Alola's pokemons are really interesting.
"-And they can also thump their bones in a specific rhythm to communicate among themselves. The professor I knew had said that marowaks uses at least 50 different rhythmic patterns. This trait of alolan marowaks is not that much different from the ones you usually see in Kanto."
On demonstration, Ajika's alolan marowak began to thump its bone in a rhythmic manner.
"We Alola folks sometimes call alolan marowaks the 'mourning pokemon'. Alolan marowaks are very loyal to their companions. If one of their kind dies, the rest of them will make a grave for it and dance around them. There are funeral rituals in certain parts of Alola that took inspiration from these guys."
I listened intently as Ajika gave me a crash course on the unique pokemons found in the Alola region. I had become fast friends with the gentle and kind boy as he very helpfully teach me more about his alolan marowak, which is also his starter. Ajika's alolan marowak had healed relatively faster than his other pokemon, which the nurses had largely attributed to its part-ghost typing. Ghosts tend to heal from physical damage a lot faster than other types of pokemon.
The both of us are lounging about in the pokemon centre as the nurses went about doing their job to heal our team. Bigblue was relatively unharmed in our battle, and so the nurses had cleared him within minutes after giving him a checkup. He is now resting by my side as he watches the alolan marowak curiously, who is now giving a little dance while thumping its bone.
"Alola sounds like an interesting place to be in. I would like to visit there someday."
"You should come!" Ajika said brightly and his excitement is really infectious. How can someone be so cheery? "Give me a call when you arrive, I will personally show you around. There are some very strong and unique pokemon in Alola too! You should try catching some pokemon there for yourself. And oh! Ever heard of Ultra Beasts? They are like some new type of pokemon that arrive from a totally dimension from ours! They are ridiculously strong too, although they are very rare to come across. We Alola folks give them a very wide berth if we ever see them since they are so strong. Even I don't know if my entire team can beat them."
I blinked my eyes. I might have heard of Ultra Beasts in my previous life, I am not too sure since I didn't play pokemon Sun and Moon, or was it Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon? Whatever the game was called. I really don't know much about the pokemons beyond the Sinnoh region when I first arrived here. I didn't play the pokemon game beyond Pokemon Platinum. Most information or knowledge that I currently have about these pokemons beyond the Sinnoh region are gained in my second life.
"I know, sounds unbelievable, right? I didn't believe the legends of the Ultra Beasts until one of it nearly destroyed the town next to mine a few years back."
"I might have heard of that incident, although I can't remember what pokemon it was that did it."
"The authorities didn't report which pokemon did it, they censored the news. I only know the culprit was an Ultra Beast since it happened so close to home. The authorities' logic was something along the line of not wanting to cause a mass panic or attract idiotic trainers to go and try their luck in catching it. I agree with the authorities' judgement, actually. Ultra Beasts are not to be messed with." Ajika said as he ate some roasted nuts that he had also kindly offered me, saying that it is a local delicacy of his homeland.
Damn, now I really want to go to Alola. It sounds like an exciting place.
Alola has a totally different and unique culture from the other regions. It is a place that has a heavy emphasis on tradition. It is also a place full of history and mystery. It's like a new frontier, a little wild and untamed but yet there is enough sense and order in that place to allow its citizens to live peacefully.
The Alola region is the last region to join the PWL and is relatively young as compared to other regions. Unlike the other regions, they don't experience much conflict before their unification. The only reason why they took so long to declare themselves as a region is because their four main islands that made up the region tend to mind their own business, until someone suggested that it might be a good idea for all four islands to come together, set up their own region, and then join the PWL.
"I'm kind of envious of Hoenn for having its own conference, you know? Alola tried having our own conference many times, but every attempt we did didn't really feel quite right."
I tilt my head curiously.
"I thought that Alola does have its own conference? It's just that you guys have a different way to test if the trainer qualifies to enter the conference."
