The open arena at the resort shines its brightest at nighttime. Hundreds of lights hang from the wires above, dispersing any shadows that dampen the atmosphere. Similarly, the trainer's fervor reaches its peak as they make one last push to the end.
Booth moves on in the bracket and fights in the semi-finals. His semi-final match is much more relaxed than his battle with Ben, but still quite heated. His opponent is a traditional trainer that is just trying to keep up. He puts up a good fight, but it's too difficult to combat Booth when he is on top of things.
Cubone and Booth move with their senses in sync. Stepping into the right positions, finding their openings, and landing each and every attack with enough strength for the audience to feel the attack's vibrations from the stands.
The opponent's Ferroseed quickly crumbles under the blows dealt by Booth. The audience's cheering replaces Cubone's heavy thumping in celebration for another one of Booth's excellent fights.
With this, Booth guarantee's his spot in the finals. Though there's still one more battle happening before the finals. The match between Gordon and Adela, the female traditional trainer Booth had watched earlier.
The match is rocky for Gordon from the start. Although Gordon has an Art to recover his Seel's injuries, it doesn't recover stamina. Gordon's tenacity and skill has taken him this far into the tournament, and he isn't giving up now.
Adela uses her Minior. By the looks of it, her Minior hasn't been used much in the tournament. Minior spins around the field actively in an attempt to resist Seel's Icy Wind. When Icy Wind weakens, she launches a Power Gem, giving her Minior cover for its approach.
Gordon calls his Seel back and dodges many of the beams. Unlike many of the other traditional trainers, Adela's pace is quite fast. She tells her pokemon what to do with enough detail, that her battles always look seamless.
Minior performs an Acrobatics and assaults the Seel. The swift star swoops in, battering the Seel repeatedly. Gordon blocks what he can, then counters with a Bubble Beam. A thick stream of water full of bubbles crashes into Minior.
Booth looks interestedly at what happens next. Minior's stone armor begin's to chip away. Minior's ability Shields Down activates. A red Minior is revealed to the astonishment of many in the audience. Pokemon that can change forms in battle are quite rare, so it catches many people by surprise to see one at the event.
The audience admires the form change and looks forward to a possible comeback in the making.
Adela calls for a Rollout. Minior flies up high before spinning down like a meteor. The red glow makes it look like it's on fire. Minior hits Seel, without giving it any time to retreat.
Gordon uses an Aurora Beam to catch the Minior, but it's too fast. The speed from Rollout allows Minior to evade Gordon's attacks and hit another Rollout. Seel is knocked back this time and faints a second later.
'That's too bad for Gordon, but he did pretty well. I'm sure he didn't understand how Minior worked either, so there's not much he could have done after it changed forms. In any case it looks like the finals are all that's left.'
During the 10 minute break before the finals, Booth goes to show support to Gordon after his loss. He congratulates Gordon on getting so far even with only one pokemon.
Booth can't stay for long, though, as he is called into the arena.
"Do your best, Booth." Ben says.
"Yeah."
"Play like you did earlier, and I'm sure you'll win." Gordon adds.
"I will, thanks." Booth walks through the noisy crowd to his side of the court.
On the other side Booth can see his opponent walking down to her side of the court. Her steps are characteristically firm as most skilled trainers. She stands up straight and waits for the battle to start.
'If she's feeling tired. It isn't showing on her face. I hadn't learned to conserve my stamina that well until after my second trip to Redwater. It's likely she has been a trainer for a while longer than me.' Booth is impressed, but he soon shakes away any unimportant thoughts and begins reviewing his options for the beginning of the battle.
He has already figured out how he likes to begin most of his battles, but it helps to go over it another time for it to be fresh in his mind when the battle starts.
When the damage to the court is cleaned and fixed, the battle judge gives the signal for the match to start. Without hesitation Booth chooses his Cubone.
He switches on his Integrator, and dashes to the center of the court. He looks up to see what pokemon Adela will bring out.
Adela sends out her Ambipom. Ambipom checks its surroundings as if by habit. Even if the pokemon is in a tournament, it takes time and training to get a pokemon to be so attentive right out of the pokeball. It's clear that the Ambipom wasn't raised as a pet.
Adela gives a command to her Ambipom, before Booth can gain a better position. Ambipom starts by flinging a Swift at Booth's Cubone. Booth knocks a couple of them down and endures the others. Adela whispers some commands and Ambipom stops using Swift.
Booth uses this gap to activate Rebound and get things moving. He then makes an estimate of how fast Ambipom could close the distance, before moving forward himself. Seeing that he is uncontested he goes a little faster.
Suddenly, Ambipom dashes up to him, but Booth isn't flustered. He slows down to adjust his stance and prepares to use his Bone Club.
Right before Ambipom breaks into Booth space, he swings his bone club to push Ambipom back. Ambipom is more cautious than he thought and avoids the club. He takes a risk as Ambipom is retreating and lands a swift blow with his bone club.
Despite being on its back foot, Ambipom returns a hit with one of its tails. A second tail follows, but Booth resets the situation by backing off before Ambipom can do anything else. He plays defensive for a bit, so he can have a second to think.
