Chapter 114 (Patreon)

I found myself holding the Pixie Plate more and more between my matches. There was something that just felt comforting about it despite all of its strange weirdness. Its warmth was familiar in a way I couldn't put my finger on.

The fact that the plate was innately connected to what was effectively this world's god was not lost on me.

I wanted to win. Desperately so. I wasn't sure what about the Wallace Cup had flicked that switch in my mind. Perhaps it was because I knew that victory was a distinct possibility? That out of everyone here, Robin was a likely candidate?

This wasn’t like Hoenn’s Ever Grande Conference, where there were other trainers that easily outclassed me. Even if one of my Pokémon was weaker than their opponent, they could still win by pulling off a clever strategy to reduce their points. My heart beat faster with the idea that we could win a tournament such as this. The Wallace Cup was on a whole other level than the other Contests we’d competed in.

The first match was a bad matchup: Mawile versus the same Vaporeon that knocked out Dawn. It wasn't that there was a Type disadvantage in the fight, but that Vaporeon moved like and as water to avoid and slip through attacks. There was a point where we thought she had locked it down to use Thunder Fang, but then it just let itself flow out from Mawile’s teeth and splash onto the ground in front of her.

Towards the end, our points had ticked down such that time was almost out and we were nearing the last of our points. The Vaporeon led, but most infuriatingly, its trainer stole my gimmick and refused to talk.

The entire match had basically consisted of Vaporeon avoiding Mawile’s attacks with its impressive defenses and mobility. All of our training had been for Mawile's close combat moves in an attempt specifically to avoid this exact situation. This Vaporeon almost completely outclassed her, and even worse, Vaporeon was a Pokémon that fought better at range. Fighting up close was just to taunt us!

I forced myself to calm down and better analyze the situation. I was more emotionally involved than normal and almost forgot we had something prepared.

Sure, Vaporeon tended to be able to take special attacks pretty well, but we just needed to land a single hit to pull off a victory. Contest battles could flip at the drop of a hat if one was clever enough.

"Dark Pulse," Robin's deep and modulated voice reverberated about.

Vaporeon, who was still close to Mawile, was caught off guard by her literally exploding with Dark Type energy. The dumb fish with legs was knocked back—not necessarily taking much damage, but certainly losing its balance—and Mawile charged forward at it.

Its trainer, dropping the mimicry of Robin, shouted for Vaporeon to use Acid Armor, telling his Pokémon to turn into a liquid. Through sheer luck, that turned out to be a mistake. Not repeating her mistake from last time, Mawile’s jaws crackled with electricity before hitting Vaporeon, so even though her teeth splashed through its liquid body, the super effective energy was sent coursing through it.

It clearly hadn’t expected to be hit from what was effectively inside its stomach. The Thunder Fang dealt critical damage to it and caused it to spasm from the pain. Using that to her advantage, Mawile spun in place, pirouetting, and sent her jaws right into the Water Type’s head.

In the end, we won the round by knocking out our opponent rather than the classic win via points. Sure, the end of it was won with a bit of luck rather than skill, but it was still a victory nonetheless. Mawile had obviously demonstrated her growing flexibility as a Pokémon. I was satisfied.

Mawile and I waved to the cheering audience while our opponent returned his Pokémon. My eyes lingered on one group in particular sitting in a row. Ash and his friends were waving with Dawn looking exceptionally cheered up now that I had knocked out the man who had knocked her out.

Today only had eight trainers remaining—well, four now—so the matches were far more paced out. Due to the nature of the event, the battles were set up with long breaks between them filled with commercials and interviews with those who had been knocked out. Even if a Coordinator didn't win, they were sure to make themselves known.

My Pokémon weren't alone in my room when I returned.

"That was wonderful, Alex," Wallace said. He was lightly clapping and had a cheerful smile on his face. "You've certainly grown as both a Coordinator and Fairy Type specialist."

Since I was in polite company, I took off my mask and wig to be able to speak to Wallace face to face.

"Thank you," I said, smiling. "I appreciate that. Mawile’s worked hard to prepare herself for the battle.”

Hesitantly, I paused for a moment before asking the question I really wanted to know.