"That was in the past." Ajika explained as he gestured with his hands to better illustrate his point. "We tried having gyms too. The standard gym circuit with eight gyms like all other regions have, but we faced heavy opposition from the older locals who are adamant on sticking with the tradition of our region. Every time we hosted our own conference there are bound to be some unhappy sentiments from the older folks. There were a few times when a riot actually took place. In the end, the Alola league decided to postpone hosting our own conference until they found a way to make everyone happy. The lack of an Alola conference is why I am here too. I want to test myself against skilled trainers and I decided to try Hoenn out this year."
"I am glad you came to Hoenn." I said as I popped more of Ajika's roasted nuts into my mouth. "I learned a lot from you, both in our battle and our conversation. After hearing what you said about Alola, I am really tempted to go there after this conference."
Ajika smiled and his alolan marowak did a happy dance the moment they heard what I said.
"If you do visit, Alola welcomes you, Vel."
"You two must be Ms Vera and Mr Ulaha. It's nice to meet you."
Both Ajika and I turned our heads to face the source of the unfamiliar voice. I recognised who that person is immediately.
Tucker.
To be more specific, this Tucker is the one who will eventually grow to be the trainer known as Dome Ace Tucker. The same Tucker that will be the Frontier Brain and the head of the Battle Dome in the future.
Hoenn's Battle Frontier has not been set up yet and there is no news about it either. Right now, Tucker is not yet the Dome Ace. Right now, he is a challenger of this year's conference.
Like me.
Fortunately, he is not yet dressed in the outrageous outfit that I am familiar with in the games. He is currently dressed in a purple tuxedo with his long purple hair tied up in a low ponytail. Everything about him is purple.
"Ah! You are Tucker, aren't you? I saw your battles. You are good."
"Thank you, Mr Ulaha. Your battles were spectacular as well."
Ajika rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the praise.
"Call me Ajika." He then gestured to me using his hands, introducing me to Tucker. "This is Vel, we just finished our match. Vel will be advancing to the Top 2."
I saw a glint in Tucker's eyes as he looked at me.
"Then we will be facing each other in battle. I only just finished my match as well. I hope we can have an exciting match, Velda. It would be nice to have a match with a fellow Generalist."
"I won't go easy on you." I said as we both shook hands with each other. "So feel free to go all out."
"I would expect nothing less from an adversary such as yourself." Tucker said with a grin. "I plan to win this year's conference. No hard feelings."
"No hard feelings." I agreed.
The three of us conversed for a short while before we all went our separate ways. I frowned in thought as I collected my pokeballs from the nurses and head towards the training field immediately.
This is the future Frontier Brain that I would be facing. Even without my prior knowledge of him, it is easy to tell that Tucker is strong. I know that much when I watched his performance thus far. He is also a Generalist like me. There's no telling what other tricks he will be showing during our match.
I will really need to pull out all the stops if I want to win.
The date of the final match of every year's Ever Grande Conference is set on the last day of August, which coincides on my birthday.
My family had wanted to celebrate my birthday with me before the day of the final match, but after seeing me so engrossed in training and preparing my team for my match with Tucker, they decided to postpone the celebration to after the match instead. Even Flannery had made her way down to Ever Grande one day before my match to spectate my performance, although she puts on some disguises whenever she is moving around in public. She is a famous public figure of Hoenn, and with that comes several inconveniences when it comes to her personal life.
Mum adores Flannery. In fact, she is already snapping at Vance to hurry up and marry her already, much to both of their embarrassment.
My match with Tucker will commence tomorrow. It will be my 13th birthday tomorrow too. It's still a little surreal to think that I have been in this world for thirteen years already.
How time flies.
Dad seems to be in a very good mood seeing that he brought all of us to dine in some posh restaurant that only the rich patronise for today's dinner. He was adamant that Flannery join us as well, and it is very entertaining to see Vance and Flannery acting awkwardly around Dad and Mum whenever the both of them are together.
It is Flannery's first meeting with my parents after all. It is understandable that she is nervous about it.
That doesn't stop me from teasing her though.
"So." I moved to walk beside Flannery and asked cheekily as we made our way to the restaurant for dinner. "When are you two tying the knot? Sis-in-law."
Flannery grabbed me in a chokehold and gave me a noogie.
"Alright, you little squirt. Tease me some more, why don't you?"
"Vance! Your future wife is murdering me! Help!"
