Words: 27k+
Links: -https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/23597
-https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14270899/1/Ever-Play-Competitive
( The Pokemon World is amazing. Filled with monsters that can bring both joy and sorrow. Most associate Pokemon with fond memories. For Cloud, his fond memories are filled with raging in competitive Pokemon battles. The difference between now and then is that the Pokemon were pixels on a screen. Now he walks among them. SI )
Chapter 1
Betas: A Stagnant Existance
Got a bit inspired by reading Villainous Ventures, Livestreaming My Pokemon Journey & Hard Enough to give myself a try at it.
Summary: The Pokemon World is amazing. Filled with monsters that can bring both joy and sorrow. Most associate Pokemon with fond memories. For Cloud, his fond memories are filled with raging in competitive Pokemon battles. The difference between now and then is that the Pokemon were pixels on a screen. Now he walks among them.
"Birds flying high~ You know how I feel, Sun in the sky, You know how I feel~ Breeze drift-"
"Ugh," I groaned, groggily reaching over to my phone to turn off my alarm. Ignoring the notifications on my phone, I went back to bed.
"Good morning sir," the voice of my Rotom echoed throughout the room, making me hiss at the noise. Following this, Rotom opened the curtains and started playing some morning music.
"You know what, I hate you Rotom, but I hate myself even more for coming up with this stupid idea… Even if it's effective." I grumble to myself, finally getting out of bed. "How long was I out?"
"3 hours."
"Then let me sleep another three!" I barked, feeling the itch to just put Rotom in his Pokeball.
"It's not in your best interest to sleep at the moment," his increasingly annoying voice replied. "It seems that today will be interesting, to say the least."
"Shit, did I forget something?" I panicked. "Who's birthday is it?"
"That's not the case sir," he replied with another impassive answer. "But as I said before, it is not in your best interest to go back to bed."
"Oh, it's always 'Not in my best interest' this or that. You're not my mom," I grumble, putting on a pair of socks.
"No, but I am your butler who doesn't get paid enough to deal with you on a regular basis."
I paused for a moment to look at the speakers "But you don't get paid."
"My point exactly, sir."
Flipping off my Rotom-butler, I get dressed, annoyed that my coffee won't be in my hands for another 5 minutes at least.
"Any news?"
"It is 19 degrees Celsius with mostly cloudy skies. Today, you can expect clouds with a chance of showers. With a high of 21 degrees and a low of 12 degrees. Zoey Haruki won yesterday's contest in Celestic City. Charles Goodshow recently made an announcement that-"
"Anything I'd find interesting?" I interrupted.
"It seems that the Paldean Champion wants to challenge you to a Pokemon battle."
"Paldea?" I mutter, "Oh! The one that looks evil but isn't evil. Wait, we've met?"
"I don't believe you have, sir. It seems her desire to battle you is due to the comments made last night."
"Pretend like I remember nothing from last night, what exactly did I say?"
"I will pull up the recording, sir."
[JWalker has donated 4,000$]
[Hey, I know it's an overdone topic, but I just wanted to know who do you think is the strongest champion?]
"Thanks for the 4k Walker," I lifted my cup in thanks towards the camera. "It'll probably be used on high-quality coffee beans so know your sacrifice will be put to good use," I say, taking a sip from my mug, Meowth doing the same.
Spoiler: Cloud
[img]
'This is perfect,' I thought, looking at the other 3 occupants at the table.
Being Isekai'd into the Pokemon world was… an experience to say the least. I don't think I died or anything, I just kind of ended up here. One day I was on the Subway, going to University. Got off at my stop only to see some weird-looking dogs.
Then I saw a Druddigan, had a slight panic attack, and pretended like nothing was wrong.
Good memories.
"There's a simple answer to that question," Sonia says, turning to the camera. "Out of all of the Pokemon Champions, only Leon has never lost a Pokemon battle. That is why the Galar Champion is the strongest."
Spoiler: Sonia
[img]
"Nah it ain't Leon," I waved her off. "Out of the current champions, he's definitely in the top 3, but he isn't beating Cynthia."
"And how many matches has Cynthia lost?" Sonia asked knowingly.
