I can't believe this. Flamel is getting himself toyed around.
By a furret.
That furret is too nimble and quick on its feet. It can weave itself between Flamel's legs to dodge his physical attacks and any attempts by Flamel to burn down the entire battlefield is countered by the furret's Surf. The furret had also set up a Rain Dance, decreasing the power of Flamel's flames.
The opposing trainer, Amy Rose from Goldenrod City and a Normal Specialist, commanded her furret to use a Shadow Claw and it struck a critical blow on Flamel, but Flamel endured it and hit the furret with a Smart Strike, finally connecting an attack onto that furret.
"Furret, Whirlpool!"
What?
To my surprise, the furret actually managed to call upon a Whirlpool and swallowed Flamel up with the large vortex of water. Flamel broke through it with a Flare Blitz and used a Sunny Day to disperse the Rain Clouds before using a Morning Sun to heal himself.
The furret scampered towards Flamel once more, nimbly dodging each and every blasts of fire from Flamel as he too sped around the arena to keep his distance from the annoying furret.
"Shock Wave!"
The furret sent out a blast of lightning upon its trainer's command and I quickly commanded Flamel.
"Flamethrower, shoot it down! Then Agility!"
Flamel did as I told and destroyed the Shock Wave with a Flamethrower before raising its speed to insane levels with Agility. Even I am unable to see his form clearly. Right now, Flamel is a red blur on the arena below.
"Furret, Agility too!"
The long and skinny rodent began to also speed up to match Flamel's speed and I clicked my tongue in annoyance. This isn't going well for us.
"Quick Attack and Slash!"
The furret dashed off like a missile and home in on Flamel. I hope what I plan on doing next will work.
"Flamel, Protect! Then Will-O-Wisp!"
Furret slammed itself into Flamel's protect and hissed in pain from the contact with the greenish shield. Flamel took this chance to inflict a burn onto the furret, who retaliated with an Aqua Tail.
"Inferno!"
Flamel unleashed an Inferno and the furret quickly backed off. It used a Surf to counter the flames before sending in Shadow Balls.
"Furret, increase your speed more. Agility!"
It can speed up even further?!
The furret is way faster than Flamel now, who is unable to increase his speed as much as the furret is capable of. This immediately puts us at a disadvantage.
"Brick Break!"
"Smart Strike!"
Furret's Brick Break met Flamel's Smart Strike and the two pokemons leapt away from each other after the initial clash. Flamel will lose at this rate.
"Flamel, return! Go, Lily!"
I can hear the 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' from the crowd the moment the prehistoric pokemon is released for battle. This is Lily's debut and not many have the chance to see a prehistoric pokemon with their own eyes. Their reactions, while funny, isn't that surprising.
"Lily, Sludge Wave! Spread it out!"
Lily gurgled before spraying a massive wave of oily sludge all over the battlefield. With the entire place coated with that oily sludge, the furret will not be able to run around as it pleased anymore at high speeds unless it wants to slip and fall.
The furret seems to know this too as it immediately looked hesitant at charging in to fight Lily.
"Lily, grab it!"
Lily's tentacles shot out to grab the furret, which quickly used a Flamethrower of its own to defend itself. Lily's tentacles just ignored the flames and went straight for furret, with Lily using Recover simultaneously to heal herself from the damage.
"Stop it with Blizzard!"
"Mirror Coat!"
Furret puffed itself up before exhaling a roaring Blizzard from its mouth. Lily's tentacles spread out and formed a psychic pane of barrier that blocked the incoming Blizzard and reflected the attack back on the furret. This is one of the few ways that Lily and I have devised to fight against ice type moves, although it is not really that useful unless Lily has a quick enough reaction time. The fact that the furret is unable to call upon a massive Blizzard like Juan's kingdra helps too. Our small pane of Mirror Coat would be useless in defending Lily in such scenarios.
The furret squeaked as it quickly ran away from the reflected attack, although part of its tail still got frozen. Lily immediately moved the ground beneath it and used a Stone Edge to attack the furret from below. The attack hit, but subsequent Stone Edges didn't as the furret began to run around at high speeds once again. This time, it used a Surf to wash away the sludge on the arena to free itself from the trap Lily had set.
"Stealth Rock! Then Ancient Power!"
Lily immediately summoned and then planted small, jagged pieces of rocks onto the arena before throwing Ancient Powers at the furret. The furret either dodged them or blasted the rocks to bits with its attacks. Lily may not be able to match the furret in speed, but the furret does not have the necessary firepower to take Lily down either. Lily can outlast almost anyone when it comes to a battle of attrition with her arsenal of recovery moves while the furret will get tired with how fast it is running around trying to get a shot in on Lily. Flamel had also inflicted a burn on it. The furret couldn't possibly last forever out here in battle.
"Furret, Rollout!"
The furret immediately began to curl itself and started to roll about like a tyre with its speed still boosted by Agility and kept circling Lily while getting faster and faster. Is it trying to use the combined momentum from the Rollout and Agility to knock Lily out in one hit?
If that is the case, then they are going to be sorely disappointed.
"Stop its Rollout with Earthquake, then catch it!"
Lily used her powers to shake the ground violently and the furret wobbled before its Rollout came to an abrupt stop. Lily's tentacles immediately lashed out to catch it and wrapped itself around the furret.
This battle is over the moment Lily gets her tentacles on furret with a Constrict.
"Wring out and Giga Drain! End it!"
The furret screamed in pain as Lily did as I commanded. The furret tried to get out with bursts of Thunderbolt and Flamethrower but Lily's defensive powers prevented it from doing any damage.
"Super Fang!"
"Smack Down!"
Lily's tentacles moved even before the furret had a chance to bite her and smashed the furret violently into the ground. The furret lay limp in the small crater below. Lily had just won her first battle in the conference.
"Pidgeot, Hurricane!"
Lily growled upon seeing a flying type as her opponent. She absolutely hates dealing with flying types. I still haven't managed to find out why.
Lily's Stealth Rock serves as nothing more than a brief distraction as pidgeot quickly destroyed the incoming rocks with a Steel Wing before using a Hurricane. Lily raised a dome of rock walls with Stone Edge that withstood the attack. Lily is at a disadvantage here since it will be hard for her to hit pidgeot with the limited ranged moves that she knew while pidgeot can keep firing its attacks at Lily out of harm's way. I considered sending out Snap or Toothless, but for some reason I have a feeling that it will be hard for the two big and bulky fliers to try and catch a pidgeot, which is much smaller and agile than them in the air.
I guess my third flier on the team is the best choice I have right now.
I returned Lily back to her pokeball and patted Fuzzy, who is sitting on my shoulder, to signal him to go out and battle.
Fuzzy squeaked in delight before shooting off into the air with Magnet Rise, his loud and obnoxious squeaking resonating throughout the entire stadium.
"Electro Ball!"
Fuzzy launched balls of electric orbs at the pidgeot, who either dodged them or destroyed them with an Air Slash before Fuzzy's attacks got too close. It proceeded to chase after Fuzzy in the air, who dodged pidgeot's attacks and sent in a Thunder Wave in an attempt to paralyse the huge bird pokemon.
The pidgeot dodged the Thunder Wave with a Detect, and immediately used a Tailwind to raise its speed before producing another Hurricane in an attempt to suck Fuzzy into the rotating force of nature.
"Destroy the Hurricane with Discharge! Then Rain Dance!"
