution in Sinnoh. There had been a few smaller battles involving it, but nothing as dedicated to it as ours would be. Most Gym Leaders in the region didn’t have a species at their disposal to Mega Evolve, so they were still in the phase of training a member of one of the available species up and forming a connection to them. As a result, that left primarily Cynthia and her Garchomp to demonstrate the phenomenon, who weren’t a good idea to use to introduce the concept considering how monstrous her Garchomp was normally.

Since I was still a relatively inexperienced trainer, it was better for me to be involved in the demonstration since I could actually have my team fight at the level of an average, somewhat experienced trainer. It helped that Roark would only be using a low nine-star team against me.

To make sure the battle would actually be entertaining and not one-sided, Roark and I made a few agreements about how we would go about it.

The first agreement was pretty simple: no sweeping. Basically, neither Roark nor I would continuously use set up moves to power up a single Pokémon to easily knock out the rest of our opponent’s team. There had to be an actual battle for this to be a show battle, so Azumarill’s Belly Drum was out of the picture and Florges and Ninetales wouldn’t be able to spam Calm Mind. Similarly, Roark wouldn’t be able to do the same by spamming Swords Dance, either.

The second agreement was the important one: we already knew the Mega Evolution would come out last, so we decided to battle with Altaria versus Aerodactyl. In all honesty, this was a slight blow to my strategy since I had been planning for Mawile to Mega Evolve. However, her Steel Type combined with Huge Power would mean she could probably beat Roark’s Pokémon too easily, so we decided it would be best for her to sit this out.

I was a bit worried that Altaria would overpower a non-Mega Evolved Pokémon too easily, but Roark assured me that wouldn’t be the case.

Since Altaria was the Pokémon that could clear the field for me, and he was forced to come out last, Roark and I formed a third major agreement: no entry hazards. Moves like Stealth Rock and Spikes were completely off the table.

Additionally, at the end, there was going to be a full-on press conference once the battle was over. We’d get a bit of time to recover after battling to prepare ourselves. Just to make sure I wouldn’t mess it up, I spent a good chunk of my free time over the two days before the battle feverishly going over notes to make sure I could answer any questions reporters asked.

The preparation period before the battle was chaotic, but soon, it was time to finally get it started.

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The arena wasn’t indoors. Rather, Roark and his Gym Trainers had carved an entire arena, complete with bleachers, between two hills off to the side of the town. The place almost looked like a quarry rather than an actual arena, but that image didn’t hold up based on the sheer number of vendors that set themselves up outside of it to sell food and Pokémon merchandise.

I made sure to take pictures of the vendors and send them Marty’s way. I received a long message back consisting of Marty lamenting the lost opportunity, but he was at least still getting a good deal traveling with Wally.

The battle was set to take place at dusk, but Roark and I had to be on the field before the battle was scheduled to start. It was a bit weird that I would need to stand here for a while before it was even set to begin, but the point was to not make an entrance. The battle would get going as soon as it was time, so there was little reason to delay once the time came.

Standing in the trainer box gave me enough time to look around the audience to see who exactly was present. The biggest local name I knew would be present was Lucian, the Psychic Type Elite Four member. He was here in disguise to help out with the protective barrier around the field.

I also noticed Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Pikachu in the audience, as well as both of Dawn’s Pokémon, Piplup and Buneary, bouncing in their seats excitedly. Dawn’s expression was a bit different, peering over the field with a keen eye and a notebook in her hand.

Wait, she’s going to take notes on this? That’s unexpected.

Paul was across from them, near the top of the seats, staring down rather imperiously. Nearby him, I had to do a double take when I saw Steven in a stereotypical Alolan tourist get up, just sitting there as if he wasn’t anyone important. His outfit made him stick out like a sore thumb in the cool Sinnoh weather, but at the same time, no one was actually recognizing him.

The stands slowly filled up as people filed in, and as they did, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about everything going on. A few drones meandered overheard with cameras attached to them, in place to stream and record this battle for current and future audiences.

This would be the first time that my identity would be so publicized like this. Sure, I had competed in the Ever Grande Conference, but I would be half the focus here tonight.

For tonight, I had a strategy in mind to take advantage of Roark’s Pokémon’s weight and inherent slowness, but I was unsure it would work. It relied on sending out my Pokémon in a specific order to set up the field just right, but at the same time, Roark had two, maybe three Pokémon that could use it to their own advantage.

Roark already admitted to me that he didn’t have any complicated plans for his team for this battle. He would send out his Pokémon one-by-one to fight me off, choosing to rely on their raw strength and sturdiness. It was a mindset that honestly fit a Rock Type specialist pretty well.

I went over my plan a few more times in my head, all while passively watching the audience before the sound of speakers turning on echoed out from drones above. A large hologram of Professor Sycamore appeared in the air above the field, which contrasted against the first pinpricks of stars appearing in the sky above.