"I don't know, but just because you never lost a Pokemon battle doesn't mean you're the best," I counter. "Now I'm not saying he's bad. Heck, he definitely earned his title as champion, however, Leon heavily takes advantage of Dynamaxing in his battles, or in his case Gigantamaxing. If you watch his battles, you can see that it's the first thing he does whenever he brings his Charizard on the field. It's strong, sure, but Cynthia has a better-balanced team and isn't reliant on gimmicks."
"I think you are the only person I know that would call Dynamaxing a gimmick," Sonia said with a sort of amused exasperation.
"Both of you are wrong," a deep voice echoed in the room. "Neither of those pathetic weaklings is the strongest."
"Yes Psyclone, we all know you are the strongest," I roll my eyes in exasperation, the suit of armor nodding his head in response.
Spoiler: Psyclone
[img]
[Don Feathers: Wait, there is someone in the armor?]
[ToTheMoon: Holy smokes! Cyclone just talked!]
[ToTheMoon: His voice is like butter, I just want to lick him up]
[Oasis: His personality is awful though..]
[snakE: Face reveal when?]
"However, that's not the question," I say, making a huff echo in the suit of armor. "You're not a champion mate."
"I could crush any of them."
"But you still haven't beaten me," I smiled smugly, enjoying the panicked looks of the other two at the table.
"That's because you are a cheat!"
"Okay Cyclone, Relax for a moment!" Meowth spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "Cloud's just baitin' a reaction from ya! Don't be fallin' for his tricks!"
Spoiler: Meowth
[img]
"Hey! That was going to lead to some good content!" I huffed before letting out an "Ow" when Psyclone threw a pebble at me.
"I think it's about time we get back onto topic!" Sonia quickly jumps in, ignoring the glaring match between me and Psyclone. "There was something you said earlier that caught my interest," Sonia said, turning towards me. "Why do you think Dynamax is a gimmick?"
"Because it is," I said, rolling my eyes, ending the glaring match in Psyclone's favor. "You need a Dynamax band, can only do it in Galar, and if the other person doesn't have one you're screwed. Dynamax isn't the only one though, there's also Z-moves, terrestrialization & probably the worst of the bunch, Mega-Evolution."
"Mega Evolution?" Sonia questioned aghast, "Mega Evolution hinges on the profound bond shared between a Trainer and their Pokémon. Only those with the closest bonds can unlock the power of mega-evolution. To call Mega-Evolution a gimmick is an extreme insult to their friendship."
"Not like that," I stop her in her tracks. "I misspoke, Mega-Evolution is the coolest out of all the gimmicks. Seeing your Pokemon reach the next level is awesome. But the problem I have with it is how expensive it is," I clarify. "You need two rare stones, one for yourself and one for your Pokemon. So you either need to find those or the more likely option, buy them for an insane amount of money. It makes Pokemon Pay to Win and I dislike that on a personal level."
Sonia was quiet for a moment, processing my statement before a small frown formed on her forehead. "What do you mean by Pay to Win?"
"He means the richer the trainer is, the more likely they are to win," Psyclone says, grasping my point.
"If two trainers own the same Pokemon that can mega evolve, and the richer trainer has a mega-stone & Key Stone, the richer trainer would win every time."
"My point exactly," I nod. "If we use Lucario for example, The mega-evolved Lucario would be faster than the normal one, It would get rekt by a Close-Combat or Aura Sphere. The only counter I could think of would be a Focus Slash and take it out with an Aura-boosted fighting type attack."
"Your point does hold merit," she admits, "However, even those without Dynamax Bands are lent them to use in the stadium. This is done so the Pokemon battle itself would be fair & for the audience as well. Seeing two monstrously sized Pokemon going against each other never ceases to be an awestruck sight."
"Not everyone lives in Galar or lives near a stadium that they can so readily Dynamax nearby. Look, I am not saying that it isn't entertaining to watch, but it's a Galar-exclusive feature for the most part. If Cynthia and Leon fought in Galar, I would see the odds being in Leon's favor. I don't think there's a record of Cynthia using Dynamax before and she definitely doesn't have the same amount of experience with it that Leon has. However, If they were to fight it out literally anywhere else in the world you would be a fool not to bet on Cynthia."