Fuzzy sparked as he gathered the power needed for one huge blast of Discharge, the pidgeot tried to disrupt his attempt with an Air Cutter, but Fuzzy released his powers even before it can do so.
A huge wave of violent wind washed over everyone in the stadium as Fuzzy successfully destroyed the Hurricane. He took the chance from the momentary chaos to fly further up in the air and started his own Rain Dance, creating rain clouds to aid him.
Fuzzy went to hide within the rain clouds and pidgeot paused in its tracks, wary of a sneak attack as it began to rain while flashes of lightning made itself known as well.
"Thunder!"
A large column of electricity struck pidgeot, who squawked before it disappeared within the bright light from the electric attack.
"Hurricane! Blow the clouds away!"
Pidgeot managed to get out unscathed. It probably used a Protect to defend itself from the Thunder. The pidgeot began to create a Hurricane again but there's no way Fuzzy and I will allow it to do that.
"Thunder again!"
More Thunders rained down from the sky and strike at pidgeot repeatedly, who now have to use a combination of Detect, Protect, and Double Team along with some complicated aerial manoeuvres to try and dodge each and every attack from Fuzzy. I can still hear Fuzzy squeaking madly from within the rain clouds and echoing throughout the stadium. Glad to know he's having fun.
"Fly above the clouds! Then Sky Attack to disperse it!"
The pidgeot immediately flew upwards and continue its flight even when one of Fuzzy's Thunder struck it. The pidgeot broke through the rain clouds and everyone else can only use their imagination to visualise what is going on beyond the clouds.
The clouds were forcefully dispersed when pidgeot sped down through it at high speeds with a Sky Attack despite the amount of electricity within the clouds. Fuzzy followed up with numerous Shock Waves that struck true, but pidgeot either ignored it or is somehow physically capable of shrugging off the attacks.
"Heat Wave!"
Pidgeot breathed out a massive wave of hot winds from its mouth as Fuzzy quickly defended himself with a Light Screen before flying away to distance himself from the pidgeot.
"Don't let up! Quick Attack!"
Pidgeot immediately flew after Fuzzy and tried to attack him with its beak, wings, and talons. Fuzzy is doing well so far in dodging and fending off pidgeot's attacks, but I know that Fuzzy is not able to hold his ground for long.
"Electroweb, snare it!"
Fuzzy produced an electric web that managed to capture and snare the pidgeot, causing it to fall to the ground upon getting itself caught since its wings are now pinned.
"Super Fang and Thunder!"
Fuzzy swooped down and bit on pidgeot with his fangs before discharging a huge amount of electricity with Thunder while perching on the pidgeot. Pidgeot tried to heal up its lost health with Roost and to also mitigate the super effective effect of Thunder on it as Roost temporarily took away its flying typing. Nevertheless, the amount of damage Fuzzy dealt out should be more than what pidgeot is capable of healing up.
"Double-Edge! Take out the pachirisu!"
In an unexpected comeback, the pidgeot gave a loud cry before forcefully getting Fuzzy off its back and then smashed its entire body into Fuzzy. Fuzzy flew through the air before coming to a stop on the ground. He got himself knocked unconscious from that attack. The good thing that came out from this is that the pidgeot succumbed to its injuries and is now unconscious too. This round ended in a draw.
I quickly returned Fuzzy and sent out Flamel. Amy released a Lopunny for battle.
"Flamethrower!"
Flamel immediately shot out a cone of flames at Lopunny, who dashed towards the flames upon Amy's command. What are they planning?
"Mirror Coat!"
Flamel's flames got reflected back on him. Luckily, Flamel has the Flash Fire ability so flames have no effect on him. He would have been knocked out otherwise.
The lopunny carried on its charge and used a High Jump Kick that nailed Flamel and sent him crashing into the ground.
"Megahorn!"
Flamel went to jab at the lopunny with his horn and succeeded in keeping it away. Lopunny used a Quick Attack to chain up a combo with Dizzy Punch, but Flamel somehow managed to pull off a Protect to defend himself.
"Flame Charge!"
Flamel coated himself with flames before charging at the lopunny, who is now hopping away to dodge it.
"Water Pulse! Douse it!"
Lopunny created a sphere of water between its paws and sent the Water Pulse at Flamel, who decided to use Bounce to get away from the attack.
"Battering Ram!"
Flamel came crashing down at lopunny's location in a sphere of Protect and forced it to get away. Flamel used a Sunny Day and Inferno combo to bathe the entire arena in flames, hoping to at least catch the bunny pokemon in his flames.
"Power-Up Punch! Take it down!"
Lopunny hopped over the wall of flames with its powerful legs and immediately dashed towards Flamel, who spitted flames at the lopunny to get it to back off. Lopunny extinguished the flames once more with a Water Pulse as it continued its charge. Flamel tensed and lower his horn, knowing that a physical fight is imminent.
"Fury Attack!"
Flamel immediately went to strike at Lopunny with a series of quick jabs of his horn and was successful in forcing it to retreat and keep its distance for a short while. The lopunny then used a Thunderbolt to stun Flamel temporarily, before punching Flamel with a powerful Power-Up Punch.
Flamel is probably going to go down at this rate. The lopunny is not giving him time to heal up with Morning Sun too.
"Overheat!"
"Return!"
Flamel unleashed a massive Overheat in a last-ditch attempt to bring the lopunny down with him or to damage it as much as possible before going down. Lopunny got briefly caught in the flames, but managed to burst through it before striking a powerful blow on Flamel and slammed him into the ground, taking him out.
Ugh. Amy's pokemons may look ordinary, cute looking, and definitely not pokemons that most trainers will even consider using. But her pokemons are definitely well-trained and way stronger than they looked. She is also a Normal Specialist. Normal type pokemons are usually capable of learning a wide range of moves, making them very versatile and unpredictable foes to fight against.
I still think I can win this. I wasn't planning on sending out Kratos and Toothless since I don't want to be like Max and rely on my two strongest members to win every single one of my battles, but I will use them if I have to. Thankfully, I don't think I need to use them yet.
"Lily, grab the lopunny!"
I sent Lily out for battle again as she whipped her tentacles at Lopunny at a rapid pace, who simply hopped out of range.
"Move the earth! Trap it!"
Lily finally began to show what she is capable of as the landscape started to shift and change drastically. The earth itself started to move and rows of sharp rocks shot out from the ground to attack lopunny, who squeaked and tried to hop to safety. Lily wasn't done yet, and immediately started to trap Lopunny by making anywhere else other than the area near her to be full of sharp rock spikes.
The only safe place for lopunny now is the area that is within grabbing range of Lily's tentacles.
Seeing that it has nowhere else to go, lopunny decided to go in and fight Lily with a series of Fire Punch and Ice Punch. However, Lily defended against its every move and managed to wrap her tentacles around the lopunny.
A quick Stone Edge put the lopunny out of commission. That's two pokemon down for me and three for Amy. I still have the numerical advantage for now.
I grimaced when the next pokemon Amy sent out turns out to be an ursaring. Ursarings are vicious fighters and hard to put down. They are pretty notorious in the Johto region, where most of its species can be found. There are some in the Sinnoh region and even in the Kalos region, although their sightings there are a lot rarer.
"Earthquake!"
Ursaring stomped its foot on the ground to produce an earthquake that destroyed all of Lily's stone spikes in an instant. It gave a roar of challenge before charging towards Lily.
"Lily, Solar Beam!"