I whistled, more than impressed. They were really going all out for this presentation.

After giving the audience the appropriate amount of time for their “ooh”s and “aah”s to finish, the hologram smiled, and Professor Sycamore began to speak.

“Greetings, people of Sinnoh, as well as viewers from across the world. My name is Augustine Sycamore, and I’m a Professor from Kalos with a focus in Mega Evolution.

“Today, we have a battle for you between two experienced trainers. The first is Roark, Oreburgh City’s own Gym Leader—” The crowd cheered at the mention of their local top trainer. “—and Alex, a trainer from Hoenn that I’m personally sponsoring; one who reached the top sixteen of the Hoenn Conference in their first season of training!”

Once more the crowd cheered, but it was more subdued for me over Roark.

“These two will battle it out and demonstrate a certain phenomenon which has been all over the news recently: Mega Evolution.

“If you recall the speech made earlier this year by the Pokémon League President, Charles Goodshow, Mega Evolution is a temporary form achieved through the bond between trainer and Pokémon, helped along by the presence of rare stones. That form drastically increases the power of the battling Pokémon, but it requires practice and control to handle properly.

“I believe Mega Evolution to be the peak of what all trainers should strive for. I don’t say that for the potential strength it brings, but because it demonstrates the level of dedication trainer and Pokémon have for each other. Remember this as you watch the battle, and now, I suppose there's only one last thing to say.”

The hologram of Professor Sycamore smirked.

“Trainers! Are you ready!?”

Roark and I both yelled our affirmations.

“Then begin!”

The hologram shut off as a pair of drones flew down from above to float behind Roark and I to act both as our microphones and our connection to the referee, and we sent out our first Pokémon.

“Straight into Iron Head, Mawile!”

“Rock Blast, Armaldo!”

Mawile hit the ground running, charging forward over the flat dirt field Roark and I would be battling on. Her opponent, an ancient, armored Pokémon with two thick, scythe-like arms, opened its mouth to fire chunks of rock at her. The stones impacted the dirt as she zig-zagged across the field, holding her jaws forward as a shield enhanced with Iron Defense.

Armaldo only missed its first few shots before it started to better aim the rapid-fire Rock Type attack, hitting Mawile as she ran. Bangs rang out as they slammed into her Steel-infused jaws, slowing her down.

However, they barely slowed her charge, and she soon neared her opponent.

Jumping in the air, her jaws swung down as Armaldo swiped to intercept her incoming attack. Roark yelled for it to use Crush Claw, which was a Normal Type move that shouldn’t do much damage to a Steel Type like Mawile, but it did succeed in stopping her attack midair.

Unfortunately for Mawile, she only had a single set of jaws in her non-Mega form, and Armaldo brought up its other arm to swipe at her and knock her back.

The crowd cheered. Already, my blood was pumping. Roark had a grin on his face and I let the sounds of the audience fade out around me. Right now, I could only afford to focus on the battle itself.

“Circle it with Stone Edge. Sweet Scent to weaken it,” I instructed.

Doing her best to run, Mawile got back up to her feet and dashed around Armaldo. Her speed wasn’t the fastest, but at the same time, neither was Armaldo’s. Both its bulk and her small legs meant the two of them weren’t actually moving that fast.

Armaldo brought up its arms as Mawile swung her jaws to send shards of piercing stones right at the Pokémon. Its Bug Type meant it would have been a super effective attack, but Armaldo was able to swipe the first set out of the way, then it pressed its claws together to form a makeshift shield with Protect.

It lumbered forward towards her, but it was slightly more relaxed in its movements as a faint pink mist drifted out of Mawile’s mouth. I couldn’t smell it from here, but if I could, I would be smelling cotton candy. That scent was causing Armaldo to lower its guard due to the pleasant-smelling environment.

“X-Scissor!” Roark yelled.

“Sucker Punch!” I responded quickly.

The moment Armaldo was upon Mawile, it swung its two claws in a cross pattern to try to hit Mawile right where they intersected. She ducked under the attack in response, and managed to get between its arms and chest to slam a fist right in Armaldo’s heavily armored stomach.

It wasn’t her strongest attack, but it caught her opponent right when it was least expecting it.

“Now, use Play Rough, Mawile!”

“Ancient Power!”

Stones rose up from deep underground as Mawile was forced to jump back. Mimicking a technique from her Mega Evolved form, she slammed her jaws into the ground to launch herself at Armaldo. It wasn’t a jump anywhere near as far as she could do if she had Mega Evolved, but it was enough to bring her soaring through the air.

Unfortunately, the floating stones blocked her path as they were sent out in all directions. One caught Mawile during her short flight, bringing her back all the way to the other side of the field. She crashed into the ground and pushed back to her feet, but was forced to duck behind one of the rocks as Armaldo continuously used the move to litter the field with large boulders.

The previous flat arena was gone, replaced by one filled to the brim with stones of all sizes.