“I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here? I would have assumed you would stay with the rest of the judges between matches."

"Ah, that's part of the trick, you see. The break between matches isn't solely for the ad revenue used to help fund the cup, but it also gives me a chance to personally speak to each of the final four contestants. This is the Wallace Cup, after all. I wish to offer as much as I can to the competing Coordinators."

I chuckled and moved to sit at the stool in front of the mirror in this dressing room. Dedenne rushed over to where he was helping with last minute practice with Altaria to sit on my shoulder.

Wallace stayed standing.

"I guess that makes sense," I said. "So, here to give me feedback? Or just to wish me luck?"

"Unfortunately not," he replied.

Wallace's face leveled out into a more serious expression. I sat up straighter in response.

"We need you to take a fall in the final round," he said.

Dedenne immediately squeaked indignantly, and the rest of my team stopped their practice with Altaria to practically yell at Wallace. I was stunned, frozen.

Wallace, hearing everyone's reactions, held up his hands to try to calm us down.

"I know, I know, it is a big favor. Do you know what winning the Wallace Cup actually entails, Alex?"

"Not specifically, but I can guess," I said tersely.

"Sponsorships, merchandising, and advertisement deals," he listed off. "Larger fan base, recognition, and expectation."

He purposely put a lot of emphasis on that last word, then raised an eyebrow when I didn't visibly respond.

"As the winner of a ribbon as vaunted as the one from the Wallace Cup, there's a sense of expectation that comes with that prestige. Every Contest you enter, you will be expected to win, and even for the Grand Festival, those who win the Wallace Cup tend to become that year's Top Coordinator more often than not."

"I understand, but my team can handle it,” I interrupted. “If that's all there is for you to say, you can go."

Wallace pressed his lips into a thin line.

"That's not all. People will be after you."

I scoffed. Like I hadn't already been worried about that for years.

"What I mean is that people will want the Pokémon of a trainer as noteworthy as you. You may not have won a Conference, or ever obtained that many ribbons, but have you considered your list of achievements?

"You helped stop Team Magma, you fought off Team Flare personally, you reached the Top 16 in your first Conference, and now you're beating Gym Leaders' personal teams. To add winning the Wallace Cup on top of that? If Robin’s identity leaks, or any of the other classified information the League has on you, you will have quite the issue on your hands."

I sent him a strange look. Wallace crossed his arms.

"Please, Alex. I might only consider myself the Champion of Hoenn in name, but I still read up on the information required to do my job."

I stared at Wallace. Wallace stared back. My Pokémon were silent, just watching the exchange. On my shoulder, Dedenne's fur bristled aggressively.

Honestly, I agreed with Dedenne.

"So what you’re effectively saying is that with all of our experience, my team is too good to win your cup?" I said slowly.

"There are also allegations of sandbagging due to your team's higher than usual starting—"

"I don't know why you're doing this, but there's no way we're purposely losing this cup,” I spat. “Sure, it might make our lives more difficult than usual, but my team deserves to win. They've worked hard for months, years for some of them, to train themselves up to where they are now. You want us to drop out because winning 'might make things difficult?' Wallace, I was captured by Hunter J. This was the exact reason we trained so hard on Iron Island for two months! There’s no way we’re dropping out!

“When we win, I say let them come."

My declaration caused my team to cheer, Dedenne squeaking loudly in my ear. Wallace just looked at me and frowned.

"Your next opponent is Lisia," he began. I and the rest of my team paused. "You can still beat her in a rematch before purposefully losing in the finals. There's no reason for you to push to the—"

"Get out," I said.

Wallace winced.

"Alex..."

"I can't believe I respected you. I can't believe I actually looked up to you. You were supposed to be a peak to surpass, not someone to tell me to stay down! What kind of Champion, no, Coordinator tells someone to drop out in the Contest that's named after them! And to throw your niece under the bus like that? Get out. I never want to speak to you again."

Wallace silently nodded and moved over to the door. I threw on my mask just in case someone was waiting in the hall.

He took one last look over his shoulder at me before he left and, strangely enough, gave me a big smile.