Seeing that the effects of Flamel's Sunny Day is still active, I quickly commanded Lily to take advantage of it and fire off her Solar Beams at the incoming ursaring. Ursaring paused in its charge and defended itself with its huge paws, before counterattacking with a huge Avalanche, much to our surprise.
"Lily!"
Lily broke through the heaps of rocky blocks of ice a few seconds later and immediately used Rock Surf to get closer to ursaring. The ursaring attacked with a Mega Punch that caused Lily's head to wobble from the impact, but she recovered her lost health immediately with a Synthesis. Her tentacles went to grab onto the ursaring, but the ursaring lit its paws on fire with a Fire Punch and then proceeded to use its immense strength to throw Lily away from it before charging up a Hyper Beam.
"Solar Beam!"
The two beams of energy collided and kicked up a huge cloud of dust. Ursaring came charging at Lily again merely seconds later. Lily tried to stop its advance with Stone Edge and Rock Slide, but the ursaring just broke all her rocks with its own attacks.
The ursaring hacked at Lily with a Cross Chop, who simply chose to restrict ursaring's movements with a Constrict. Lily immediately began to use Giga Drain to wear the ursaring out and to heal herself but was not expecting the ursaring to kick her with a Mega Kick.
"Lily, Grass Knot!"
Tendrils of grass emerged from the ground and snared ursaring, who used a Gunk Shot to melt the grass and then forced Lily to let it go with a Night Slash. I am afraid of using poison on the ursaring just in case it possesses the Guts ability, which works very well with the move Façade, a move that most trained ursarings are capable of using.
Wait a minute, Lily has a move for this kind of situations.
"Lily, Gastro Acid!"
Lily hurled a huge amount of acid at ursaring, who roared in pain at the contact. Gastro Acid has the effect of removing the target's ability for a short while, so even if this ursaring has the Guts ability, we need not fear it anymore.
"Toxic!"
Lily wrapped her tentacles around ursaring again to inject a dose of Toxic into ursaring. As I had predicted, ursaring immediately used Façade. Thankfully, the strength of the attack is lesser than I had imagined it to be thanks to the use of Gastro Acid.
"Belly Drum!"
Ursaring broke free and leapt a far distance backwards and immediately began to use Belly Drum. This is bad. Really bad.
"Stop the ursaring! Stone Edge!"
Lily immediately sent out waves of Stone Edges at the ursaring, but we were too late as it completed its power up and destroyed the waves of rocks with just a single Shadow Claw. It immediately used Rest to go to sleep to heal up before using a Sleep Talk to immediately continue its battle with Lily.
We will get wiped out at this rate.
"Lily, Psych Up and Earthquake!"
Lily copied ursaring's power up with Pysch Up and immediately used a devastating Earthquake that shook the entire stadium violently, waking ursaring up. Lily went to poison ursaring with a Toxic once again, who snarled and slashed at Lily with repeated use of Fury Cutter, the power of each slash gaining strength after each successive use.
"Mega Punch!"
Ursaring roared and went to punch Lily, who braced herself for the attack.
"Spit up!"
Lily unleashed the entire Stockpile that she had been hoarding throughout the entire battle since the start of it and the clash of the two attacks created a shock wave that rippled outwards from the point of collision.
"Giga Impact!"
Ursaring slammed Lily into the ground violently with a massive punch, and I saw my Lily getting herself defeated for the first time in an official battle.
Despite the sense of disbelief at seeing Lily getting taken down, I immediately sent out Kel into battle to take advantage of the situation, seeing that the ursaring is also on its last legs.
"Taunt, Swords Dance, and Punishment!"
Kel followed my orders immediately and prevented the ursaring from healing back up with Taunt. The ursaring tried to take Kel out in a single hit with Hammer Arm, but Kel evaded it with Detect before using Swords Dance and Punishment, knocking ursaring out instead. Punishment had a great effect on ursaring since its offensive capabilities were boosted to the maximum from its Belly Drum.
This battle is truly the hardest battle I had gotten myself into to date in the Ever Grande Conference. I can finally get a glimpse of the abilities of the trainers who had truly earned their badges and their spot in this conference through their own skills.
A wigglytuff was sent out in response to Kel's presence and I know that I have to get it out of the way. Wigglytuff is also a fairy type, Kel is at a type disadvantage here.
"Perish Song!"
Kel sang out an eerie yet melodious tune. From the stares and the sudden silence from the crowd, I guess everyone was taken by surprise. Trainers don't usually command their pokemon to use Perish Song unless they have no other options left.
I hope they don't misunderstand my intentions. I just want to force Amy to switch her wigglytuff out for something else. Kel can always escape with Baton Pass anyway.
Wigglytuff moved to attack Kel with a Drain Punch but Kel dodged with a Detect before using a Psycho Cut with her horn. Wigglytuff simply sucked in a deep breath and puffed itself up into something similar to a huge balloon and purposely let Kel's horn slam into it.
And then bouncing Kel away using the elastic properties of its body.
What the hell? That is possible?!
Kel gave an incredulous look at the wigglytuff for what it just did but decided to test wigglytuff's capabilities with a Thunderbolt. Wigglytuff used a Tri Attack to defend itself. It inflates itself again and used a Body Slam which Kel quickly escaped from. However, the wigglytuff simply bounced off from the ground and come after Kel again with repeated use of Body Slams, its momentum not slowing the slightest as it tried to squish Kel with its inflated body while bouncing around.
This is borderline genius and ridiculous. Props to Amy for thinking up such a way to use Body Slam.
The bouncing ball of wigglytuff began to spin and start to use a Gyro Ball instead to roll towards Kel and slowly gaining speed. Kel looked extremely annoyed. This is probably the most annoyed expression I have ever seen Kel putting on her face other than when she is interacting with Fuzzy.
"Calm Mind and Fire Blast!"
Kel stood still as she used a Calm Mind and unleashed a Fire Blast on the wigglytuff. Wigglytuff slowed down a little, but it continued its charge.
"Now, Stone Edge! Create a ramp!"
Kel raised the rocks from the ground and formed it into a makeshift ramp. Wigglytuff is unable to change its course and rolled up the ramp and launched itself into the sky. Kel had a vindictive smirk on her face as she watched the wigglytuff flying up high from its momentum.
"Wigglytuff, return! Go blissey! Seismic toss!"
Ah right, the time limit from Perish Song is almost up.
"Kel! Baton Pass to Dolly!"
Dolly appeared in a cackle and disappeared into the shadows immediately. The last time Dolly faced a blissey, it was Norman's blissey that we were facing.
"Taunt! Then Toxic and Curse!"
Dolly shrieked as she did as I commanded, determined to put this blissey down. She slammed into blissey right after that with a Pain Split to heal up her lost health.
"Blissey, Shadow Ball!"
Blissey threw out a barrage of Shadow Balls at Dolly, who countered with Shadow Balls of her own. Amy is getting a little desperate. Both Dolly and Kel have the ability to directly counter her blissey's strength, which is to heal up all damage with its recovery moves. Taunt is a nightmare against any pokemon who uses healing moves as their main ways to fight and outlast their opponent. She was probably expecting me to use Kratos and Toothless, since they made such an impression on the crowd in their last battle and was probably hoping that her blissey's recovery moves can outlast the both of them.
Maybe she forgot that Kratos's species is able to learn Taunt as well. Her blissey wouldn't have survived against Kratos.
