Stephanie and I called out our final Pokemon and on her side her Gardevoir appeared, while on mine Manami/Lapras made her appearance.
The crowd cheered seeing these two impressive as well as beautiful Pokemon, and I saw Stephanie looking at Manami in fascination. While most trainers, or rather nearly all trainers, would be interested in a Lapras, female trainers were especially enthusiastic about the species for various reasons.
Meanwhile, I had expected Stephanie to choose Gardevoir, and I was hoping that it did not have Trace, since that would mean that it could copy Water Absorb, which would block Manami's water moves for the duration of the fight.
Still, I was confident Manami could still win even with such a handicap, which is why I still went with her. Well, we would see if it happened once she hit Gardevoir with a water move. At least there was no way for Trace to copy Manami's talent, or our main strategy would have turned into a nuisance.
Anyway, as soon as the referee gave the starting signal, Manami used Freezing Rain, to ensure that she would be perpetually healed while damaging and slowing down her opponent.
Meanwhile, Gardevoir used Misty Terrain, which meant that status conditions would become obsolete for its duration. With that move she unknowingly prevented Manami's next move, which would have been Perish Song, saving Gardevoir from a constant stamina drain.
Still, Manami ignored that setback and simply proceeded with the next step, which was to use Blizzard. Gardevoir simply dodged that by Teleporting to an area the move already passed since Manami was not trying to keep it up.
Still, her dodging was not a problem since the main aim of Blizzard was to freeze the ground that had become wet and cold thanks to Freezing Rain. This kept Gardevoir busy and was also in preparation for the next part.
Manami used Surf to change the field to one better suited for her. Freezing Rain would help her efforts and could have achieved the same given enough time, but it was better to speed up the process.
The energy/psychic shields around the battlefield made sure that the water did not spill out and the frozen ground made sure the water gathered on the battlefield, turning it into a pool/water field.
Gardevoir escaped Surf by levitating above it, and she had to keep doing so to avoid being submerged in the water. Additionally, the fact that Gardevoir bothered dodging Surf told me that she did not Trace down Water Absorb, which was great news.
The fact that Stephanie had said nothing since Gardevoir's appearance probably meant that it also had Telepathy. That or Steph was trying to emulate me, and no matter how emulate-worthy I was, I somehow doubted that she was doing it because of that.
I had to mention that the battlefield now looked spectacular since the water was glistening in pinkish light due to the still active Misty Terrain. Anyway, all this happened within the first minute, so the crowd cheered full of enthusiasm, and I could understand it since they just witnessed an ultra-small scale terra formation that ended in a beautiful "picture".
Nonetheless, Gardevoir did not get distracted by the new pool for more than a split moment. It briefly shone in pinkish light that I recognized as Future Sight before it began to use Calm Mind, but by that time Manami reacted and interrupted its boosting attempt with a Thunder, forcing Gardevoir to Teleport away.
Gardevoir appeared behind Manami and directly used Psychic on her, but she disagreed with her own Psychic. Surprising for most but not for me, Manami's Psychic actually matched Gardevoir's Psychic in power and prowess despite her not having the psychic type. Manami's higher parameters and advanced Psychic mastery were not for show after all.
They "wrestled" with Psychic for over a minute before they broke up the psychic confrontation. Manami immediately followed up with a Thunderbolt that Gardevoir effortlessly dodged with a Teleport.
Yet, Manami did not let up and released a Thunder as soon as Gardevoir reappeared, forcing it to Teleport away again. When it reappeared Manami released a Shockwave which it also dodged. That went on for nearly two minutes, Manami releasing an electric move while Gardevoir dodged/teleported away.
At least it did until Gardevoir after dodging Manami's latest Shockwave, split through the use of Double Team, dodging the latest Thunderbolt without having to Teleport. It used the time saved to counterattack by attacking Manami with a Dazzling Gleam.
Manami countered the move with a Hydro Pump, and for a moment both moves were in a stalemate that lasted until Manami got hit by the Future Sight that Gardevoir had released at the beginning. That attack not only hurt her but also interrupted her Hydro Pump leading to her being hit by Dazzling Gleam as well.
Gardevoir did not plan to give Manami any time to recover or counterattack, it immediately followed up with a Psybeam that hit Manami head-on. It tried to use another one but Manami managed to block it in time with a Protect.
She used the precious time that brought her to use Life Dew which healed her back to full health thanks to its effect stacking with Water Absorb. Gardevoir who had stopped its attack did not just watch as Manami returned to full health, it used Recover to heal all the damage it suffered so far from the Freezing Rain.
Manami seeing that she would be hard pressed to prevent that, ignored it and released another Freezing Rain since she knew that the previous one was about to dissipate. They were now practically back to the beginning plus the pond.
I saw the metaphorical sparks between the two before Gardevoir set off the second round with a Double Team. She then began charging an Aura Sphere, and all her copies did the same.
Manami charged an Ice Beam to attack all the Gardevoir. She managed to destroy most of the copies but Gardevoir managed to create her Aura Sphere and Teleported with the sphere behind Manami before firing it at her back.
I used telepathy to tell Manami to raise a shield which she did by raising an ice block using Sheer Cold, copying what John Snow used against us. I had told her about it and she applied that now.
After blocking that she turned her head toward Gardevoir and tried to nail her with a Hydro Pump. However, that failed since Gardevoir reacted swift enough to Teleport away.
In return, Manami used a Blizzard and kept it up as long as possible. The indiscriminate attack fused with the Freezing Rain and gave Gardevoir no place to escape.