"You'll do well. I know it," he said confidently.

Then, he closed the door.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I was fuming.

I was angry at Wallace, and I was angry at the fact my next opponent wasn't Lisia, and I was angry at myself for not realizing Wallace’s trick sooner!

As a Fairy Type specialist, I should have known such out of character behavior was a trick by Wallace. He was all about raising people up, not telling them to back down. He even mentioned it being a trick at the beginning of the conversation!

Bah. Him telling someone to drop out with such a flimsy argument? He said he visited all four finalists. He probably did the same for everyone.

I mean, his feedback yesterday was also a cleverly hidden trick, and even more, I should have known his argument was flawed. After all, when Dawn won in the anime nothing he mentioned happened to her. Winning was unlikely to have any of the long term consequences he mentioned.

Both me and my opponent were glaring at Wallace as we moved up onto the stage. Wallace casually and confidently leaned back in his judge's seat and even had the gall to give us a slight wave. There was a brief moment of eye contact with my opponent, where an entire conversation was exchanged between us, just expressing our annoyance with Wallace.

Even though both of us were wearing masks, our combined gaze could probably melt stone.

For this round my opponent would be the Liepard mask Coordinator, and unfortunately for him, he was going to lose.

I had the brief foresight to return my entire team to take with me when I headed out, even though I thought Altaria would be the one to fight. Due to that, I had my selection of who to use, and for this, I felt it best to give one of my Pokémon a second chance.

Dedenne appeared on the field, mad after Wallace's trick and more motivated than ever to make up for the mistakes he made during our last Contest together. Our opponent, the Liepard trainer, didn't send out a Liepard. Instead, he sent out a puffy-faced Alolan Persian.

The large cat moved as if to groom itself, but when it noticed Dedenne, its eyes sparkled with amusement and it licked its chops. Dedenne’s whiskers twitched nervously.

For this battle, my plan consisted of four moves.

Charge to enhance Dedenne's Electric Type attacks, Entrainment to ensure his opponent won't have Limber, Nuzzle to paralyze, and then Thunder to take it out.

Now, while Dedenne didn't actually know Thunder, I believed in him. He'd spent months training and developing his electricity storage at this point, enough that his normal training had fallen to the wayside a bit. We would be skipping the intermediary step of having him learn Thunderbolt, but I could tell he had the capability to use either of the moves. We just need to put it into practice.

Above the field, the scoreboard flashed to display both Coordinators, our Pokémon, and the point total that acted as a health bar. A buzzer signified the start.

"Charge," I immediately called out.

Dedenne's whiskers began to spark intermittently as his opponent charged right at him. With a “Mrow!” the Alolan Persian leapt forward to jump onto Dedenne's floating platform. Dedenne immediately took a step before completely turning around. Neither Pokémon used their moves just yet, the Persian choosing to chase Dedenne around like a cat chasing a mouse.

However, there was only so much space to move on these floating, circular platforms. The Persian soon caught up to Dedenne and swiped with a claw. He ducked under the attack, then hefted his chubby body to hop over the next.

Unfortunately, the third hit of Fury Swipes managed to land, but Dedenne used his size to let the attack knock him back. He flew through the air to flip and land on the opposite platform. Both sides lost roughly equal points in the exchange.

"Entrainment," I ordered next.

Entrainment was a bit of a strange move, since it was so niche and involved tricking your opponent into being befriended by you. Dedenne had actually known it for a while, since before he joined the team, so I was unsure how he learned it in the first place. However, we needed to use it to ensure this Persian could get paralyzed, as I couldn’t remember if it had the Limber ability or not.

The Persian, following its trainer’s orders, leaped over to Dedenne’s platform to stalk around him with him in the center of it. While Dedenne didn’t turn his body to follow, he did move his head so the Alolan Persian never left his view.

However, right when Persian moved to be behind Dedenne enough that he actually did need to move to maintain eye contact, its trainer called out an order to use a move. At that command, the Persian let loose a loud Snarl that reverberated Dark Type energy into Dedenne.

I cursed internally that out of all moves, it had to be this one. Snarl would lower Dedenne’s confidence and weaken any special moves. If he managed to pull off a Thunder, it wouldn’t be as strong as it could have otherwise.