Still, I want to get this blissey out of the way as soon as possible. The main strength of the blissey's species is its ability to heal up against almost any kind of damage, but that doesn't mean it is hopeless in battle without them. Blisseys are also capable of inflicting a wide variety of status inflicting moves and is capable of outlasting their foes even without the access to moves like Soft-Boiled.
"Charge Beam!"
Blissey acknowledged its trainer's command and unleashed a Charge Beam at Dolly, who returned fire with a Thunderbolt of her own. Blissey followed up with a Flamethrower and tried to use this chance to get closer to Dolly.
"Dolly, Phantom Force!"
Dolly disappeared from sight and reappeared above blissey a short while later with a massive Thunder charged and ready to fire.
The blissey unleashed a Dazzling Gleam to defend itself and the resulting explosion caught the two pokemon and threw them out of the blast zone violently. Both of them were too close to each other and the result of their attacks had brought each of their health down significantly. However, blissey had lots of health to spare and still looked relatively healthy due to the traits of its species. Dolly had gotten careless and got caught in the brunt of the explosion. All blissey needs is one good hit to take Dolly out.
"Zap Cannon, take out the banette!"
"Dolly, use it! Bring the blissey down!"
Dolly immediately dashed towards the Zap Cannon, much to the surprise of everyone. I can hear the crowd screaming and gasping in surprise at Dolly's seemingly suicidal move.
Dolly glowed briefly with ghostly energy just right before the Zap Cannon struck her and took her out. The same glow appeared on the blissey a few seconds later, taking it out as well.
I returned Dolly back to her pokeball. Her use of Destiny Bond is getting more and more accurate when it comes to timing its use perfectly.
Amy sent out her last pokemon, wigglytuff, as I sent out Kel again.
"Kel, Perish Song. We are ending this."
Kel used another Perish Song and I can see Amy getting frustrated with that move. She only has slightly less than three minutes before Perish Song takes effect and forced her wigglytuff out of commission. I have this win in the bag now, unless her wigglytuff is able to take both Kel and my sixth pokemon out within the time limit, which I doubt so.
"Gravity! Then Submission!"
Wigglytuff altered the gravity around Kel and sent her pressing onto the ground below, unable to move an inch.
Gravity can be used in this manner? I wonder if anyone from my team is capable of learning it? This application of Gravity seems to be very useful.
Wigglytuff came charging recklessly at Kel, intending to use Submission. Kel spewed out a Flamethrower to stop its advance but wigglytuff charged through it and intend on ending the immobilised Kel with one blow.
"Protect!"
Kel defended herself with a Protect before using a Substitute to get out of the area influenced by Gravity. She used a Taunt to prevent a second use of Gravity before shooting numerous Charge Beams at the wigglytuff, wary of getting too close to it due to its earlier display of making full use of its elastic body.
"Dynamic Punch!"
Wigglytuff gave a war cry before unleashing a devastating punch on Kel. Kel merely got out of the way with a Double Team. We don't need to crush wigglytuff to win. We just need to survive for a total of three minutes before the win goes to us automatically. I had only used five pokemons after all while Amy had used all six. I will win by default the moment Perish Song takes effect.
"Kel, Double Team."
Kel multiplied herself and I can see despair and resignation crawling up her face. There's no way her wigglytuff can find and defeat Kel in a single move after this. Kel's use of Taunt had prevented her wigglytuff from using any supplementary moves as well to aid her. Furthermore, there's only about a minute left until Perish Song comes into effect.
"I… I forfeit."
After the referee confirmed with Amy that she really chose to forfeit, our battle ended and the referee declared me as the victor, qualifying me as one of the trainers that had made it to the Top 8. I recalled Kel back to her pokeball as Amy recalled her wigglytuff. The both of us walked down from the stands to shake hands as a show of sportsmanship.
"That was a great match." I said sincerely as we shook hands. "I wasn't expecting Lily to be taken down at all. The rest of your pokemons were pretty strong too."
"You didn't even send out your tyranitar and charizard." Amy half-whined, half-complained. "Ursaring was supposed to counter your tyranitar with the slew of fighting type moves he knew but your cradily forced me to send him out prematurely." She sighed before we both walked out of the arena together side by side. "At least I took out four of your pokemons. That's probably the best record any of your challengers can boast so far."
"I guess so." I replied absentmindedly. "I still can't believe how strong your furret is. I never saw a furret battle on this level before."
Amy gave me a deadpan stare.
"You are the one who somehow managed to get your pachirisu to fly. Not only that, it managed to fight my pidgeot on equal ground and the outcome was a draw."
I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly as Amy shook her head in resignation.
"You are a Generalist, aren't you? Are you thinking of getting a normal type for your team?"
I blinked before taking a few seconds to think about it.
"No. Not really. It never really crossed my mind. I don't really care what pokemons ended up on my team as long as they can all get along together. It's not like I'm aiming to be the best trainer out there or anything. I just want to travel the world. Competing in the conference is just the first milestone I need to complete and checked off my bucket list before I continue on my journey."
Amy stared at me once more and I felt a little uneasy at how she is staring at me.
"What?"
"Argh! This is unfair!" Amy threw her hands up in exasperation comically as she cried out loud. "I want to be the strongest trainer and be the champion for this conference and yet I lost to someone who views this conference as something to be checked off her bucket list so that she can travel the world?! Argh!"
Oops. I need to be careful of what I say from now on. I don't want to come across as being insensitive to the feelings of others. Many trainers do come here with the intention of being the strongest.
Amy seemed to notice my silence, before she quiet down and laughed awkwardly for her earlier display.
"Ehehe… Sorry about that. I tend to get a little carried away at times and scare off many people with my behaviour."
"It's fine. I should have watch what I was saying too. I was a little insensitive with my words earlier."
Amy slung an arm around my shoulder as we both continue to walk towards the pokemon centre.
"How about we become friends? I live in Goldenrod City in Johto, you can come find me whenever you are passing by the area."
I smiled.
"I would like that. You can come visit me in Petalburg whenever you are free too. Provided I'm not outside travelling." I added the last part quickly. It is more likely that I will be spending most of my time after this conference travelling and helping Agatha write the 'textbook for dummies', as she calls it. I am still undecided which region I want to explore after the conference, but I am in no hurry to explore a new place. It's not like I'm on a time limit or anything. I will probably spend a month or two at home before continuing my travels again.
"Alright! First friend in Hoenn! Checked!" Amy cried out as she quickly whipped out a notebook and ticked off something written on it. I leaned over and saw a bucket list of things that Amy had planned to do while she is in Hoenn. Some of them had been completed. Some of them are still left unchecked.
"You were complaining about me having a bucket list, and now you have one yourself?" I stared at the girl with a look of disbelief, but she doesn't seem to notice and pulled me along with her as she quickens the pace.
"Quick! Let's go to the pokemon centre to heal up our pokemons and then we can go find something fun to do! I have been dying to try out the famous Mossdeep Twin Waffles out in the bazaar but I need someone else to go with me since the waffles will only be served if there are two people! I finally have someone to eat the waffles with me!"
I can't believe this girl.
She befriended me just so that she can eat some waffles?!
AN: The lineup of Amy's team is based on Lezaroth's suggestions in the reviews. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted you guys to suggest pokemons or possible teams that you want Vel to compete against. I checked the movelist of every pokemon he suggested and found that each and every of the pokemon there is versatile in their own way. It also helps that these pokemons are rarely written about in fanfics so I decided to give it a go.