“Back off and pester it from range. See what it’s going to do next,” I hesitantly instructed Mawile.

She stayed behind the stone she was already hiding behind, then dashed forward to stick behind a few others. In the moments she was exposed, she sent a few Stone Edges Armaldo’s way.

So far, Mawile had been performing exceptionally thanks to the training we had gone through all throughout Kalos, but unfortunately, Roark had the significant advantage with his current field set up. Armaldo was able to pick up a boulder between its arms and use it as a shield to approach Mawile.

Roark grinned once it was close.

“Rock Smash,” he instructed.

Armaldo threw the rock right at Mawile, forcing her to just barely lunge to the side to dodge. She tried to scramble to her feet, but it brought its claws down to shatter the rock right next to her and send jagged shrapnel every which way.

Some of the stones hit her, but Mawile was relatively unaffected. She looked up at Armaldo, and Armaldo looked down right at her.

Rather than having it use its powerful claws, Roark ordered his Pokémon to do something else entirely.

“Brine!”

Pouring from its mouth was an unexpected torrent of salt water that inundated Mawile with liquid. If she hadn’t been so tired already, she might have been able to resist it more, but the move managed to hurt significantly more as the salt from the attack was essentially dumped straight into her wounds.

She screamed from the pain and panted heavily once the move was done. Armaldo raised one of its claws to finish her off, but before it could, and without my instructions, she slammed her jaws forward with a loud “clang” that echoed around the arena.

While that quick Iron Head had seriously hurt Armaldo, so much so that its armor had partially dented, it was still able to continue its Crush Claw attack and finish Mawile off with a slam straight into her relatively unprotected body.

I returned Mawile. While she hadn’t managed to win against her opponent, she had done incredibly well. It was a good matchup for her, but we always knew this would be an uphill battle. Armaldo was at least now injured and tired, panting heavily with its armor damaged and scuffed in multiple places. It was time for Ninetales to take advantage of the opening Mawile gave her.

A storm of snow and ice overtook the skies above the field as the ground started to become covered in snow. Armaldo shook but forced its shivers to stop as Ninetales immediately dashed to the side to hide herself with Snow Cloak. Excited screams from the audience rang out and I couldn’t help but glance over to Dawn alongside Ash.

Her brows were furrowed, and she was trying her best to track Ninetales in the snow. I couldn’t help but wonder if she recognized that there was only one trainer with the rare Alolan Ninetales here, rather than two.

I didn’t need to give Ninetales any orders since we had worked out a strategy before the battle itself. Using Agility to her favor, she stayed at a distance and randomly and purposefully appeared here and there, preventing Armaldo from tracking her exact path. As she did, Icy Winds blew out to coat Armaldo in frost that caused its slow movements to become even slower. That combined with its previous effect of Sweet Scent meant Armaldo was getting incredibly weak.

In all honesty, after everything Mawile had done, Ninetales could have easily finished off Armaldo with a single use of Blizzard. However, I was purposely stalling to let the Hail coat the floor of the arena with even ice and snow.

Roark was getting annoyed.

“Metal Claw, go all out!”

Armaldo roared, and the slightest bit of madness appeared in its eyes. It frantically looked around with its mouth opened and almost drooling. It took a moment for me to realize what was going on.

Roark mentioned his Pokémon had been reanimated from fossils. As strange as it was, fossil Pokémon tended to have faint memories of how the world used to be. Armaldo was tapping into those to remember what it was like to be a hunter in a hostile environment.

Armaldo suddenly slashed forward, its claws glowing a Steel Type gray. The Metal Claw attack slammed into the ground, only inches in front of where Ninetales was about to be. It yanked its claw out of the dirt where it had impaled the floor in front of her, then raised the other one to—

An Ice Beam hit it in the face the moment before it repeated the attack. The Pokémon fell backwards, fainted, with ice coating its head.

Roark returned Armaldo, and I heard some slight booing from the audience. They weren’t actually too upset, but just some people getting caught up with supporting their local representative. It wasn’t bothering me in the slightest, and I knew that they’d feel worse when I won, anyway.

I needed that mindset to win. Thinking I might lose would just set my team up to fail.

Next up after Armaldo was Roark’s Probopass. It was a blue, floating stone head with a massive red nose, complete with an iron filing mustache stuck underneath it. Two rocks floated at its side, looking like both wings as well as tinier heads at the same time. Probopass’s darkened eyes underneath an orange, hat-like shape on its head looked towards Ninetales, who was exposed in the center of the battlefield.

“Aurora Veil. Hail needs to drop, now!” I yelled.

Ninetales jumped to the top of one of the rocks in the arena, and howled into the air. As she did so, waves of pulsating, iridescent lights formed around her to create a protective cylindrical barrier that followed her every move. It’d been a long time since she’d first learned how to use this, but it hadn’t been used much simply because it tended to expose her when she hid in the snow.