"How about we see what the audience thinks?" Meowth grins, setting up the poll. "In a 6-on-6 Pokemon battle, who do you guys think would win, Cynthia or Leon?"
I looked over at the chatbox, waiting for the poll to finish up to get some outside opinions.
[Treesa_Green: I'm not sure how a match between those two would go, but I don't doubt it would be a very interesting fight.]
[CurrentlyHuman: I'm going to have to bow out of this one. I haven't studied Dynamax to know how well it can be countered.]
[Xx_Oblivion_xX: Cynthia would win.]
[MilesAhead: Why is no one talking about the Meowth? It just talked!]
[TropicalShade: Aegislash vs. Spiritomb! I would love to see that fight.]
[R0sanNA: I have no idea who either of these champions are!]
[R0sanNA: MilesAhead, first stream? You get used to it.]
[Happy2Help: What about Steven Stone?]
[Radiance: This should be obvious! Leon would win this match by a landslide! The Sinnoh Champion has not partaken in half the amount of battles Leon has in the last year alone.]
[Gerald_Of_Revea: What the fuck? How am I here?]
"I do agree actually that Cynthia hasn't had as many public battles as Leon has recently. To be fair though, in Galar, there is a heavy focus on entertainment, which plays in part why you see Leon participate in more battles than Cynthia. I'm not saying he doesn't take his job seriously or anything but you can't say Leon doesn't love the spotlight."
"Do you think Cynthia doesn't?"
"I think Cynthia doesn't have a Cape that advertises all the brands she is sponsored by," I quipped, getting a giggle from the orange-haired girl.
"And the results are in!" Meowth says, showing the numbers on the big screen.
[Which Champion Would Win: Cynthia Vs Leon]
[Psyclone: 100%][Cynthia: 0%] [Leon: 0%]
"PSYCLONE STOP FIXING THE VOTES," I barked, to which he grumbled while the rest of the gang let out some amused chuckles.
[Psyclone: 4.3%][Cynthia: 35.4%] [Leon: 60.3%]
"Bah!" I grumbled, Sonia, acting tremendously smug at the results. "Rigged! Lies! Deception!" I announce before adopting a grin. "Actually, this is an example of when the right opinion isn't the most popular opinion!"
"Take the loss for what it is, Cloud," Sonia suggested, I refused.
"If there was a battle between the two, I would bet a million on Cynthia," I said with all seriousness. "Double if she gave her Pokemon some items like a Flame Orb to her Milotic."
"What would that do?" Meowth questioned.
"A Flame Orb inflicts burn on a Pokemon."
"Why the hell would you want to do that to a Pokemon?" Meowth cried in outrage.
"Because her ability is Marvel Scale," I grinned. "Whenever it has a status condition, its defense is increased by 50%. Millotic is a special attacker, so Burn decreasing a Pokemon's physical attacking move by 50% won't affect it. It makes Millotic a very scary Pokemon to battle against."
"That's genius," Sonia breathed, staring at me wide-eyed.
Of course, I would never tell them I stole that idea from Cynthia's BDSP team, but what they don't know won't hurt them.
"Not a bad idea," Meowth smirked. "Leon and Cynthia are both strong champions, but they got nothing on Lance."
"Ah yes, Lance, the Flying type specialist," I grinned, "I think Red & Blue's teams are more interesting but go on, make your case."
"Lance is a Dragon-Type specialist, you moron," Meowth snorted.
"Is he though?" My grin got wider. "Hey Rotom, what team does Lance use the most in his fights?"
"It seems Lance favors a team consisting of: Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Charizard & 3 Dragonites. All Pokemon with a high base stat total and all sharing the common trait of being a Flying-Type." The smooth British accent of my Rotom replied.
"So a Flying type specialist then," I smiled, making Meowth splutter for a moment before bursting into laughter himself, followed by Sonia letting out another small giggle.
[FoldMuncher: Lance having more Flying-type Pokemon than Dragon-type Pokemon is hilarious to me.]
[TheQueenOfBlue: Lance has more Dragon-type Pokemon than the ones you mentioned!]