He watches the Ambipom closely and interacts with a few more hits. Ambipom's speed doesn't seem much better than his, but it always turns out to be a step faster than him on equal ground.
'Even if I start my move first, she always finds a way to get ahead of me. It's not like she's predicting my moves, because I'm switching things up every once in a while as well. Her Ambipom just does everything in an instant.'
Booth feints inside then gives up some space to retreat. As he's adding more power to Rebound he catches something.
In the moment when Booth feints his approach Ambipom puts up his block like normal, but then abruptly follows up with part of an attack. Booth quietly states at the Ambipom. He tries to hide his expressions as he has an idea.
'...! That's it! The Ambipom is following the commands as soon as it gets them. It's good for getting moves out quickly, but there's a problem. Ambipom never mixes up the timing on its moves. It might not be easy, but this gives me the opportunity to prepare a counter and use its strength against it.'
Booth lets three Sharp power ups seep into his Bone Club to start his plan. The move feels unnatural to him because he uses more Sharp power ups than he's used to. Booth was hesitant to do this at first, but his new discovery gives him the courage he needs to go forward with this strategy.
Without realizing it, by controlling both his Art and a move with power ups. Booth's coordination has passed a level that he wanted to achieve since the beginning of his tiered trainer career.
While Booth doesn't yet realize the significance of this action, a certain member of the audience with an odd green cap does. He looks on intently and gradually makes a more serious face. He opens up a page and begins to write something down with diligence.
Booth connects his move with his Art and begins to pressure Adela.
Adela expertly reacts to Booth's approach and prepares a combo attack. Ambipom tucks its body in and readies its tails to strike.
Cubone's Bone Club connects with the first tail. The Sharp power up activates in full effect. Its energy stabs into the tail and causes intense pain. Ambipom doesn't forget its training though, and launches the second tail despite its pain. Booth chooses to take the hit.
The second strike hits Booth from the left. He takes the hit with no serious problems. The first tail is out of commission, but the Ambipom wouldn't let him get away so easily. The moment Booth has been waiting for finally comes.
Ambipom lowers its shoulder for a Slam. Only a foot away, Cubone lines up with his own move.
Ambipom doesn't realize it, but Adela does. Ambipom charges forward, and meets Booth's bone club on its right side. It tries to break through, but Rebound pushes the two pokemon off each other's course.
Adela is shocked that Booth could guess her move, but her surprise doesn't last long. Adela passes it off as a lucky guess, and tries to make things harder to predict.
Booth puts a little space between him and Ambipom and uses this time to complete his link. He and Adela go through a few more interactions, and to Adela's frustration she can't seem to get a good hit anymore.
Adela makes a decision and Ambipom attacks first this time. In a defensive position, Booth has the advantage in countering his opponents moves. But he thinks something is off.
Booth confirms his hunch with his senses and uses five Solid power ups to buff his Cubone. Booth feels an addicting surge of vitality spread through his flesh. However, as the power ups leave Booth and enter Cubone, he can feel his consciousness slipping fast.
Ambipom's thin body expands as it unleashes a Last Resort. Booth gathers his thoughts back together and prepares for another clash.
Despite refilling Rebound not too long ago, Booth consumes its power at a rapid pace. He integrates Snakebite into his counterattack to offset some of Ambipom's monstrous strength. He flicks away Ambipom's arm and receives another arm to his hard skull. In turn, he takes his club to the monkey's knee.
Ambipom almost trips, but Adela's orders guide it through. It swings its second tail at Booth, which Booth dodges. Booth brings his club up and lets it fall on Ambipom's head.
Ambipom senses are distorted as it tries to use its injured tail to hold itself up. Ambipom stumbles and cries out once more in pain. Booth feels his energy coming back to him as the perfect opportunity waits in front of him.
He follows through with a final strike of Bone Club. No additional power ups, no arts, just Cubone's power shaped by Booth's will.
"Thwack!" A violent crack confirms a very solid hit.
Ambipom wobbles like a top. It soon falls over and stops moving. The battle judge waits a few seconds and announces the result.
"Ambipom is down. Booth and Cubone win!"
Booth releases some tension by breaking his link and turning off the Integrator. He retrieves his Cubone and walks to his opponent. Adela takes her Ambipom back and congratulates Booth.
"It was an exciting battle." Adela says a few words and puts out her hand.
"I thought so as well. I hope to see you on the battle train!" Booth smiles and shakes her hand.
Adela just smiles and goes to where the awards are being given out. Booth is falling asleep, but he keeps himself awake for the awards.
The event host seems to know the trainer's feelings, and gives out the awards quickly. The other members of the top 8 are called up, and receive their respective prizes. Booth is called on last.
"Finally, our first place winner, Booth Balboa!"
Booth receives the bright orange and gray card with a smile. The front of the card reveals the letters for 'Driggs Battle Train' in big bold letters. Booth puts the card in his pocket and walks down to his friends.
The event host thanks all the people and trainers for supporting the event. After listening to his words, the audience and trainers naturally begin to disperse.
Booth takes out his card and looks at it satisfyingly. He stares a little longer before bowing to his exhaustion and heading home to get a good long sleep.