The Hail stopped right on time. The clouds lingered, but they had been all snowed out as the battlefield now looked like a craggy, winter wonderland rather than the smooth surface it had been at the start.

“Flash Cannon,” Roark commanded.

Probopass shifted forward in the air as the two floating stones at its side moved to its front and spiraled around each other. An orb of raw Steel Type energy formed between them before it exploded out in a burst of light that propelled the attack forward.

While Probopass was slow, its attack was in no way the same. Ninetales, despite her speed, wasn’t able to even start to dodge before it hit her. Thankfully, the Aurora Veil significantly reduced the damage she took, but a resisted, four-times effective move was still damning for her health.

She pushed on, but I just returned her to her Premier ball instead. In her place was Azumarill, and I smiled as she appeared within the Aurora Veil that automatically began to protect her. Probopass would have an even harder time dealing with her, now.

“Work Up and Rain Dance,” I told her. “Use the rocks to your advantage.”

Probopass began charging up another Flash Cannon, but Azumarill leaped to the side to just barely dodge. It exploded against the boulder she was now behind, taking off a chunk of it, but not penetrating all the way through to actually hit her.

Hidden from view, Azumarill caused the clouds above to darken. This time, rain poured down instead of hail. Azumarill stepped out with purposeful, thunderous steps while taking deep breaths to set up a Work Up to enhance her strength. It was no Belly Drum, but it was at least a mild enhancer to the rest of her moves.

“Good job. Now then, move in,” I said.

Enhanced by the water coming down around her, Azumarill shot forward with Aqua Jet propelling her from behind. She shifted left and right to dodge two quick but weak Flash Cannons sent her way, then leapt up into the air to get right in Probopass’s face. Without giving it time to respond, she punched it right in its big red nose with a Liquidation to send it back spinning over the field like an air hockey puck that had lost control.

To recover from that momentum, static sparked off Probopass’s body as it regained its level, floating position with Magnet Rise. At the same time, the floating stones at its side began to charge up a new Type of move. The bright yellow and bolts of lightning coming off the forming sphere made it obvious it would use an Electric Type attack.

A piercing noise filled the air, and the Psychic Types managing the field immediately caused the volume to be muffled by the barrier surrounding it. Probopass didn’t use the attack immediately, but instead, purposely stalled to use Lock On to better aim towards Azumarill. With that, I knew whatever she did, the Electric Type attack was going to hit.

“Ignore it,” I instructed.

Azumarill charged forward, purposely not using Aqua Jet to prepare herself for this attack. When she got roughly halfway to Probopass, a powerful Zap Cannon in the form of ball lightning moved straight at her. It was significantly slower than Flash Cannon, but only relatively so. As it stood, Azumarill had no way to dodge it.

So, she just used Protect instead.

It passed through the Aurora Veil to hit the center of her body, but she had already brought up her arms and braced herself against the attack. What should have been debilitating damage turned into nothing at all. Azumarill was now a bit tired in response, but she was more than ready to continue fighting.

Probopass didn’t get the chance to charge up another attack before Azumarill was right back on its face. An Aqua Jet had brought her forward, but unlike last time, she grabbed on and didn’t knock it away. Multiple uses of Liquidation banged against its body, and Roark yelled out a new command.

“Discharge!” he shouted.

“Keep going!” I responded.

Instantly, a pulse of electricity emanated from Probopass’s body. It lingered in the air for just a moment, but the Aurora Veil lessened the effect of the super effective move. With the loss of that electricity, Probopass decreased in height by a small amount, forcing Azumarill to pause her assault just to make sure she didn’t lose her balance from that lurch.

That small shift actually caused a bigger reaction in her than when she was subjected to its Discharge. One solid Liquidation to its face caused its eyes to close and iron filing mustache to fall off as the Rock and Steel Type fainted, falling to the ground.

Just to style on it, Azumarill pushed back to backflip off the falling, unconscious Pokémon. I didn’t hear any boos from the audience this time around.

Roark tapped the drone next to him to turn on his mic. His voice echoed over the entire arena as he spoke to me.

“Surprisingly, a decent number of challengers against me tend to have Pokémon that benefit from the rain. Water Types may have the advantage over Rock Types, but I’ve fought against them enough times to already know how to handle them. Can you handle what they can’t?”

His mic turning off, Roark sent out his third Pokémon, a Kabutops. The arthropod with legs ran its white scythe arms over each other and glared at Azumarill. This was a Water Type, which meant that the rain that had been benefiting Azumarill was now also benefiting it.

Almost as if to taunt it, Azumarill used Rain Dance to refresh the rain. It would last through Kabutops’s time on the field, although I wasn’t sure if Azumarill’s choice was actually a good decision.

“Aqua Jet,” Roark ordered calmly.

The speed Kabutops moved at was significantly faster than Azumarill’s. She also tried to use Aqua Jet to get away, but Kabutops’s body was made to move fast in wet environments, its Swift Swim ability drastically increasing its speed.