[Spookwagen: Pikachu]
[InvadersMustPry: Are Cloud and Sonia dating? Or are they siblings or something?]
[Avalanche: Heh, three Dragonites mean they are super weak to Ice types. Pryce must have given him his badge.]
[SaxonLegs: I want Milotic, How do I get?]
[KickPistol: When is the next movie stream?]
[Caliburr: KickPistol, the schedule is available on his Home Page.]
[(Mod) EliteEmpress: @KickPistol, Cloud's watch parties are every Friday at 18:00 MLG]
"So I don't think any of us are going to agree on who the strongest is," Meowth starts. "But how about the weakest?"
"Oh that's Geeta, that's not even a conversation Meowth. Moving on-"
"Geeta?" Sonia interjects, "Geeta the weakest champion? Do you not know what they call her in Paldea?"
"La Primera, I know," I rolled my eyes. "Why she has that title is beyond me."
"She has held the position for the last five years, Cloud. You can't honestly-"
"Rotom!" I interrupted. "Switch this out for Whiskey," I say, holding my cup out to my Butler.
"I don't believe that's wise sir."
"You see Rotom, you're 100% right when you say that, but if I'm talking about Geeta's team, I don't want to remember doing so."
Which isn't a lie, but is not true either. It's just that when it comes to questions like this one I know for a fact I'm going to go on a ramble. If I have whiskey burning in me, it means I won't spend as much time talking. It keeps me in check.
After Rotom finished pouring me my first glass, I gulped it down in one go, letting out a satisfied 'ah' when done.
[DeDemon: It's happening!]
[ThisFire: Wait, wdym?]
[Smoker: Cloud is a lightweight.]
[22ndPilot: Oh no, not this again]
[SurfingPikachu: What brand is that?]
[Redfield: Cloud, I really need you to fuck my sister.]
[Sephiriath: Rants are cringe]
[MyFutureIsMyOwn: Clip.]
[Redfield: I'll even make her wear a brown coat and speak Chinese words to you.]
"She has a Gogoat on her team" I start, breaking out into a small giggle. "Keeping it on her main team when there are so many better alternatives is not just stupid, but self-sabotage. I remember an offhand comment she made once about how she is 'utterly incapable of holding back in Pokemon battles', but here's the thing, her team is literally holding her back!"
"Cloud!" Sonia shouted, "Don't say something so horrible!"
"I'm not doubting the bonds between her Pokemon!" I try to defuse her anger. "But it's Gogoat! If she had an Arboliva instead-Meowth bring up the entries for Arboliva & Gogoat, It'll allow me to make my point better," I ask, Meowth following up with a side-by-side.
"So Gogoat has a stronger base power than Arboliva. It even has a decent move pool. But its main ability is Sap Sipper, which Geetas' has and is basically useless because no one is using grass-type moves against a grass type in the first place. Apart from that, Gogoat needs a couple of Bulk-ups if it wants to be a tank, but that's hard enough to set up when you are weak to 5 of the Pokemon types."
"That doesn't excuse your comments," Sonia huffed, anger slightly dissipated but still annoyed at me.
"And again, not saying they aren't well trained or anything, but for the sake of my argument, let me explain why Arboliva is a better choice."
She huffed at me but motioned for me to continue.
"From a competitive standpoint, an Arboliva that knows Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Earth Power & Hyper Voice would be something to be wary of. Most Arboliva aren't very quick, so their moves tend to hit second." I grinned. "That means that its ability, Seed Sower would activate."
"Y'know, it's crazy how you remember all of these details off the top of your head." Meowth butted in. How is anyone supposed to know Gogoat's ability is Sap Sipping or Arboliva's is Seed Sower. That stuff ain't common knowledge!"
"It's called Bulbapedia & having an unhealthy addiction to Pokemon Showdown," I comment off-handedly. "Moving on, Seed Sower makes Grassy Terrain activate, which increases the power of Grass types moves, which means that Leaf Storm or Giga Drain is going to pack one heck of a punch."
"Apart from that, most people associate Gogoat with Kalos. Especially because of the Gogoat taxi in Luminose City. I think Arboliva is a better representative for the region & the same could be said for her Avalugg but that argument isn't one I really care about. All I care about is her current team and how I don't see it as being competitively viable, which her Avalugg isn't," I take a deep breath to get the oxygen back into the system.