Vance continued to walk on ahead while whistling, pretending not to hear my cry for help.
"Macky!"
Macky appeared from Vance's shadow and made a face at me before disappearing. He is enjoying seeing me getting noogied by Flannery.
"Traitors!"
"They know better than to cross me." Flannery replied with a grin as she let me go. "I have them whipped."
I gave a sagely nod of approval at her words.
"This is a skill that all women of the Vera house need to know and master. It will be impossible to rein in the guys otherwise."
"You two don't have me-"
"What did you just say?"
Both Flannery and I gave Vance a deceptively sweet smile. He has only one chance to correct himself before we make his life hell for him.
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, ma'am!"
I can see Mum giving her nod of approval from the peripheral of my vision. She totally approves of Flannery since she definitely have Vance wrapped around her little finger.
The Vera house will definitely be livelier with Flannery around. She and Vance are both good for each other.
It will take a while, but I cannot wait to have Flannery as my older sister.
There are six pokemons that I narrowed down after watching all of Tucker's matches. These are the pokemons that Tucker will most likely be sending out against me during our battle.
All of them are insanely strong.
Facing Tucker feels like facing Vance in battle. Like Vance, Tucker has both of Hoenn's pseudo-legendaries on his team and the members of his team cover each other's weaknesses perfectly too. Tucker had obviously put a lot of thought into what kinds of pokemons he wants on his team.
If I have to be honest with myself, I don't stand much of a chance in winning this match. Unlike mine, Tucker's team is built to win. My team is a mishmash of random pokemons that joined me on my journey because most of them were somehow convinced by my talk-no-jutsu, or they were given to me by someone else. Come to think of it, I don't think I have caught a wild pokemon through a battle yet.
I don't really care if I became the champion of this year's conference or not. Being the strongest is Vance's dream, not mine. I just want to try my best in this conference since I am already here. The fact that some members of my team enjoy the battles thus far is another motivation for me to continue battling too.
I just want to enjoy taking part in this year's conference.
I stepped up onto the challenger's box as I etched the sight of the crowd roaring in excitement into my mind. This would probably be the last time I will ever take part in a competition as huge as the Ever Grande Conference. It was fun, but it is also tiring trying to outdo everyone else.
I need a long and relaxing break after this.
Tucker enjoys the attention on him as he waved at the crowd when the announcer presented him to the audience. The both of us gave each other a nod. This will be the final battle for the 528th Ever Grande Conference.
I want to make this battle an epic one.
The crowd went silent as Tucker and I took out a pokeball each. On an unspoken signal, the both of us released our first pokemon into the arena.
The final battle has begun.
Lily appeared with a gurgle as Tucker's gardevoir levitated itself in mid-air with a faint blue outline of psychic energy coating its form.
"Psychic!"
Tucker wasted no time in trying to take Lily out as fast as possible, knowing that Lily's defense gets stronger the longer she is in battle.
Lily responded by sending an overpowered Energy Ball at the wave of psychic energy, resulting in a huge explosion. The gardevoir escaped by teleporting upwards before sending waves of Psychic at Lily once more, determined to take Lily out.
"Mirror Coat!"
Lily withstood gardevoir's attacks and sent them straight back at gardevoir, who was taken aback by this surprise manoeuvre and did not escape in time. Lily followed up with a massive Rock Slide, sending a large amount of sharp rocks in gardevoir's direction and hoping to take the psychic pokemon out for good.
The gardevoir quickly recovered and teleported away from danger before trying to hit Lily with a Psyshock. It is a good move, since Lily's battle style revolves around raising her defensive powers as much as possible. Psyshock deals more damage the higher the opponent's defences are. It is a suitable move to use against Lily.
"Substitute!"
Lily created a copy of herself that took the Psyshock on her behalf. Lily recovered her lost health quickly with a Recover before shifting the earth. Rock spikes ruptured violently from the ground to hit the gardevoir and it was forced to evade the attack once more with a Teleport.
We need to do something about that gardevoir's ability to Teleport all over the place.
"Lily, make it rain! Don't let it have a safe place to Teleport to!"