Head first, it slammed into Azumarill, knocking the breath out of her and following that up with Slash. The attack carved into her stomach, leaving a rough red line in its wake. A Pokémon’s skin was too tough to be cut through just like that, but that didn’t mean Azumarill wasn’t hurt. The last dredges of Aurora Veil let her resist the attack before the defensive screen faded away.

“Grab it. Your choice of follow up,” I suggested.

Azumarill lunged forward to grab Kabutops before it took its arms completely back, but it was still faster, which meant that order failed to work. Kabutops leapt back on the field only to launch forward once more with Aqua Jet, rushing past her with a Slash to her side.

The field was still for a moment before the wound set in and Azumarill winced from pain. With Rain Dance up, Kabutops’s speed was just too much to handle.

With little to do in reaction, I decided to move onto the last phase of my plan.

“Surf. Drown the field!” I yelled.

Using both the water that had built up from the weather and the water pouring down around her, Azumarill formed a large wave that rose in height behind her. Kabutops lunged forward again, only to miss and swim right through the water. Azumarill kept building up her Surf.

“Just like that, Azumaril! Get the entire field covered in—”

Her body, which had been raised up by the wave, lurched forward suddenly and everything collapsed. Her eyes rolled up in her head as the water spread out around the field, Azumarill falling into unconsciousness.

Kabutops stood up from where it had been swimming into the water. It cocked its head at her unconscious form and slid its blades over the other out of habit. The field was now covered in mud due to both the water and the leftovers from the rain and snow.

I had hoped to make the landscape difficult for Roark’s future Pokémon, but my plan hadn’t come to complete fruition with that failure to use Surf. I wanted a swamp, but all I got was a mud pile. Heavy Pokémon would still sink into the floor, but nowhere near as deep as I wanted.

I returned Azumarill and snapped her Dive Ball right to my waist. Roark was smirking, and he had every right to do so. It wasn’t every day a Rock Type specialist easily took out one of their biggest weaknesses.

Well, I suppose for him it happens rather frequently.

Keeping the moderately injured Ninetales still on reserve, this time I sent out Florges. Kabutops would struggle to hit her if she floated in the air, and her Grass Type moves would be four times effective against Kabutops’s dual Type. I just had to hope they’d land.

“Stall for the rain. Go with your favorite move once it’s over,” I ordered.

Roark just pointed at Florges.

“Mud Shot, Kabutops! Slow it down!”

Kabutops lowered itself into the muddy floor, where only its head was visible, and it tilted it up to launch a glob of mud right at Florges. She was able to spin to move out of the way, but then immediately disobeyed my orders.

Honestly, her judgment was better than mine. I had no complaints.

Rather than just letting the rain peter out to lower Kabutops’s speed, Florges acted when it lifted its head up one more time for another Mud Shot. At her command, braids of grass burst out from the ground to tie its head down. As a result, it was slammed into the floor as it released its Mud Shot attack right into its own face.

Angrily, it cut the grass that was holding it down and leaped back, looking much worse for wear. Its eyes were red as it glared at Florges, and Roark gave it a new command.

“Metal Sound.”

Immediately, all sounds from the battle itself cut off as Kabutops rubbed its sharp claws together. I couldn’t hear anything, but Florges grabbed the sides of her head and silently screamed in pain. The moment it was done, whatever Psychic Types that were managing the barrier let sound come back out.

“Leech Life while it’s recovering,” Roark said.

The rain was almost gone, but almost gone meant still up and Kabutops rushed forward with its speedy Aqua Jet. It used one of the boulders on the field like a ramp, launching itself right at Florges. She opened her eyes a moment too late to properly dodge, and Kabutops hooked its claws over her shoulders to hang onto her and bite her on her side.

She screamed. Leech Life came into effect as, like a leech, Kabutops started to drain her of energy.

At this point, the rain ended, but that didn’t matter anymore. Florges might be hurting, and Kabutops was holding onto her, but in reality, Kabutops was in the worst possible place to be.

“Now!” I screamed.

Through the pain, Florges twisted and turned in the air as she was slowly dragged to the floor from the extra weight. Pink and red petals drifted out of the flowers on her head as she moved, and Roark’s eyes went wide as he realized his mistake.

The Petal Dance spiraled around the pair. Kabutops tried to unhook its arms to escape. Florges simply grabbed it.

Like a pair of dance partners, the two Pokémon on the field spun around in a Petal Dance through the mud. Kabutops struggled in Florges’s grasp, but grass grew up to tie them close. The petals she controlled dug and cut into the Rock and Water Type, causing Kabutops to twist and flail in pain, until eventually, the super effective move was too much, and Kabutops fainted.

Roark returned it to its Pokéball.