The battles are getting harder for Vel and there is a maximum of three more battles that she can possibly take part in (top 8, semi-finals, and then the final match). I will be using some of the pokemons that I saw in the reviews section. Your suggestions thus far are the inspiration for some of the specialists that I had created to face Vel in the conference, believe it or not.
Personally, I cannot wait for the EGC arc to be over already since I want to start expanding on the 'travelling' part of the story. I have a few ideas in mind on what will happen after the EGC arc and I think you guys will probably love it. It will take some time to build up to that point though.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not as long as I expected it to be, but I think the battle should be interesting enough to satisfy everyone.
27
You need to stop worrying so much, Mistress.'
"This is a Poison Specialist that we will be going up against, Rena. There's a need to be worried."
Rena watched from where she is lying on the floor as Vel wrote up plans after plans to find a way for their team to battle against their next opponent. Vel is very worried as their next challenger is an established Poison Specialist. The fact that he had taken down all of his previous opposition with ease is a cause for concern, in Vel's opinion.
It's already late at night.
"We don't have a Steel type on our team, and the only weaknesses that Poison types have are Ground and Psychic type moves. Ground type moves are easy to defend against if you know what to look out for. This guy has a track record for rendering any ground type moves next to useless from what I can see." Vel rambled as she looked through recordings of their next opponent's previous battles. "There's a very high chance that our next victory is dependent on both Kel's and your performance, Rena, if the worst comes to pass. You are probably the only one that can take out his pokemons with ease. With help from the team, of course."
'If that is what you wish, then I won't disappoint, Mistress.'
Vel gave her a curious look.
"Sometimes I really can't tell if you love to battle or not. It's a little hard to read your opinion on things that is not you complaining about someone on our team misbehaving."
'Whether I love or dislike battles is irrelevant. The only thing I care about is your wellbeing.'
Vel gave her a pat on the head. Rena enjoys it. Her Mistress always know how to make her feel comfortable and at ease.
"Learn to care more about yourself, Rena. I appreciate the fact that you care a lot about me, but I do care about you and the whole team as well. If you don't wish to battle, then you don't need to battle. I can always send out Snap or Bigblue to battle this guy if need be, although it is still a little too early to be showing them off. I want to have the element of surprise for as long as possible."
'You need to care more about yourself, Mistress. You are always looking after someone. If not us, then it is your family. You are the one with permanent sickness, not us.'
Fuzzy and Dolly voiced their agreement from where they are loitering about in Vel's room. Kel is already curled up in a corner with her eyes closed, but Rena can feel her friend agreeing with their sentiments as well. Rena still isn't proficient enough in her psychic powers to allow the entire team to converse with Vel telepathically, and she don't know if she will reach that level of power one day. Her kind is more attuned to sensing emotions. Telepathy is more of the domain of Holly's species. Despite that, letting her friends in on the telepathic conversation she is having with Vel is no issue.
"You guys." Vel shook her head in fond exasperation before closing her notebook that she has been writing on for at least a few hours. "I swear, sometimes it feels like you guys are the trainer and I'm the pokemon."
Fuzzy squeaked and picked up an empty pokeball from Vel's belt, which is lying nearby, before doing his dramatic acting, probably to imitate a trainer. Dolly cackled and joined in the fun, wrapping Vel's scarf around herself and floating around Fuzzy in circles.
The only reason Rena tolerates their rowdy behaviour is because these two never fail to put on a smile on Vel's face with their antics. Vel finds their actions to be hilarious.
'You spoil them too much, Mistress. They will make a huge mess if you let them carry on what they are doing.'
"No harm in indulging them in a little fun every now and then." Vel said before changing into her sleepwear and then lie on her bed, pulling the covers over herself. Rena jumped up onto the bed to snuggle next to Vel and Fuzzy joined in. Dolly simply vanished into the shadows, probably sneaking off somewhere to have some fun on her own. She has no need for sleep due to her Insomnia ability.
'Vel! Vel! Will I be battling again?'
'Be quiet, Fuzzy. Mistress needs to sleep.'
"What is it, Fuzzy?" Vel asked as she patted the noisiest member on the team. Rena mentally sighed and did her job as the team's translator.
'He is asking if he would be battling again.'
"Probably not." Vel said as she gave a small yawn. "You, Kel, and Toothless will probably be the most important fighters for the next match. Fuzzy is a lot stronger now, but he is not suited to fight against a Poison Specialist. I am thinking of sending out Kratos too, but I doubt so. He is still a little impulsive. Fighting poison types require more finesse than brute strength, and definitely need a whole lot more patience. Patience that he doesn't have. I will send him out in the later matches if we win the next one."
'A brute will always be a brute.'
"But you can't deny that sometimes we need a brute to solve certain problems. Everyone has their own strengths, Rena. You are meticulous and careful, which is a good thing. But sometimes you overthink too much. There are times where the simplest way can be the best way to solve problems."
'Talking about the brute, he has been bugging me to inform you to get more members on the team that enjoys a good fight. I would have ignored him, but he somehow got Toothless and Snap to agree with him. Their bugging has been getting rather annoying recently, hence this conversation.'
Vel suppressed a laugh at Rena's words, but she gave her reply.
"I'm not sure if I want more members on our team." Vel mumbled. "I'm not sure if I can give everyone enough attention and care if that happens."
'That shouldn't be the reason why you don't want more members on the team, Mistress. You are already giving us more than what we can ask for. If you come across other pokemons who you think is a great fit on our team, then get them to join.'
Vel gave her a mischievous smirk.
"And if it is another pokemon that loves to fight?"
Rena's left eye twitched as she imagined the mayhem if another battle-hungry pokemon joins their team. Her default response would be a big 'NO', but if Vel really thinks that such a pokemon is suited to join their team…
'… I will try to tolerate brute number two, if it comes to that.'
It is with nervousness that I entered the battle that would determine if I qualify to rise up to the ranks of the Top 4. Jacky Marsh is a formidable and problematic trainer to go up against with the pokemons he is known to be using. Poison Specialists are not exactly rare, but they are not common either. I myself had never encounter a Poison Specialist in battle before this.
Not many people will choose to specialise in poison types for very practical reasons. Poison types are not that hard to raise, but they are troublesome to handle. Even on my family's farm, we don't have many poison types. The poison types we have on our farm are mainly those who have poison type as their secondary typing.
Poison type pokemons tend to destroy the environment and the ecosystem around them. They thrive in destroyed environment or places where only they can live, like wastelands, landfills, marshes, and abandoned industrial areas. The toxic fumes and substances they produce and emit is hazardous to anything that has no resistance to it. This alone deters many trainers and breeders alike in raising poison types in captivity. Humans who have to handle poison types have to take extreme precaution if they don't want to die from an overdose of toxins in their system.
Even on my family's farm, the poison types we raised are mainly the roselia species, which acts more like a grass type than a poison type. We have other poison types too, like nidoqueens and nidokings, but they don't have the tendency to release poison fumes and venoms willy-nilly. So we don't have issues with raising such poison types on our farm. Pokemons like muk or weezing though… they just aren't suited to be raised on our farm. These pokemons will just destroy the delicate ecosystem that our family has been maintaining on our farm for generations simply by being there.
Despite how hard it is to handle them, poison type pokemons are also useful to humans, even the highly toxic ones. Pokemons like muk, weezing, and garbodor are able to enter heavily hazardous environments to conduct search and rescue operations. There is an incident with a chemical processing factory a few years back in Unova when something went wrong and a huge explosion happened. Rescuers have to search for any survivors on top of dealing with a massive chemical leak. Most of the employees there didn't survive, but there were a few who got rescued in time thanks to the poison type pokemons deployed to rescue them.