Our points ticked down. The Alolan Persian moved straight at him.

While Dedenne didn’t move in response, he wasn’t exactly doing nothing. It looked like he was grooming himself with his tiny paws flicking his ears and rubbing his cheeks. Right when the cat was about to lunge forward, he took the moment to dramatically twist his head upwards and give his opponent the cutest eyes he could. Persian skidded to a halt with its paw still raised.

To my understanding, Entrainment worked around the idea that creatures tended to unconsciously mimic other creatures they were friends with. Pokémon inherently were fine with fighting, so all it did was temporarily delay Persian’s attacks. More importantly, Entrainment meant Persian would now mimic Dedenne’s abilities instead of using its own.

If this Pokémon did have the Limber ability, that was no longer the case.

At Dedenne’s usage of Entrainment, Persian’s points practically rocketed downwards. If it wouldn’t have looked so strange in my mask, I would have done a double take at that change. I had no clue what the basis of that sudden ruling by the judges, but I wasn’t going to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth.

“Nuzzle.”

“Power Gem!”

Dedenne didn’t even get the chance to paralyze Persian before a beam of Rock Type energy hit him right in the chest. The Alolan Persian’s blue gem was sending out such a level of energy that Dedenne was practically encompassed by the attack.

However, Dedenne wasn’t going to let that move take him down. It seemed that the Persian was going for style rather than power, practically halving our points, but Dedenne was still standing.

Running forward through the beam, Dedenne managed to slam himself right into the Persian’s face, using the flashy Power Gem beam to hide his movements. Persian yowled and stumbled back after losing most of its remaining points. The Persian’s dark fur crackled with the electric evidence of paralysis as it struggled to retaliate.

“Show your strength! Bite!” the Liepard-masked trainer called out.

With Dedenne so close to the big cat, it was easily able to snap its head and lock its mouth around Dedenne. The little mouse was forced to use Endure to not immediately faint. He was just barely holding open Persian’s mouth, his paws and feet placed against the roof of its mouth and its jaw respectively.

Honestly, despite our points now nearing zero, this was perfect.

“Thunder,” I ordered calmly.

There was a brief moment of stillness on the field. All three of them had to take a moment to process what I said.

In an instant, a lot happened.

The Liepard-masked trainer threw his hand forward to begin to give an order. Persian’s eyes went wide. Dedenne turned his head to glance at me, eyes wide with glee.

Then, he released everything he had.

Sure, Persian didn’t necessarily need to be paralyzed, but it was certainly useful in preventing it from spitting him out and running away. Thunder was a wildly inaccurate move due to the time it usually took to be charged and aimed. That was only necessary if its user planned to fight afterwards, however.

I was forced to close my eyes from the blinding light of electricity sent out of Dedenne that absolutely encompassed the entire field. Both Persian and Dedenne screamed as he used that attack. The buzzer went off in the middle of the Thunder, declaring the match in our favor, and Dedenne hurriedly squeezed the last bit of energy out of him.

He let himself fall and land on the ground, panting heavily. Persian was sizzling but still conscious. However, the Thunder had definitely made it look unimpressive with how wildly it had been flailing.

Dedenne gave the crowd a smile and wavered on his feet. The Liepard-masked trainer returned his Pokémon, and he and I exchanged a nod of respect.

The audience was going crazy. I honestly felt a bit dizzy on my own feet. Dedenne was returned to his Pokéball soon enough, and I, as Robin, walked off the field.

I couldn’t wipe the mad grin off my face.

Just like what happened in Lilycove, we were heading to the finals. This time, however, Lisia wouldn’t be the one to win.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I expected to take part in interviews or something of the like, but there wasn’t anything for Lisia or I to do over the break. The two of us sat in our private dressing rooms, waiting for the final round to start.

Altaria was in front of me, preening himself in preparation for his match. Around his neck was his plated necklace containing his Altarianite, as both he and Ali the Altaria would be fighting Mega Evolved, as promised.