As it stood, Roark was now three Pokémon down whereas I was only two Pokémon down. However, both Ninetales and Florges were decently injured. As Roark grabbed the Pokéball for his next Pokémon, Florges created a Wish to heal herself for the upcoming battle. However, she struggled to do so as the confusion from Petal Dance was causing her to have little balance. A star went up and immediately winked out due to the improperly created move.

Roark sent out his choice.

The appearing Pokémon was big, heavy, and had a massive blue skull that stuck out of its head on top of its dinosaur-like body. Two tiny arms on its chest clenched into fists and opened back up as it dug a clawed foot into the mud to better orient itself.

Around its neck was a small baggy on an easy-to-detach string. A held item.

I honestly didn’t expect him to send out Rampardos next. I considered that to be his signature team member and had thought it’d be his fifth. The pure Rock Type beast roared as it stared Florges down, and without further ado, it charged forward.

“Wish, quickly!” I yelled.

“Iron Head!”

Florges put her hands together to pray for the healing effect, but she somehow slipped and leaned backwards. Her confusion was getting to her as she tried to lift herself up in the air to get away, but it was too late.

A gray-glowing skull bashed into Florges’s chest with a super effective Iron Head. The Steel Type move caused her to flinch, letting Rampardos follow up that attack with a Head Smash.

Its skull slammed her into the mud. When it lifted up its head, it revealed an unconscious Florges spread out in the mud below. On the bright side, a small, white star lingered above.

I returned my fainted Pokémon and whispered praises towards her Heal Ball. I sent out Ninetales next, since I knew her speed would help her avoid Rampardos.

It could run, but turning wasn’t its specialty.

The hail started back up.

“Confuse Ray,” I ordered.

In all honesty, I was a little disappointed to be resorting to Ninetales’s classic dodge-based strategy, but against such a powerful Rampardos, we didn’t have a choice. As it stood, Rampardos would most likely finish Ninetales off in one attack, even if she was healed by Wish. Its charges were just that powerful.

A beam of grayish-purple energy struck Rampardos right before Ninetales disappeared into the fog. Roark didn’t look upset at all, and merely watched carefully.

“Slow it down. Move down as well,” I continued.

Ninetales, hearing my disguised command for both Icy Wind and Dig, began to move around the field with Agility to coat Rampardos with frost. Its movements became sluggish, but the illusions from Confuse Ray meant it never looked the correct way when Ninetales reappeared to use her move. As she rapidly stalked around it, she made sure to stay within range of Wish for it to enter her body and heal her. The confusion thankfully meant Rampardos couldn’t see the Wish star and track Ninetales.

After a while, there were a few moments where no gusts of frost were sent forward, and I barely made out Roark’s frowning face from through the snow. I knew Ninetales had already dug into the earth, and we were both waiting to see what she would do next.

Rampardos shifted slightly as the mud beneath it was disturbed. Roark eyes snapped wide open.

“Now!” he screamed.

Rampardos ripped off the bag around its neck to shove in its mouth. It chewed into it, leather and all, as a bit of juice dribbled out. Whatever berry had been in there let it snap out of confusion, and before it fell into the hole Ninetales dug underneath it, it leapt out of the way to avoid it.

Ninetales climbed out a few feet away, a bit more dirty than usual. She turned around, not expecting Rampardos to be there.

She quickly put up an Aurora Veil, but the Head Smash broke through to finish her off, already weakened by her earlier wounds.

Rampardos roared as I returned her to her Premier Ball. The deep sound echoed throughout the arena as the audience cheered.

With Ninetales unconscious, I had two Pokémon left, one of which I had to save for the end. Whimsicott was my last option left, and Roark knew it.

I hoped Whimsicott could at least weaken Roark’s mysterious Fire Type for Altaria to finish it off.

When Whimsicott appeared, I immediately told him to use Sunny Day. I knew it just meant Roark’s Fire Type would be stronger, but I was forced to use it to activate the last trap I had prepared.

Whimsicott floated into the air and suppressed a giggle as he threw a flaming sphere into the sky. The clouds faded away as a fake sun illuminated the arena and coated it in sweltering heat.

Rampardos stared at Whimsicott from below, then took a step forward.

It then tripped and fell to the ground.

“Do it, Whimsicott!”

Without Misty Terrain up, Whimsicott’s Poison Powder could take effect. Putting his Prankster ability on overdrive, Rampardos was struck by the poison condition, a Leech Seed, and a Cotton Spore before it could even push back to its feet.

How did it trip exactly?

Well, the field hadn’t been muddy enough to slow it down as much as I wanted, but it was heavy enough that its feet at least sunk into the ground. When Whimsicott used Sunny Day, the ground had quickly dried over Rampardos’s feet, so when it tried to lift its leg, it got caught with an unexpected resistance that caused it to lose its balance.

That spelt its downfall.

Whimsicott floated himself up in the air and quickly used a Tailwind to increase his speed. He blew himself around the field at an incredible rate as Rampardos looked angry but nauseous from all the conditions Whimsicott had put it under. It was weakening by the second.