Lily immediately rained boulders all over the arena with a massive Rock Slide and the gardevoir was forced to use a Reflect to create a temporary shelter for itself. The only safe place for it to Teleport to will be outside the psychic barriers or within grabbing distance of Lily's tentacles.
"Moonblast! Destroy the cradily!"
The gardevoir conjured a huge amount of energy before blasting it at Lily, who used a Protect to defend itself. Gardevoir must have been constantly using Calm Mind to raise its offensive powers, the power of that Moonblast is too strong for it to be a normal Moonblast.
To my surprise, the gardevoir used a Shadow Sneak to get close to Lily and hit Lily with a powerful Psychic. Lily hissed in pain but went to grab the gardevoir while trying to heal herself. The gardevoir teleported out of grabbing range before sending another beam of Moonblast at Lily, who shifted herself away from danger with Rock Surf.
This is getting nowhere.
"Make it bloom with Grass Knot! Grab it!"
The entire rocky arena turned into a grassland as Lily grew blades of grass from the ground and sent them all towards gardevoir. The sheer area that Lily's Grass Knot covered is mindblowing. It will be hard for gardevoir to evade Lily's attack since the entire arena is now under Lily's control.
To its credit, Tucker's gardevoir didn't panic as it simply tore through the blades of grass with a massive Psychic. Gardevoir charged up another Moonblast and teleported to where Lily is once more, trying to deal huge amount of damage to Lily before she can react to the danger.
"Flash! Blind it!"
Lily flashed a bright white which forced everyone to close their eyes. Lily took the opportunity to get her tentacles on gardevoir and immediately used a Wring Out combined with Giga Drain, sapping away gardevoir's strength at a rapid rate. The gardevoir looks like it tried to Teleport itself away from the danger, but the sudden loss of its strength prevented it from doing so.
The gardevoir is losing, fast.
"Lily, end it with Solar Beam!"
"Destiny Bond!"
Tucker gave me another surprise when gardevoir took Lily down with Destiny Bond. The gardevoir species are capable of learning that move?!
The stadium shook as the crowd roared at the unexpected outcome. With that one move, Tucker had taken out my best defensive battler.
I can see why he will be chosen by Scott to be a Frontier Brain in the future, if things do pan out in that manner.
"Snorlax, appear for battle!"
I grimaced as a snorlax was released for battle. The entire stadium tremored as snorlax stomped on the ground in a grumpy rage.
Even for Elite trainers, the snorlax species is a highly dangerous species to handle. They are absurdly strong in battle, but the only instinct they have is to eat, eat, and then eat some more. They get into a fit of rage if they are denied food and they can destroy ecosystems by overfeeding. It is hard for trainers to tame it as snorlax only ever cares about food. It is even harder for trainers to get their respect and it is near impossible to find a trainer that is able to get a snorlax to listen to its every command. Even Norman chose not to raise a snorlax despite the fact that the species boasts strong offensive and defensive powers together with versatility. It is a species of pokemon that many trainers will want to get for themselves if it wasn't for their notorious reputation.
I also cannot help but wonder how Tucker managed to feed his snorlax constantly without going broke. Surely it must be expensive keeping a snorlax on his team?
Realistically, there's only one pokemon on my team that has a chance against this snorlax.
"Dolly, bring it down like we planned!"
Dolly appeared in a ghostly shriek as she immediately used a Skill Swap to trade abilities with the snorlax. With that, Dolly now possess either the Immunity or Thick Fat ability, while snorlax now possess Dolly's Insomnia. The Insomnia ability will prevent snorlax to heal up by sleeping with Rest, which is a favourite move for snorlaxs.
Snorlax doesn't seem very pleased at this sudden turn of events, and it made its displeasure known by trying to squash Dolly with a Smack Down.
"Anti-tank manoeuvres, take it down!"
Dolly used a quick combination of Curse and Toxic before splitting snorlax's health with her equally with a Pain Split. She is getting very good at sabotaging her opponents. Tucker's snorlax is strong, but it is too slow to keep up with Dolly.
"Earthquake, then Surf!"