The rest of my team was around him, basically resting while watching Altaria nervously. Unlike them, he hadn’t been training to compete in Contests for very long, but he was at least motivated to take out his opponent and prove himself the stronger dragon.

I could see Florges mumbling to herself under her breath. Honestly, out of everyone here, she seemed the most nervous. Ninetales tried to nudge Florges with her nose to get her to calm down. It didn’t work, but Florges did send a small smile her way.

The television went over a pair of interviews with the two losing contestants. My team and I sat back and let them run, idly watching without really speaking or planning. Altaria didn’t pay attention at all. I didn’t feel like taking the time to go over a plan and stress us out even more.

I did have a plan, but the focus of the battle would be adapting to what Lisia threw at us and hopefully maneuvering her into a position to finish off her points. This would be a test of our growing skill over the past few months rather than another application of pre-planned battle strategy. I either needed to get better, or I would lose.

There were a few advertisements that played, mostly showing off various fashion lines and foods that claimed to make a Pokémon’s scales shinier or pelt silkier. None caught my attention, and no one came to bring me or Lisia out to talk beforehand.

Soon enough, someone knocked on my door to inform me that “Robin” needed to be on stage soon. I looked to Altaria, who stared back emotionlessly, then returned him and only him. Steven would be down shortly to bring everyone else up to the viewing box at the top of the arena, Ponyta included.

As I left and walked towards the stage, Lisia unexpectedly turned a corner in the hallway and skipped over to walk alongside me.

“So, the finals, huh?” she said cheerfully.

“Feels a bit purposefully planned,” I commented. “That you challenged me and now we’re having a rematch in such a way to claim the ribbon.”

Lisia hummed.

“Hmm... kind of? Uncle Wall doesn’t play favorites, but a lot of tournament structures like these try to make sure matchups between two favorites like this would happen. Usually they try to place the stronger contestants away from each other to make sure big matchups happen in the final rounds. It’s why you went against that guy with the Liepard mask, after all.”

“Wait, that was intentional?”

“Not planned, but I imagine the people Uncle Wall hired to organize everything wanted the two masked Coordinators to face off in one round. It was an interesting match! Very funny, considering it was a Persian versus a Dedenne, and Dedenne won. Reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons.”

“Our match will be more interesting than that,” I stated. “We need to go to our respective sides, Lisia. Good luck.”

Lisia blinked and turned her head forward where I had paused right in front of the exit to the stage. Eyes widening, she began to run off to go to her side of the field.

“Yeah! Good luck to you too, Al— Robin!” she yelled.

We split apart, or more specifically, Lisia ran to go to her exit. There were a few moments of waiting before a stage hand gave us the all clear, and we left to emerge to the fervent roars of the audience.

The staircase that led to the elevated trainer box felt so much more imposing now that I knew my team and I were so close to winning it all. I slowly climbed the stairs to reach the proper position and stare at Lisia.

“The final round of the Wallace Cup! A battle between two brilliant Coordinators!” The master of ceremonies cheered. She didn’t have much else to say now that Lisia and I were out.

“The final battle of the Wallace Cup begins now!”

“Altaria.”

“Ali! Come out and dazzle them!”

Honestly, the difference between our demeanors was a little funny, especially with how differently both our Altaria were displaying their Mega Stones. Altaria emphasized the stone itself around his chest, while Ali the Altaria had it tied around a foot with a bangle.

Neither Lisia nor I waited to set things up properly, immediately Mega Evolving our Pokémon to start the match. There was no shift in points, but seeing such a synchronized transformation sent the audience into a frenzy.

“Incredible! Normally mirror matches are considered boring, but here? Never before have we seen two identical Mega Pokémon go at it!” the announcer shouted.

I smiled, although it was hidden under my mask. Lisia and I had vastly different takes on how to train an Altaria, so even if this was “just” a mirror match, it would be definitely entertaining.

Two almost identical fluffy clouds took to the air, although Ali was slightly larger than Altaria. The sky was filled with their feathers as the pair of Dragon Types began to passively circle each other in the skies.

“Sing for them,” I ordered.

“Strut your stuff!” Lisia yelled.