“Rock Tomb, quickly!” Roark yelled.

Rampardos dug its head into one of the few remaining boulders and tried to lift it up to launch at Whimsicott. However, its poison caused it to lurch in pain, so the attack that would have gone wide went even wider.

Rampardos was completely unable to hit Whimsicott.

Thus, while Rampardos had fainted both Florges and Ninetales, it ended up going out with a whimper, rather than a bang. The weakness brought on by its constantly draining health, as well as the slowness caused by the Cotton Spore gunking up its movements, let Whimsicott easily land a super effective Energy Ball that finished off Rampardos before it could do anything else.

Roark returned his Pokémon, then proceeded to turn on his mic.

“Once more, I’m impressed by your team, Alex, but you aren’t the only one who’s here to show something off. People of Sinnoh, you might have heard the news of underground biomes located across the region, but you probably haven’t heard the news that I discovered one, myself. Appearing now in its first battle in over one hundred years is a species long lost, found.

“Go! My Arcanine!”

The Pokémon that appeared on the field was not the classic, pure-Fire Type Arcanine of Kanto. Rather, its fur was darker and instead of a pale mane, it looked more like smoke. At the same time, its hair stuck out at points, appearing to be hard as rock simultaneously. It let out a deep and craggy howl that crackled through the arena to show just how ready it was to battle.

It was a Hisuian Arcanine.

The audience’s cheers were overwhelming.

Whimsicott looked at it from the air in interest, but a sudden sharp glare from the half Fire Type caused him to waver for a moment. Arcanine’s ability, Intimidate, was causing him to lose a bit of his motivation to fight back against it.

Good thing he didn’t use attacks.

“Same strategy as Rampardos!” I yelled.

“Incinerate them all! Flamethrower!” Roark screamed as well.

Numerous seeds, powders, and chunks of fluff were launched at Arcanine, only for the Sunny Day-boosted Flamethrower to sear them all away. The flames were kept up for longer than expected, stopping Whimsicott from using any more attacks, but then a “donk!” sound rang out in the arena.

The Flamethrower dropped, and the Hisuian Arcanine looked stunned with its mouth still open. Sitting on the ground next to it was a lightly charred Miracle Seed that Whimsicott just threw at Arcanine. It had been hidden behind the rest of his attacks, and it had been flung right through the fire that had been blocking Arcanine’s vision.

The arena went quiet at such a ridiculous move, and I exasperatedly waved my hand at Whimsicott while covering my face.

“Just... do your thing,” I mumbled.

Whimsicott didn’t need time to recover, unlike everyone else, so Arcanine wasn’t able to defend itself in time before poison-laced Leech Seeds dug into its body. Vines extended out of them to wrap around it, but it suddenly burst into flames to burn them away.

While the Leech Seed didn’t last, it was at least poisoned.

“Good job, now pester it with Energy Ball!” I shouted afterwards.

Roark shook his head to regain his focus.

“Bring it down with Rock Slide!” he yelled.

Arcanine dug into the ground with its back paws to kick up an array of stones that rained down over Whimsicott. He used Tailwind the best he could, moving around most of them, but a good chunk of the attack still hit him. Damaged, he managed to launch a few Energy Balls at Arcanine, but the Pokémon repeatedly feinted out of the way to cause the attacks to miss.

That exchange continued for a bit longer, until Whimsicott was forced to move down closer to the ground by the constant barrage of stones falling from above. Arcanine took advantage of that.

“Fire Fang!”

When the Hisuian Arcanine used Fire Fang, it didn’t quite look like the normal move. Sure, its teeth were cloaked in fire, but the flames were so extreme that they extended out of its mouth to form a trail of embers that lingered behind it.

Dashing forward, Arcanine moved right to Whimsicott’s position and leaped into the air. Whimsicott sent an Energy Ball right into its chest, but even that damaging move didn’t get it down.

It bit down on Whimsicott, landed on the ground, and shook its head back and forth like a dog with a chew toy.

Whimsicott giggled in the air above it.

Arcanine opened its eyes to realize it had grabbed a Substitute, and not Whimsicott.

So, Whimsicott hit it with an Energy Ball from behind.

Despite the several attacks it just took, as well as the poison, Arcanine was still standing, albeit extremely injured. It turned around to unleash a close ranged Flamethrower that Whimsicott was too close by to properly dodge. He braced himself with Protect, and was forced to leave it up as the attack did not relent.

Breathing out for far longer than I could hold my breath myself, the Arcanine let loose a constant stream of flame that seared over the protected Whimsicott. Over time, the attack weakened as it expended more and more energy, but at the same time, the poison condition meant it would faint soon anyway. Right when it seemed the attack was about to end, Whimsicott suddenly screamed in pain from his Protect dropping, the sounds of the attack landing giving Arcanine a second wind to push the last dregs of its energy into the continuing attack.