"Meowth can you bring up the stat distribution on Avalugg?" I ask, Meowth quickly doing so, replacing the previous two on Gogoat & Arbolivia.
"This is probably the biggest offender to her team. I'm saying this because apart from her Kingambit, I forget the rest of her team." I admit, getting a snort from Meowth. "So Avalugg has a lot of defense, but a terrible special defense. Avalugg can tank Physical attacking moves with no problem, but if you throw a special attacking move like Aura Sphere, that guy goes down in one hit. To me, this is crazier than the Gogoat, because Gogoat is at least semi-useful."
[CurrentlyHuman: Where does Cloud get these "stat distributions?" Are these his own?]
[GardenOfIA: As a grass-type specialist, I have very mixed feelings on this]
[SweetDrems: Does anyone else feel conflicted about seeing Pokemon being reduced to numbers on a screen?]
[MinerAtWork: Just want to say, that the boys here are enjoying the steam, keep it up]
[Lava: SweetDrems, Although I don't understand how these distributions are recorded, if it is true, it is just the average Health, Attack, Sp. Atk, Sp. Def & Speed of the species. Like Humans, some Pokemon excel is certain areas, others do not. Although, I do admit I have a personal interest in Camerupt, Houndoom, Crobat, Weezing, Tentacruel… ]
[Gerald_Of_Revea: Seriously, How the fuck am I here?]
[IAmAllOfMe: CurrentlyHuman, Here's the thing, I don't know but I never even knew there were both special defense and defense, I thought it was only defense in general and health. But a few streams back, he had this up and I was shocked when my buddy tanked so many more 'special attacks' than 'physical attacks' It's amazing how people were able to figure this out in the first place!]
"It's a lot clearer why Avalugg is bad. It has a super low special defense. Now Geeta usually combats this by having it go against physical fighters, but as soon as a super effective special move is dropped? It's out like a fucking light." I say, snapping my fingers for effect.
"So if you were Geeta," Meowth cuts in, "What Pokemon would you replace Avalugg with?"
"Baxcalibur." I nod, "Paldean native, high physical-, ah good work bringing up the stat sheet," I say, getting a thumbs up from Meowth. "It's both a Dragon Ice Type, the same type as the legendary Pokemon Kyurem-Meowth if you want to live don't bring up that stat sheet," I say, making Meowth freeze in his spot. "But personally, I'm not really a fan of Ice types. Blizzard & Ice beam are great moves and all, but I'm not good at integrating them into my team."
"Ice types are useless," Psyclone commented. "This is the first time Cloud has said something smart."
"You say this, but you have been purposefully ignoring the ace of her team, which might I remind you, is one of the strongest Pokemon in the world."
"What do you mean? Her Kingambit is top-tier, I'm complaining about her weak Pokemon, not her strong ones."
"Glimmora, Cloud. Glimmora is her Ace Pokemon."
"… That can't be right," I frown. "Her Kingambit is better."
"Glimmora is the first Pokemon she ever owned," Sonia comments. "Since there are no longer any legendary Pokemon in Paldea, it is known to be the strongest Pokemon in all of Paldea."
"Meowth is that true? Fact check that shit."
"It is," Meowth replies, turning the screen towards me. "Her Glimmora also has the best win ratio of her team."
"Oh you can't be serious," I sigh, Sonia smugly smugging at me as she smugs her smug.
"Okay! Looks like I'm misremembering things. Glimmora is one of her stronger Pokemon," I admit, but it will be a cold day in hell when I'd say her Kingambit is stronger. "But let me tell you why it is utterly wasted the way she is using it now."
"Oh fuck, I kind of deserved that don't I," I winced, pausing the screen of me mid-rant.
"From the data I've collected, people calling her incompetent is par for the course as Chairwoman. She is annoyed by it, but calmly refutes the points made against her in a clear and concise fashion," Rotom paused for effect. "However, it seems that insulting her team was far more insulting to her than any personal attack she has received against her person."
"What's the nicest way of saying: I am sorry for being an asshole but I still agree with the shit I said?"