The mind-boggling part was how the authorities made use of poison type pokemons to clean up the mess thereafter.
A large horde of highly toxic pokemon who thrive on consuming toxic wastes were deployed to clean up the chemical leak. The mess was largely cleaned up within a week simply by having these pokemons eating up any toxic wastes they could find. According to Dad, many chemical processing plants have poison pokemons of their own to clean up toxic wastes that they produced during the manufacturing process. It is just that this wasn't common knowledge until the unfortunate incident in Unova happened.
I stepped up onto the challenger's stand and I could hear the crowd roaring in excitement. My current rank is now in the Top 8 of this year's conference and already I have an online fanbase who is cheering me on. Vance had told me that many expected me to get into the Top 4 or even the Top 2 of this year's conference, and these expectations actually gave me some pressure. There were mixed views after the pairings were released and people found out that Jacky and I will be facing each other in battle to fight for the spot of Top 4. From what I know, both of us are expected to end up in the Top 4 before the pairings are announced. No one is expecting for us to face each other in battle this soon.
Once the pre-battle preparations are done, both Jacky and I sent out our first pokemon to battle.
I decided to go with my usual tactics and sent out Flamel like what I usually do. To be honest, I don't expect him to be able to handle any of Jacky's pokemons one on one since Flamel is not really a battler. Flamel will probably never reach that level of strength. What he can do, is to force Jacky to show his hand early, or to weaken Jacky's pokemon enough for the next member of our team to revenge kill Jacky's pokemon.
As I had predicted, Jacky sent in a scolipede. This is also one reason I decided to go with Flamel. I want the type advantage. I could have sent in Toothless too, but sending him out this early would likely prove to be detrimental for us later on in our fight.
Flamel immediately started off with a Sunny Day and Inferno combo as we had planned. Scolipedes are known to be agile predators so we need to limit its options as much as possible by making sure it has nowhere to run.
The scolipede simply curled up into a ball and started with a Rollout before charging through the sea of flames in Flamel's direction without even flinching.
"Overheat!"
Flamel blasted the rolling scolipede with an Overheat but the scolipede just continue with its charge. Flamel met its charge head-on with a Flare Blitz that cracked the ground beneath them. The scolipede unwind itself and immediately starts to attack Flamel viciously with its horns.
Flamel cooked scolipede with his flames but the poison bug pokemon simply shrugged off his attacks and used a Poison Jab on Flamel, inflicting him with a poisoned status. Flamel countered with a Façade that forced scolipede to back off. Scolipede is inflicted with a burn thanks to Flamel's Inferno, but it doesn't seem to be affected by it.
"Venoshock!"
Flamel cried out in pain at the attack and I gritted my teeth. Venoshock is an attack that deals a lot more damage if the target has already been poisoned. With just two attacks, that scolipede had already evened the playing field.
That scolipede's poison must be very lethal if it is able to significantly lower Flamel's health just like that.
"End the rapidash, Venoshock again!"
"Flare Blitz!"
Flamel charged in with the largest Flare Blitz I had ever seen and collided into the scolipede in a flash of fire. Unfortunately, Flamel lay unconscious on the ground after the fire died down.
I returned Flamel back to his pokeball. He had done his best, and that is all that matters.
Dolly appeared for battle next as she tried to blast the scolipede with bursts of Hex. The scolipede dodged with Agility although some of Dolly's attacks managed to connect onto the scolipede.
"Toxic!"
The scolipede immediately tried to poison Dolly, but we have prepared ourselves for this particular move.
"Magic Coat!"
Magic Coat is an attack that reflects any moves that inflicts a status condition back onto the user. Scolipede won't get poisoned from its own move since it is a poison type, but nevertheless, Magic Coat is a perfect defense for us in preventing Dolly from getting poisoned.
Scolipede increased its speed even further with Agility as it zipped around the battlefield trying to hit Dolly with its attacks. Dolly responded in kind as she dived in and out of the shadows to battle scolipede, Shadow Balls firing in huge amounts.
One particular nasty Shadow Ball hit the scolipede and I gave a mental cheer. Just one more hit and the scolipede would be out of the count.
"Scolipede, Baton Pass!"
Not happening on our watch.
"Dolly, Pursuit!"
Dolly appeared from scolipede's shadow and struck a heavy blow on the scolipede, smashing it into the other end of the arena.
I tried to slow down my breathing when Jacky returned his scolipede. This fast-paced battle got me caught up in it without realising it. This battle is really intense.
A crobat appeared for battle next and I resist the urge to sigh. Crobats are notoriously fast and almost impossible to pin down. Dolly is going to have a hard time here.
But she is also probably the only one on the team that is able to match the crobat in speed. If anyone can catch the crobat, it will be her.
"Dolly, Miasma!"
Dolly immediately unleashed a combination of Dark Pulse and Ominous Wind, the same combo that she used against Tate and Liza during our gym circuit. The entire stadium immediately got itself covered in a dark fog. In this fog, Dolly can be anywhere.
Crobat let out a cry as several of Dolly's Shadow Balls crashed into it and the crobat immediately start to fly erratically to throw Dolly's aim off. Dolly improvised by firing Shock Waves at the crobat, who had no choice but to use several Air Slashes to defend itself.
"Clear the fog with Defog!"
With a powerful flap of crobat's wings, the miasma was cleared. However, Dolly cannot be seen anywhere.
A huge column of Thunder burst out from right below crobat where its shadow is and crobat screamed in pain. However, instead of escaping from the attack, the crobat withstood it and immediately flew down to strike its own shadow with a Payback.
The unexpected counterattack forced Dolly out from her hiding place and it is obvious that Dolly suffered significant damage from that blow. Her species is not one that can take many blows in battle. Just a few is enough to knock Dolly out.
"Pain Split!"
Dolly went to steal some of crobat's health for herself, but Jacky and crobat did the unexpected once more.
"Taunt!"
Ah shit, turning our favourite move onto ourselves.
Dolly immediately changed her course when crobat casted Taunt to escape from her foe. Crobat went to hack at her with Cross Poison and fired Dark Pulses of its own at Dolly, who is now forced to be on the run.
"Dolly, Phantom Force!"
Dolly immediately vanished and reappeared right behind crobat in a split second before blasting it down with a Thunderbolt.
Or that's what we thought.
What Dolly blasted down turns out to be a Substitute and the real crobat appeared above her and slashed at Dolly with a Cross Poison, taking Dolly out as well.
Jacky is good. At this rate, this might very well be the end of my Ever Grande Conference challenge.
I sent out the next member of the team to battle the crobat, although I know she wouldn't be very pleased to face a flying type in battle.
"Lily! City of Pillars!"
Lily immediately raised pillars of stones out from the ground in the blink of an eye and then began to swiftly swing herself from pillar to pillar using her tentacles. This very act seemed to take Jacky and crobat by surprise, since they were stunned by the sight and unable to react for a short while, giving Lily the much-needed time to get closer to crobat.
"Confuse Ray!"
Lily sent out a ghostly ray of energy that find its mark on crobat, who was a little too slow to react. Lily didn't waste any time as she immediately wrapped her tentacles around the crobat before smashing the bat pokemon viciously into one of the pillars with a Smack Down, taking the pillar down in the process as well.