Of course, Altaria wasn’t really the singing type, so he chose to scream instead. Pixilite-boosted Hyper Voices were sent forward in waves at Ali, who rapidly flew in a pattern I immediately recognized as Dragon Dance. I didn’t yet have Altaria do much else, however.

Our points were ticking down just from the sheer grace Ali was demonstrating. Altaria was flying well enough, but our lack of accuracy and Ali’s movements meant Lisia was already in the lead.

We were waiting for the right moment.

The Dragon Dance continued until Lisia seemed to feel her Pokémon had just the right speed when she ordered her Pokémon to move in.

“Attack with Return!” she yelled.

Ali shifted in its dance to rush straight at Altaria in the air, willingly tanking a Hyper Voice just to cost us points when it didn’t react. Its body glowed with pink energy from the attack converted to the Fairy Type with Pixilate. It sought to “return” the favor of Lisia’s friendship with devastating damage, as per the move’s name.

Altaria wouldn’t be able to dodge, but that was the point.

“Power Swap.”

Sure, Altaria was hit by the powerful attack, and sure, it dealt super effective damage due to the Pixilate conversion, but he was still able to wrap his wings around Ali and use his TM move to “exchange” his lack of self-buffs with Ali’s uses of Dragon Dance. Altaria now became the stronger one thanks to his thief of its Dragon Dance.

With his wings still around Ali, neither of them could fly. They began to plummet to the ground. Despite Ali being immune to the move, Altaria used Dragonbreath to breathe flames into its face and force it to shut its eyes.

The pair crashed into the floating platforms, sending up a huge splash of water from the force of the impact. Both of our points ticked down, but Lisia lost slightly more than me. We were about even.

When the falling water droplets cleared, both Mega Evolved Pokémon’s forms became clear. Altaria was resting up with Roost to recover from the damage he just took, with Ali doing the same right across from him. With such an incredible exchange happening so quickly in the match, the audience was practically ecstatic.

Lisia didn’t frown, but her smile visibly lowered. Her eyes flicked between the two Mega Evolved birds on the field. Then, her eyes widened slightly, clearly coming up with an idea.

“Ali, get a Tailwind up. Go back to your dance.”

“Cotton Guard.”

Altaria lingered on the ground as Ali took to the skies, using Dragon Dance to re-boost its stats. As it did, winds picked up to increase its speed even more, allowing it to move with even more grace and accuracy.

All the while, Altaria stayed still and let his feathers encompass him even more. Cotton Guard came into effect, increasing his physical resistances. He continued to use Roost, too, increasing his current vitality at the same time.

Lisia smiled and pointed forward.

“Aerial Ace!”

I said nothing. Altaria would know what to do.

Since Ali had only been repeating its dance and nothing else, we hadn’t lost many points. However, when it pulled up into a loop only to rocket towards Altaria with an extremely fast attack, our points were chunked on impact.

Altaria tumbled back a bit, but Cotton Guard softened the blow. He used this opportunity to screech a Hyper Voice right into Ali’s ear when it got close. The bird Pokémon’s feathers stuck out on end from the sheer volume. Though not fainted, its flight back up into the heavens was a lot slower.

Altaria finally got off the ground to follow after him.

Lisia looked a bit more hesitant, but she didn’t let her cheerful demeanor leave her face. Honestly, it looked exhausting to keep such an expression on constantly. I was happy I had my mask.

“Perfect, Ali!” she cheered, as if that was to plan. “Now, show the audience your beautiful song!”

That command almost made me panic, knowing that most Altaria were capable of learning Sing. Lisia’s order to use Sing was actually a great move here, as it meant Ali could demonstrate its beautiful voice while also forcing Altaria to fall asleep. However, both she and I knew that Altaria could technically prevent that if he used Uproar. The issue with telling him to do so is that he wouldn’t be able to use any other moves, and an attack that was basically just a tantrum wouldn’t look good in a Contest.

She was forcing us to choose between having Altaria fall asleep or losing the battle with Uproar. It would have been a well played decision if I hadn’t already worked out a counter.

Why not let Altaria fall asleep?

“Take Down,” I ordered.