"I believe if you retract your statements, and 'blame the alcohol' so to speak, it would have less fallout than refusing her Gym battle."
"The problem is, I really don't?" I shrug. "I mean, I came at her hard there, but it's not like anything I said was factually incorrect."
"So it seems you will be having a battle then," Rotom seems to sigh. "Well then, best to respond as soon as possible."
"I'll probably address it on my podcast then. If she watched it or someone showed it to her, then that seems like the best thing to do is respond the same way. Might even get some more viewers that way."
"Sir, you misunderstand, the clip I've shown you has gone viral."
"Rotom, it's been about 8 hours."
"That seems to be the case."
"So the clip has been getting a million views per hour?"
"Your math is correct, sir."
"… And what's the general response?"
"Mixed," he replied, surprising me. "In order of points mentioned, while the majority disagree with you about Z-moves, Dynamaxing & Mega Evolution being gimmicks, they do agree that Mega Evolution is not as fair as the other two due to the price of Mega stones."
"Looks like we got some smart people in the crowd then," I smirked to myself.
"The majority also believed that Leon would win the battle-"
"I take back what I said," I cut him off, "Next."
"The wiki for Flame Orbs has been viewed over 200 thousand times in the last 24 hours, people praising-"
"Can you just get to the general consensus about me shit-talking Geeta?"
"People have been questioning your stat sheets, as you refuse to explain them in detail they've been seen as conjecture at best. However, due to the in-depth reasoning for Arboliva being competitively viable, it is believed to be seen in a lot more teams in the future." He notes with some approval. "But an overwhelming majority believe that you are in over your head. Especially those from Paldea, who are very fond of their champion."
"And Geeta's first response to the video was to challenge me to a Pokemon battle?" I ask amusedly. "Looks like Geeta is a lot more fun than I thought."
Bonus Scene: Geeta
Spoiler: Geeta
[img]
Geeta was composed, her demeanor not betraying even a hint of anger or irritation. In fact, those emotions were conspicuously absent within her. Rather, a sense of profound elation coursed through her. It was an unusual experience for someone who had just been openly criticized as a Pokémon trainer, even more so to be branded with the title of 'The Weakest Pokémon Champion.'
Ordinarily, one might have expected her to bristle at such a label. To feel insulted, perhaps even resentful, as accusations that her own team was hindering her progress were flung her way. But she saw through the superficiality of those claims. They were nothing more than the ill-considered ramblings of a youngster. A child who might excel in theoretical knowledge yet lacks the mettle required to stand as a true champion.
Yes, He had traversed a handful of gym circuits, a commendable feat in its own right. However, the glaring absence of any participation in regional conferences undermined his credibility. And indeed, he does have a few victories in a few tournaments, they were nothing more than minor skirmishes on the grand stage of competition. A collection of inconsequential victories that hardly merited serious consideration. His failure to muster the resolve to engage in even a single conference betrayed his reluctance to truly test his skills against the best.
And since he has earned the Ace Trainer title by gaining 8 badges, it was an ironic twist that this title suited Geeta's purposes to perfection. It granted her the ideal platform to extend her own challenge to the boy, all while evading any potential accusations of acting unbecoming of a Champion.
A clandestine grin tugged at the corners of Geeta's lips as she pondered the upcoming response. If the boy refuses the challenge, his words will be seen as nothing but hot air. The words of someone that thinks they know it all, but refuses to back it up. If he accepts the challenge, he will soon understand why her team is not as weak as he thinks.
'Rookie Crushing' was one of her unspoken indulgences, a satisfaction she dared not openly confess as propriety demanded otherwise. Instead, she has integrated this inclination into her teaching methods, employing it as a channel to impart knowledge to the students of her Academy.
Yet, the impending confrontation was more than a mere exhibition of skill. It was a calculated endeavor, a moment of mentorship wrapped in the guise of a competition. Geeta was poised to offer a lesson that transcended the battlefield, leaving an indelible imprint on the young trainer's journey. As her mind fashioned the contours of her challenge, she recognized this to be an opportunity for them both to grow - a duel of determination and strategy that promised to reshape their paths in unexpected ways.