Snorlax probably nearly took down the stadium with its Earthquake with how violent the attack is. I don't know about Tucker, but I had fell on my ass the moment snorlax used Earthquake and only got back up after it died down. Dolly had somehow evaded that attack and now snorlax is trying to get to her with a series of Thunder Punch and spewing Flamethrowers from its mouth. Despite its large size, Tucker's snorlax is very nimble and the series of punches is so rapid that I could barely make out the punches with my eyes.
One of the punches got to Dolly and just a single blow brought her health down to critical levels. Dolly healed up by dodging snorlax's next attack with a Phantom Force and then used the effect of the attack to sneak up to snorlax and share her pain with Pain Split once more.
"Don't let it use Destiny Bond! Slowly wear it down with Whirlpool!"
How does snorlax even learn how to use Whirlpool?
Dolly sneaked out of her watery confinement with a Shadow Sneak and immediately went to attack snorlax with a huge beam of Dark Pulse. However, Dolly's attack simply bounced off its thick hide. Snorlax responded with a Fire Punch this time, aiming to injure Dolly but not bringing her down immediately in case she decided to use Destiny Bond.
They underestimated what Dolly can really do. They underestimated the true nature of Ghosts. Ghosts have the tendency to bring down their opponents with whatever it takes as long as it gets the job done.
To do anything as long as the job gets done. No matter what it takes. No matter the cost. That is what Ghosts truly are.
"Dolly! One-for-one! Do it!"
Dolly shrieked once more as she purposely cut her health down with Curse again at the last second and let the Fire Punch hit her. That move took her out, but not before she placed a Destiny Bond on snorlax as well. With that, the troublesome normal type is now out of the picture.
If Tucker can bring down my best defensive battler with Destiny Bond, I can damn well do it too.
Tucker seemed surprised by that suicidal move Dolly and I just performed. The only purpose of Dolly's second use of Curse is to make her health low enough to be taken out by that Fire Punch. It is a move that I don't like to use since it can be very fatal for Dolly if even a single step was done wrongly, but I have faith in her. She didn't let me down.
Tucker's next pokemon is a salamence, who roared its challenge at me from the sky the moment it appeared. I took out Snap's pokeball and released him for battle. So far, neither Tucker nor I have the advantage over the other. We both have four pokemons left to battle.
Snap responded to salamence's challenge with a roar of his own and the two dragons immediately battled for dominance in an aerial battle. The two dragons that are native to the Hoenn region zipped around in the sky at speeds that are too fast for the human eye to keep up as the crowd cheered wildly in excitement. I don't think Tucker can make out what is really happening in the sky either. Our dragons are just too damn fast.
A high-pitched Screech nearly burst our eardrums and I recognised it as one of Snap's favourite tactics to surprise his opponents. A Dragon Rush from him sent Tucker's salamence hurtling to the ground.
"Laser Pulse! Don't let up!"
Snap fired numerous beams of Dragon Pulse repeatedly that were empowered by Laser Focus and salamence responded to Snap's assault with its own Dragon Pulse. The salamence seems to run out of patience and flew into the sky once more, wanting to engage Snap in a close-up fight.
"Sandstorm!"
Snap immediately unleashed a huge sandstorm to blend himself in with the surroundings. This is the environment that Snap works best in.
"Twister! Get rid of the Sandstorm!"
In a surprising application of Twister, salamence actually managed to quell Snap's Sandstorm by creating a vicious tornado of draconic energy that disrupted Snap's attack. Snap wasn't deterred and continue to attack with a mixture of Dragon Pulse and Dragon Breath.
"Double Team! Then Twister again!"
Salamence created a sea of illusory copies to hide itself before creating a bigger Twister than the previous one, sucking Snap into that attack. Snap broke out of it with Air Cutter and used a deafening Boomburst to destroy salamence's Double Team.
Where did the salamence go?
An Outrage from above bashed Snap into the ground. At this rate, Snap will get destroyed by the rampaging salamence.
"Land Wave! Drag the salamence down!"
Snap liquefied the ground and moved it in an attempt to snare salamence and then drag him underneath. Salamence continued its rampage and charged through Snap's attack, sending him skidding back with a swipe of its claws.
Not good. The difference in power between Snap and salamence is just too glaringly obvious. The salamence is not giving us time to heal up too.