This wasn’t a move Altaria had used in a long time, but he still managed to use it just fine. As the first notes of Ali’s beautiful song filled the arena, Altaria practically fell asleep right there and then. However, he was able to position himself just right that his momentum let him slam into Ali, dealing Fairy Type damage thanks to Pixilate and throwing off Ali’s flight thanks to Altaria’s Cotton Guard catching his opponent in his fluff.

Ali’s song was interrupted by an ungraceful squawk as the pair began to plummet to the ground. Again. Falling was practically Altaria’s speciality at this point.

The end result of this clash meant both Lisia and my points dropped even lower, but we were about equal, with about a third left. Both of us had had our share of performing better than the other, except Lisia was slightly better off.

The pair of Altaria slammed into a platform. With the sheer amount of water entering the sky, I would have said Rain Dance had been used if such a case was possible with Altaria’s Cloud Nine.

With the impact out of the way, Ali wormed itself out from under Altaria and flapped its wings out to dry them off without taking to the air. Altaria, however, stayed asleep.

“This is it, Ali! It’s in the perfect position for Moonblast!”

I think the only reason my and Altaria’s points hadn’t ticked all the way down here is because it was obvious I had Altaria purposefully be affected by Sing. Crashing into the ground unconscious would have likely rendered Altaria out of points in any other situation. I had a plan.

I took a few steps forward to get to the edge of my trainer box then turned off both my microphone and my voice modulator on my mask. The audience screamed excitedly when I did that since I had to reach under the mask to turn it off, making it look like I was about to take off the mask, but they calmed down when I realized I wasn’t.

I took a deep breath. Ali was taking a moment to charge up a Moonblast to make the attack even more beautiful than it usually looked.

There was a reason I was willing to let Altaria fall asleep. I knew my Pokémon well, and I knew what could get him to wake up. I’d likely regret this in the future, but if this is what I needed to do to win the cup, I was willing to make the sacrifice. My team deserved it.

“Altaria, if you take Ali out with Hyper Beam right now I won’t try to push you off of my head for the next week.”

Altaria’s eyes snapped open. Ali was completely caught off guard by the searing beam of Fairy Type energy immediately sent its way. The Hyper Beam, a Normal Type move usually, was converted and enhanced by Pixilate and then even further boosted by Altaria's shared Type with it. The unpracticed move meant Ali didn't faint, but the point was that it looked like Ali should have fainted.

Altaria's surprise awakening and following unleashing of a pink Hyper Beam meant the last of Lisia's points were practically snapped away to zero. The buzzer marked the match in our favor.

Lisia looked stunned. Ali looked singed and similarly surprised. Cheers rang out over the entire arena as they yelled Robin’s name.

I was so, so proud of my team. My head scanned the crowds and I paused once I reached a certain sight.

All the way in the back, practically against the wall, Steven sat with my Pokémon in seats of their own. They weren’t in the viewing box like I expected, but out in the open. Even more, it wasn’t only my Pokémon I had on me there with him. Azumarill, Kirlia, and Carbink were out with him too, every single one of my team members cheering us on.

My hand hit my mask as I unconsciously tried to wipe a tear out of my eye. I laughed at my own foolishness.

I didn’t get much time to enjoy my victory after that, as Altaria was now up on the platform, still in his Mega Form. There was a brief pause when I realized what was about to happen before he slammed into me, his enhanced fluff and all.

I was met with a cloud of feathers encompassing my whole being. I let my arms wrap around Altaria and laughed with all my might.

We had done it, somehow. We had won the Wallace Cup.

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

Quick note about Dedenne’s match: Normal Persian has the Limber ability, Alolan Persian does not. Alex got that mixed up. The mistake was intentional.

List of TMs Alex recently bought, with taught TMs being listed in italics.
TMs (reusable):
-Dark Pulse: Ninetales, Mawile
-Shadow Ball: Kirlia, Mawile, Whimsicott
-Psychic: Florges, Whimsicott, Carbink
TRs (single-use):
-Pollen Puff: Florges
-High Horsepower: Ponyta
-Wild Charge: Ponyta

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter (contains spoilers):
Alolan Persian
Liepard
Vaporeon

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