The only thing that went through my mind as I witnessed this sight is that Lily really, really, hates dealing with flying types.
The next pokemon that Jacky sent out is a pokemon that is probably one of the most problematic opponents for Lily to face under certain conditions.
A tentacruel appeared for battle next and I really hope it doesn't have the Liquid Ooze ability. Moves like Giga Drain will be useless against that tentacruel if that is the case.
Still, there's a way to counter that.
"Lily, Worry Seed!"
Lily immediately went to plant seeds that latched onto the tentacruel, changing its ability to Insomnia. With that, we don't need to worry about it having Liquid Ooze as its ability anymore.
"Earth Power!"
The earth erupted beneath the tentacruel as it defended itself with a combination of Barrier and Reflect. It also used an Aqua Ring to form a protective area around it.
"Tentacruel, Sludge Wave!"
Tentacruel sprayed a massive wave of sludge on the arena, forcing Lily to stay high up on the pillars to prevent herself from being caught up in it and get herself poisoned as a result.
"Lily, flip the ground over! Get rid of the sludge!"
Looking back, this scene is one of the most memorable memories of my Ever Grande Conference and is what got me the moniker of 'Arena Flipper', although I only found that out later on.
Ignoring the gasps and screams from the crowd, Lily used her powers over rocks to lift half of the arena up before flipping it and sent it crashing down below onto the tentacruel. A large gaping hole is left on the half that Lily lifted up as Lily perched herself high up on one of the unaffected pillars. I can see many of the spectators running for cover in the crowd and many psychic pokemons suddenly teleporting outside the psychic barriers in response, trying to maintain their hold over it just in case something went wrong.
Causing mayhem seems to be my team's forte. The same thing happened during Kratos's and Toothless's battle, although not to that extreme since they did nothing as drastic as what Lily did.
Sometimes people's reactions to what my team is capable of makes me wonder if I raised them correctly. We didn't mean to scare them. Lily only lifted half of the arena. She can lift area of rocks at least five times the size of what she just did without effort.
I think it might be better to just keep that knowledge to ourselves.
The tentacruel burrowed its way out, surprisingly unharmed. Tentacruels are known to be able to take heavy physical damage without flinching due to their unique physiology and their ability to use Barrier and Reflect. I wasn't hoping to take tentacruel out with that display, I just want to get rid of all the poisonous sludge.
Lily rained rocks down on tentacruel with Rock Slide and Ancient Power from where she is perched high up above on the pillar. At the same time, she attacked tentacruel from below with Stone Edge and Earth Power, sandwiching tentacruel with her attacks.
Smart girl.
Tentacruel summoned a huge wave of water with Surf to defend itself from the rocks before shooting an Ice Beam at Lily. Lily simply used her control over rocks to shift the pillar which she is perching at away from the Ice Beam and increased the ferocity of her attacks.
We are slowly wearing the tentacruel down.
"Whirlpool! Destroy the pillars!"
"Drain the waters!"
Tentacruel immediately summoned a massive Whirlpool but Lily shifted the ground such that the water flows down into the large gaping hole where half of the arena was once at. Lily used a Sunny Day before she started to fire a barrage of Solar Beams at the tentacruel. Tentacruel isn't very mobile on land, and it is forced to defend itself since it is unable to run away in time.
"Blizzard!"
Tentacruel unleashed a massive Blizzard that forced Lily to surround herself with a shield of rocks to block out the attack. We need to stop that tentacruel.
"Lily, raise the tentacruel up with Stone Edge and finish it!"
Lily slammed tentacruel upwards with a stone pillar that rose upwards at a rapid rate. The tentacruel clung onto the pillar for dear life, unable to move for fear of dropping down.
"Wring Out and Giga Drain!"
Lily's tentacles emerged from behind the shield of rocks that she had erected for herself and snared the tentacruel, giving it a crushing squeeze with a Wring Out and sucked out its energy with a powerful Giga Drain, snatching us a win.
I knew Lily could do it.
The next pokemon Jacky sent out had me worried. This is one of his strongest fighters.
A massive nidoking announced its appearance with an earth-shaking roar and immediately started out with an Earthquake to destroy the pillars around it, forcing Lily to scamble down. It also raised the earth from below to fill up the massive hole that Lily had left behind earlier, giving it more space to fight in.
All of these took place in less than five seconds, not many pokemon can do that. This nidoking is no joke. I'm not sure if Lily can stand up to this guy.
Lily tried to get rid of nidoking's ability with a Worry Seed, but nidoking used a Flamethrower to burn them down before charging in with a Megahorn. Lily used Earth Power to damage it, but the nidoking wasn't hindered in the slightest.
"Grab it with Constrict!"
Lily's tentacles lashed out and wrapped itself around the nidoking, preventing it from ramming Lily with its horn.
Lily winced and I realised that this nidoking has the Poison Point ability. It used a powerful physical move to force Lily to have physical contact with it and allowing its ability to trigger as a result.
Jacky and nidoking really makes a scary duo to go up against.
"Venoshock!"
"Recover!"
Lily mitigated the damage from Venoshock with Recover and used a Confuse Ray to try and confuse the nidoking. Nidoking destroyed the Confuse Ray by forcing itself free from Lily's tentacles and used a Shadow Claw to slash at it. It went in with a Poison Jab but Lily tripped it with a Grass Knot, sending it tumbling down.
"Pain Split!"
Lily recovered some of her health back with Pain Split but nidoking used the chance to grab one of her tentacles and forcefully pulled on it, sending Lily flying towards itself.
To my horror, nidoking unleashed a point-blank Blizzard on Lily, freezing her in a block of ice and taking her out of the battle.
I quickly returned Lily back to her pokeball. Lily cannot cope well in low temperatures and the stasis of her pokeball will prevent anything untoward from happening to her. She will be safe there.
I paused for a short while as I contemplate on who I should send out next. The only ones that can go toe to toe with that absurdly powerful nidoking are Snap, Toothless, Bigblue, and Kratos. Who should I choose?
I sent Toothless out for battle next. Nidoking shouldn't have too many options in dealing with an opponent that is able to fly in the air. Snap could have done the job too, but Toothless is a better choice to deal with a poison type.
"Sunny Day and Inferno! Keep your distance from the nidoking!"
Toothless immediately bathed the entire arena in hot flames upon my command. The remnants of the sludges accumulated since the start of the battle caught fire as well and helped to hasten the process.
Most poison attacks, especially the ranged ones, have oily substances in it that can be easily ignited. This is the main reason why I chose Toothless to battle, since the intensity of his flames can easily ignite any sludge and get rid of it within seconds. Any poisonous fumes that resulted from the combustion can be dispersed with his wings.
The nidoking retaliated with a massive wave of Surf that extinguished the flames around it and sent another wave of Surf at Toothless, who destroyed the wave of water with a powerful Air Slash. Toothless roared at the nidoking before using Inferno once more. He is capable of keeping his flames going for long periods of time if he doesn't stupidly use a powerful attack like Overheat and Blast Burn without my permission.
The nidoking took a leaf out of Lily's book and raised its elevation with a Stone Edge. Many stone pillars rose together with it as well. The pillars are not as well-made as Lily's, but it is pretty good for its first attempt.
The nidoking then jumped into the air towards Toothless, who dodged nidoking's attack and fired a Flamethrower. Nidoking defended itself with a Water Pulse before shooting out Thunderbolts and forced Toothless to keep its distance. The nidoking landed on another pillar before discharging massive amounts of Thunderbolts at Toothless once again, forcing him to be on the run.