Since Gardevoir was levitating in the air, too far up to get the protection of Misty Terrain, she began to slowly freeze over. Seeing no way to escape the Blizzard it used Psychic to stop the move from affecting its surroundings. Even the Freezing Rain was kept at bay through its actions.
Still, this took a lot of energy so it became a question of whether it could keep that up till Manami's Blizzard let up. It was Manami's Blizzard that gave out first, but Gardevoir looked visibly tired by that point since it had already suffered quite a bit before.
It tried to use Recover to heal itself but Manami did not allow that to happen and resorted to her electric trio of Shock Wave, Thunderbolt, and Thunder to keep Gardevoir on its toes to prevent it from healing itself. The Freezing Rain would do the rest, as long as it could not Recover.
It took another 3 minutes, but Gardevoir finally got tired enough that Lapras managed to hit her with an Ice Beam that froze her solid, rendering her unable to battle.
Once the referee declared Manami the winner the crowd went wild. Meanwhile, Manami used a low-powered Scald to melt the ice around Gardevoir without hurting it.
Once it was unfrozen, Stephanie recalled it and thanked Manami for the help. I thanked Stephanie for the fight, and she said that it had been great fighting someone her age that was so strong even if she lost completely in the end.
According to her, I seem to have rekindled the determination to get (even) stronger in her that had been gradually reducing by nearly completely dominating the battle.
While we were talking the referee came up to us and told us that the closing ceremony would begin at 8:15 p.m, so we had a bit less than 20 minutes to talk with our friends/relatives, and get something to drink or snack on if we wanted.
We thanked him before making our separate way to our respective areas/seats. I got welcomed like a king by my group and mom was the first to crush/hug me. Everyone congratulated me for becoming the regional secondary education level champion of Rota in both categories.
I could feel that everyone was genuinely happy for me, which in turn made me as happy, if not happier than winning the regional competition. Fifteen minutes passed by pretty quickly and everyone that made it to the quarterfinals in either category was called to the stage that had been set up in the middle of the battlefield within the last 15 minutes.
We were asked to wait "backstage" while the host initiated the closing ceremony. Once he did his part, he introduced the head honcho from the ministry of education that had spoken during the opening ceremony before leaving the podium to him.
The head honcho began talking about the successful completion of the competition and thanked all staff and personnel that made it possible. He went on to talk about how this was the second time Rota had held its own regional competition, which was true.
Weiss and Ace's year had actually been the last year that Rota had taken part in Kanto's regional competition as a dependency. Since last year Rota was given leave to hold its own regional competition to select representatives for the continental competition.
However, unlike Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and the Orange Archipelago which each received a quota of 16 representatives per category, Rota received a quota of 8 representatives per category.
The Sevii Archipelago was the same, and the reason for their lesser quota was logical, so neither region complained. It was their smaller region size, lower population count, and lesser "total military/trainer strength" that resulted in their lower quota.
Anyway, the guy went on about how he was proud to see so many talented students emerge from their beloved region, and how we, the new generation, were the future pillars of humanity. Jeez, no pressure at all right? Jokes, aside, it was not bad of a speech, and he kept it under 10 minutes, which was a huge plus.
The minister remained on the stage, while the host returned along with two assistants that were carrying some things. Once the host arrived beside the minister he called all participants that made it to the quarterfinals in the personal combat category onto the stage.
Both the host and the minister congratulated us for making it to the continental competition. Those that lost the quarterfinals were personally handed a certificate denoting their status as quarterfinalists by the minister of education.
The two that lost the semifinals both received a bronze medal, Saiki received a silver medal, and I received a gold medal. All medals were handed to us by the minister as well.
Once that was over, the host asked me to stay put while requesting the others to move to the right. Afterward, he called the participants that made it to the quarterfinals in the Pokemon battle category to the stage, and they repeated the awarding steps. Stephanie received the silver medal and I got my second gold medal.
Once all awards were handed out, the host once more emphasized that the 15 of us, 8 in each category, were Rota's representatives for the continental competition and the audience cheered for us.
He also praised me for being the dual champion, which made the cheers even more enthusiastic. The cheers went on for a solid minute or two before the host thanked everyone for coming and for their support.
That was the official conclusion of the regional competition, and everyone began making their way down the stage. The minister called out to me and requested to speak with me for a moment, which earned me some curious looks from the others, but I ignored them and waited for the minister.
He took me a bit to the side and informed me that he simply wanted to inform me that the Rota government was ready to support my application in case I wanted to apply to either Professor Michael Cameron or Professor Maria Varon for my apprenticeship.
Those two were the two most distinguished professors of Rota, so the government's support was not a small thing, especially since it meant that the chance of my application being accepted that way was 99%.
Still, I did not immediately confirm anything, and simply thanked him and the government for their willingness to help me. I told him that I was still contemplating whom to choose and that I was going to send out applications after the global competition.
I also added that both Professor Cameron, as well as Professor Varon, were among my choices, which was true. Anyway, after thanking him once more and once I confirmed that there was nothing else I wished him a good evening before making my way to my parents and the others.
Mom as well as dad hugged me and told me how proud they were of me, and after giving us a family moment, the others did the same. It took a bit but everyone got their turn. After the initial congratulations, we made our way to a restaurant for a celebration dinner.
Everyone was hungry and we had a reason to celebrate, so we booked a private booth in one of the "upper-class" restaurants and spent close to 2 hours there.
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