Snap will go down, the conclusion of this battle is obvious by now. We need to damage salamence as much as possible before Snap gets himself knocked out.
"Draco Meteor!"
Snap flew up into the sky and rained down his Draco Meteor onto salamence. Fortunately for us, Snap managed to get a clean hit in. Unfortunately for us, salamence is still in the game and went to thrash Snap with its claws once more, taking Snap out.
"Toothless! Dragon Pulse!"
Toothless roared and sent his attack at the salamence, who is now trying to catch its breath after its previous rampage. Somehow, the salamence withstood the full blast of Toothless's attack and used a Hydro Pump, forcing Toothless to abort firing more attacks and fly into the air to evade the water type move.
I need to find out from Vance later on whether a salamence learning Hydro Pump is within the realm of possibility. Tucker has been giving me surprises after surprises today.
Toothless bathed the arena with Inferno in his attempt to cook salamence alive, forcing salamence to fly into the air to avoid Toothless's flames. I can tell salamence is feeling some degree of fatigue after that Outrage, we can capitalise on this.
"Tailwind! Don't let the salamence rest!"
Toothless increased his speed with a Tailwind and immediately adopted a hit-and-run tactic by slashing at the salamence with his claws before retreating and then repeat this entire process at high speeds. Salamence tried to match Toothless's speed, but the fatigue it is feeling after its Outrage and Toothless's increase in speed is too much for it to handle. There are a few times when it actually accidentally hurt itself unnecessarily by knocking into the psychic barriers when the aerial battle got a little too close to the edge of the arena.
"Salamence, Aerial Ace and then go for Draco Meteor up close!"
"Seismic Toss! Redirect salamence's attack!"
Toothless expertly stopped salamence's Aerial Ace and grabbed salamence by its neck right when the salamence tried to eradicate Toothless with its own Draco Meteor. Toothless twisted his body and got out of the way and then redirect the Draco Meteor by pointing salamence's opened jaws down at the ground, allowing him to evade the attack unscathed. Taking advantage of his hold over salamence, Toothless then threw salamence down into the ground with a Seismic Toss.
"End it!"
Toothless shot a Dragon Pulse at salamence, taking the dragon out of the battle.
Tucker and I are now back to a stalemate.
Tucker sent out his own charizard into battle. I had been expecting this to happen when I found out that Tucker has a charizard as well.
Tucker's charizard is bigger than Toothless. Even though Toothless had reached the last stage of his evolution, he is still a child. He is not even two years old yet. Tucker's charizard, on the other hand, is definitely an adult with how large it is in size.
"Flamethrower!"
The moment Tucker and I both gave our commands, our charizards blasted cones of hot flames at each other while zooming around in the air. Toothless will probably be at a disadvantage if the fight gets physical, he is just a little too small for a charizard due to his young age.
"Get close to that charizard! Flare Blitz!"
Damn it, Tucker.
Tucker's charizard charged at Toothless and no matter how Toothless tried to avoid the attack, Tucker's charizard is still hot on his tail.
"Smokescreen!"
Toothless spewed out a black cloud of smoke but Tucker's charizard dispersed it with a flap of its wings. Toothless took this chance to attack with a Dragon Pulse, only for his opponent to evade it and returned fire with its own Dragon Pulse before trying to close the distance again.
Tucker's charizard score a hit on Toothless with a Thunder Punch and immediately followed up with more Thunder Punches. Toothless defended himself from the attacks with Shadow Claw instead, he is not well-versed in Thunder Punch like Tucker's charizard.
"Toothless, take the Thunder Punch and then Counter!"
Toothless braced himself for a hit and immediately sent two times the damage back to Tucker's charizard. This got Tucker's charizard reeling from the attack and Toothless took this opportunity to use an Ancient Power, critically injuring Tucker's charizard.
"Attract!"
What the holy moly flying pancakes?!
I can tell that Tucker's charizard is a female due to the much shorter length of its front tooth. I just never thought that Tucker will ever use that move. Heck, I never saw a trainer commanding his pokemon to use that move before!