"Toothless, Heat Wave!"
Toothless did an abrupt stop before turning back to release a massive Heat Wave that combusted in an explosion upon hitting the mass of Thunderbolts. A large amount of smoke resulted from the attack which Toothless quickly dispersed with his wings.
But where did the nidoking disappear to?
Toothless immediately glanced around warily upon realising that nidoking had disappeared. How had it disappeared in such a short amount of time?
A large amount of rocks fell down from the sky with the use of Rock Slide and Toothless immediately destroyed it with Metal Claw. Nidoking must be hiding somewhere while sniping attacks at us, but where is it hiding at?
A larger volley of rocks fell down again and Toothless have no choice but to fly lower to escape from the attack. Shit, nidoking must be herding it down lower to the ground. In that case, we might as well take the initiative.
"Toothless! Flare Blitz then Earthquake! Destroy everything!"
Toothless roared in acknowledgement before cloaking himself in a shroud of fire and slamming himself violently onto the ground, shaking the entire stadium. I don't know where nidoking is hiding itself, but it is likely that it is hiding underground. If it is, then the Earthquake will force it out.
Nidoking emerged right after Toothless's Earthquake and caught him with its claws. It looked injured from Toothless's Earthquake, but still capable of fighting. From the way nidoking is holding Toothless, I don't think Toothless can escape without getting severely injured in the process. We might as well try to bring it down now.
"Toothless, Blast Burn! Take it out!"
Toothless didn't hesitate to destroy nidoking with a Blast Burn. To my utter shock and disbelief, that nidoking is still standing after receiving the entirety of Toothless's attack.
"Smack Down!"
Nidoking slammed Toothless into the ground with its claws, who is now trying to defend himself with his claws. Toothless is unable to fight back properly after that Blast Burn, he needs some time to recharge before doing so.
"Stone Edge!"
The nidoking raised a large, jagged piece of rock from the ground and rammed it into Toothless. It caught Toothless again, before using Smack Down on him once more, taking Toothless out.
Just what is needed to take down this nidoking?!
I am at a numerical disadvantage now since I only have two pokemons left for this battle while Jacky still has two more on top of his nidoking. I need to change the way I am battling against him.
I took a few seconds to consider before coming to a decision. This is a very risky way to battle but the rewards might just be worth it. In fact, it is my last resort when facing people of Jacky's calibre. If done right, we won't need to worry about the nidoking and the subsequent pokemons that Jacky sent out.
If done wrong, then our journey in the Ever Grande Conference ends here. Right now, we either sink, or we swim.
"Kel! Set up!"
Kel immediately cloned herself with Double Team and began to implement our plan. The most important part of the plan is to get Kel to survive as long as possible.
Nidoking tried to hit Kel with a variety of moves, but thankfully, none connected. The fatigue that the nidoking is facing must be kicking in after taking down Lily and Toothless. No matter how strong it is, it has to be affected by taking the full blow of Toothless's Earthquake and Blast Burn.
Nidoking even tried an Earthquake in desperation but Kel's Detect prevented it from hitting her. Seeing that none of its moves can hit Kel, Nidoking tried to heal up with Rest, only to find that Kel's Taunt is in effect.
"Sludge Wave! Seek it out!"
Nidoking released a massive wave of sludge only for blades of Razor Wind to tear it into shreds before it can be properly sprayed across the arena. Blasts of Future Sights hit nidoking at the same time, courtesy of Kel's Prediction combo.
Thank god Kel is a master at multi-tasking. She might have just saved our entire team from complete annihilation for what she is doing right now. Furthermore, Kel should be about done by now. She had stalled long enough.
An overpowered Shadow Ball from Kel shot into nidoking from Kel. This is the signal from her that she is done.
"Baton Pass!"
Rena appeared on the battlefield gracefully with huge amount of psychic energy buzzing around her. She immediately split into numerous illusionary copies, the effect of Kel's Double Team passing on to her thanks to Baton Pass.
"Psychic!"
With one overpowered psychic, Jacky's nidoking is finally brought down.
What Kel passed on to Rena was not only the effects of Double Team, but her repeated use of Calm Mind as well. Right now, Rena's special attacks are boosted to the maximum. Just a few of her Psychic attack at full power is enough to bring any Elite level pokemon down if it hit. Not many trainers like to use this tactic as it takes time to use, and the pokemon doing the passing has to be capable of surviving the onslaught of attacks it will take while trying to set up for the next pokemon. The number of trainers who can use this tactic to full effect in the higher levels of pokemon battles are rare and few in between as only a few pokemons are naturally capable of such a feat.
Luckily for us, Kel is one such pokemon. It's time for our comeback.
Jacky sent out a skuntank next and from the grim expression on his face, he must have realised the severity of his circumstances. Skuntank is also a dark type pokemon, but if he thinks that sending a dark type out to counter Rena is enough to stop our rampage, then he needs to try harder.
"Rena, Hyper Voice!"
Some of the smarter audiences in the stadium covered their ears the moment they saw me covering mine as Rena let out a high pitch scream that sent the Skuntank reeling back from the resulting shock wave.
"Laser Focus and Zap Cannon! Bring it down!"
Rena's eyes glowed a psychic blue before she discharged a huge amount of electricity and sent it towards the skuntank, who is still trying to shrug off the effects of that overpowered Hyper Voice.
The skuntank didn't stand a chance.
The crowd went wild at the sudden turnaround Rena and I were displaying. They must have thought that my loss is inevitable.
Actually, I had the same thoughts too. Until I decided to put my trust in Kel and take a gamble.
The last pokemon that Jacky sent out is a venusaur, which is right up there with his nidoking in terms of power. His venusaur is adept at defense with its ability to use recovery moves like Leech Seed, Giga Drain, Synthesis, and Rest. Jacky's venusaur is also known to be able to defend itself with ease against its natural type disadvantages like flying, fire, and ice types.
But if there is one thing I found out from his previous battles, it is that his venusaur is not as capable in defending itself from psychic attacks.
"Don't let it have a chance to attack! Psychic!"
Rena immediately went on the offensive as she blasted venusaur with huge waves of psychic without rest. Each of Rena's Psychic whittle down a significant amount of venusaur's health, who is now forced to defend or heal up to prevent itself from being taken down quickly. Still, it is a testament to venusaur's prowess that it is able to hold its ground for at least a minute while Rena keeps slamming it with overpowered Psychics repeatedly.
"Frenzy Plant!"
We got them desperate. Good. Frenzy Plant wouldn't work, my team are no slouches when it comes to defending themselves.
"Protect!"
Rena defended herself from the huge mass of vines and branches that was summoned by venusaur without even needing to move an inch. Venusaur now needs to recharge and is momentarily defenceless.
"Stored Power! Take it out!"
Stored Power is a move that gains more power the more the user gains power. With Kel's repeated use of Double Team and Calm Mind passed on to Rena, Rena's Stored Power packs enough power to one-hit-KO almost anything that has no natural resistance to it.
With a huge burst of Psychic power, Rena sent venusaur hurtling to the other side of the arena and slam it through the psychic barriers. The venusaur didn't get back up.
Even when the referee announced me the winner of the match and when I went down to the arena to shake Jacky's hand as he sincerely congratulated me for the win, I still couldn't believe that I had won.
I made it.
I made it to the Top 4.