Whimsicott tried to float away, but Arcanine just turned its body to keep him in the center of the attack. With so much energy expended on Protect, Whimsicott was too tired to stay in the battle for much longer, and fainted on the ground.

Arcanine stopped its attack, smiled, and brought its head up with one last howl. However, that howl did not last long as it too, fainted.

When I returned Whimsicott, I noticed that his Miracle Seed on the ground was suddenly brought off the field with a Psychic Type move. I looked over to see an Alakazam making eye contact with me and holding it up. I’d be able to retrieve it after that battle.

The audience was cheering at the current outcome. Roark and I were both down to our last Pokémon, and mine would be Mega Evolved. It was time for them to see what exactly the phenomenon could do as we sent out our final team members.

A slight wind picked up as Altaria’s Cloud Nine ability forced the Sunny Day to fade away. I quietly wished I could have done that earlier, since the weather condition let Arcanine perform better than normal, but at the same time, without it, Whimsicott would have had a much harder time beating Rampardos.

Across from Altaria, the ancient, gray, pterodactyl Pokémon took to the air and screeched to announce its presence.

However, the battle didn’t start just yet.

Roark turned on his microphone yet again.

I suddenly got very bad vibes.

“Brilliant battle so far, Alex, but I have one last surprise for everyone here. In all honesty, I doubt Aerodactyl could deal with a Mega Altaria on its own. He’d put up a decent fight, but he just isn’t as trained up as the other members of my team.

“However, I still consider him a close friend. One of my closest, actually.”

My heart dropped.

Of course.

“If you look closely, around both Altaria’s and Aerodactyl’s necks are plated necklaces that contain rare stones.” Two holograms appeared in the sky to show close ups of both of them to the audience here and around the world. “These are Mega Stones, which correspond to certain Pokémon species and let them Mega Evolve. Altaria has an Altarianite, and Aerodactyl has an Aerodactylite. All it takes is one of these, a close bond, as well as something called a Key Stone to start the phenomenon.”

Roark reached into his shirt to pull out a necklace I hadn’t seen before. At the end of it was a rainbow stone with a black helix in the center of it.

I kept a straight face. I hadn’t known this would happen, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t expected this at all. Roark had been suspiciously insistent on saving his Aerodactyl for last.

“Well, I’m ready when you are, Alex,” Roark told me.

I gave him a nod, and using a technique I learned from Gurkinn, cleared my mind and held up the bracer with my Key Stone in it. That stone glowed alongside Roark's Key Stone, and both Altaria and Aerodactyl did as well.

With that, both Pokémon began to change.

Altaria’s fluff extended out to make him look more like a cloud, and Aerodactyl grew tough, black stones across its entire body. Both Pokémon increased in size slightly, but Aerodactyl’s increase in size made it look a true terror. Its jaw somehow became even more cruel and the black rocks expanded out into spikes. Once the light broke, both Mega Altaria and Mega Aerodactyl were ready to go.

It seemed that to cap off this show battle, we would be having a fight between Mega Pokémon.

No wonder an Elite Four member needed to be here.

====================================================
Author Note:

Cynthia
Lucian
Roark

I believe this is the cruelest cliffhanger I’ve ever done.

Notes about the fight between Alex and Roark:

If this was the anime, most of this battle would have been skipped over, only showing the final fight between Mega Altaria and Aerodactyl. It would have been the final scene of the “episode” that took place during the last chapter.

Armaldo was able to better handle most of Mawile’s attacks thanks to its ability “Battle Armor.” That ability lets it be immune to critical hits, but I wrote it as also letting it have a much higher physical defense than normal.

Rampardos has the highest base attack of all non-Legendary, non-Mega Pokémon (at least, at time of writing). To counter that, its speed is low, but considering charging is its game, I interpreted that as it can run decently fast, it’s just bad at turning. Here are the calculations for the attacks it used against Florges:
252 Atk Rampardos Iron Head vs. 220 HP / 220 Def Florges: 216-256 (61.3 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Rampardos Head Smash vs. 220 HP / 220 Def Florges: 306-360 (86.9 - 102.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
Against Ninetales:
252 Atk Rampardos Head Smash vs. 220 HP / 220+ Def Ninetales with an ally's Aurora Veil: 261-307 (76.3 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after hail damage

Hisuian Arcanine can have the hidden ability “Justified,” just like normal Arcanine. However, since it’s technically a recently rediscovered species, Roark didn’t have that trained up. Otherwise, Whimsicott’s new move, the Dark Type “Fling,” would have boosted Arcanine’s attack.
(Also, I’ve been planning Whimsicott learning Fling for a long time.)

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Aerodactyl
Alakazam
Armaldo
Buneary
Garchomp
Hisuian Arcanine
Kabutops
Pikachu
Piplup
Probopass
Rampardos

List of Pokémon that can Mega Evolve

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