Toothless got himself infatuated after he got struck with the Attract from Tucker's charizard. He is making these lovesick gooey eyes and all desire to battle has obviously left him. Oh, come on.
"Oi! Toothless! Get a grip! That charizard obviously doesn't love you! She's too old for you damn it!"
I don't think my words reached Toothless's ears. Seeing the opportunity, Tucker's charizard took this time to bury Toothless in a massive Rock Slide after swiftly powering herself up with a Swords Dance. Toothless didn't get back up.
I can't believe one of my strongest pokemon got himself taken out in this manner. God, this is embarrassing. Vance will laugh at me for an entire month. I can already imagine his howling laughter in the confines of my mind.
The crowd seemed stunned at this turn of events as well. The entire stadium had gone eerily silent. Even the commentator is at a loss for words.
Whatever.
"Kratos, Stone Edge!"
Kratos raised a huge, sharp jagged rock that rammed itself into Tucker's charizard the moment he appeared, who immediately destroyed the rock with a Metal Claw. Tucker's charizard flew around as it tried to keep its distance from Kratos and burn him with flames. Kratos destroyed its every attempt by matching its flames with his own Dark Pulse.
"Shock Wave! Nail it!"
Kratos sent waves of electricity at Tucker's charizard, who destroyed the Shock Wave with its flames. We don't really care if the Shock Wave hits. They were just a distraction for Kratos to close the distance.
Kratos knocked into Tucker's charizard with his speed already boosted by Rock Polish and slammed it down into the ground with Smack Down.
"Thunder!"
A large roaring column of electricity fell down from the sky and struck at Tucker's charizard, finally taking it out.
I'm so going to tease Toothless for losing to another charizard because it fell in love with it. Rena is going to love this blackmail material. She will never let him hear the end of it.
Tucker recalled his charizard back into its pokeball before sending out another troublesome foe.
This time, we are facing a metagross.
Both Kratos and metagross have an advantage over the other. Metagross can harm Kratos with its steel type moves while Kratos's dark type attacks are super effective on metagross. The outcome of this fight boils down to who has the greater strength and skill.
"Don't let it use Miracle Eye! Taunt!"
Kratos heeded my words and used Taunt immediately. Kratos has a natural immunity to psychic type moves and I want to keep it that way. With that, some of metagross's most powerful attacks are now not usable for this battle.
Kratos tried to follow up with an Earthquake, but metagross had already levitated into the air with a Magnet Rise before Taunt was used. Metagross then used a Bullet Punch to strike a clean hit onto Kratos. Kratos retaliated with a Payback, only for metagross to mitigate some of the damage by matching him with Meteor Mash.
"Grab it with your sand!"
Kratos moved the sands in his attempt to restrict metagross, who used its psychic powers to fight Kratos for control over the sand. Metagross might not be able to affect Kratos directly with its psychic type moves, but anything else is fair game.
I guess Kratos's sand is useless against this metagross since it can block off the sand with Psychic.
"Dark Pulse!"
"Flash Cannon!"
The two attacks exploded in a massive explosion and the heat of the attack partially melted the centre portion of the arena. Kratos moved in once more and slammed metagross with a Foul Play, sending it flying backwards and crashing through several boulders that were formed from the previous battles.
Kratos momentarily lost his balance when the earth beneath him erupted with an application of metagross's Psychic. Metagross came charging back with an Iron Head, dealing massive amount of damage to Kratos with how fast it was flying towards him.
"Payback!"
"Hammer Arm!"
The two titans clashed and the resulting impact sent shock waves that nearly disrupted the psychic barriers that are protecting us from the effects of their battle. Kratos isn't finished with metagross and released scorching flames from his mouth with Flamethrower, forcing metagross to back off.
An unexpected Grass Knot from metagross nearly tripped Kratos over. Metagross's Meteor Mash found its mark on Kratos, who endured the attack and then enact his revenge with a sickening Crunch, breaking metagross's metallic armour on one of its leg.
The metagross cried out in pain and immediately coated itself with electricity by using an overpowered Thunder Punch. Kratos was forced to let go of the metal behemoth, but immediately used an Assurance and aimed the attack at the injured spot on metagross's leg, dealing even more damage.
"Take it out! Dark Pulse!"
Kratos charged up a massive Dark Pulse and blasted metagross together with everything else in front of him. The entire arena in front of Kratos was torn from the ground and blasted upwards from Kratos's attack. Kratos used this opportunity to use a Dragon Dance and then used his senses to find the metagross, jumping into the air and then landing down onto it, using his body weight to send it crashing into the ground.
Magnet Rise won't save the metagross now.
"Earthquake!"
Kratos gave a victorious roar as Tucker's metagross lay defeated beneath him after that attack. Now my only worry is the last pokemon that Tucker has on him, and I am sure that I know what he is going to send out next. Kratos will have a type disadvantage, but he should be able to hold his own, at least for a period of time.
A large milotic was Tucker's last pokemon. The most worrying thing is that this milotic had never lost a single battle in this conference so far.
"Rain Dance and Surf!"
My jaws dropped as Tucker's milotic performed a feat that I had only seen from Juan's kingdra.
A huge wall of water was immediately formed and the size of it even eclipsed Kratos's own size. Kratos was forced to use a Protect to save himself.
This still didn't change the fact that the entire area is now flooded. Kratos is able to swim and his species is capable of learning Surf, a move that he knows as well. However, he is no good in using this move. The best he can do with Surf is to use it to extinguish flames and to swim well enough to not drown.
"Drain the waters! Quick!"
"Scald!"
Kratos raised wall of rocks to defend himself from milotic's attacks as he immediately tried to drain the huge amount of water by opening holes on the ground. However, there's just too much water to drain and we don't have enough time.
"Milotic, Water Pulse!"
"Hide in the water, then Hyper Voice!"
I am getting desperate. Tucker is definitely a lot more experienced than me when it comes to pokemon battling and I am willing to bet that he competed his gym circuit on the Elite level given how strong his pokemons are. This is definitely not his first time competing in a conference.
We are outclassed and outmatched.
With water as the medium, Kratos's sound-based attack inflicted a significant amount of damage on Tucker's milotic but it immediately regained its lost health with Recover. Kratos didn't even have time to use a Taunt as milotic washed him away with another massive Surf.
I can't believe it. The regeneration power of this milotic is even greater than Lily's.
Kratos emerged from the waters with a bestial roar and immediately charged the waters with a huge amount of electricity with a Thunder. He knows that he is at a disadvantage and is hopelessly outmatched, but he wants to inflict as much damage as possible before going down.
Kratos's reckless move did some damage to Tucker's milotic although it negated most of the damage with a Mud Sport and surrounded itself with a Safeguard. The milotic used a Hydro Pump this time, which Kratos dispersed with a Dark Pulse before swimming towards milotic with Surf.
"Confuse Ray!"
Kratos destroyed milotic's Confuse Ray with another Dark Pulse and continue his charge. If Kratos can get close to the milotic, we may have a chance to turn the odds back into our favour.
No matter what water attacks milotic threw at Kratos, he blocked off the damage or destroyed it before it got too close. Tucker's milotic tried to use another Surf, but its repeated use was prevented by Kratos's Torment after he defended himself from the first one with a Protect. Kratos tried to use another Taunt, but milotic had wised up and prevented him from doing so by launching various attacks at him repeatedly, not allowing him the time to use that move.
Kratos is now up close with the milotic. We can still do this.
"Thunder Fang!"
"Blizzard."
With that, all hopes were lost as Kratos was frozen in the blink of an eye. He can't even move right now.
"Hydro Pump!"
A huge blast of water from milotic sent Kratos flying into the end of the arena and I recalled him. Kratos had did well enough even when he was placed in a near hopeless situation.
Still, did Tucker and his milotic purposely gave me and Kratos a false sense of security and lured us closer to milotic so that it can use a Blizzard in close proximity? If that is the case, then I had underestimated him.
"Bigblue, it's all up to you now! Whirlpool!"
Bigblue immediately called upon a massive vortex of water that swept the milotic with the speed the whirlpool is rotating. The whirlpool suddenly got frozen in ice, and the milotic broke free and began to unleash blasts of Dragon Pulse on Bigblue.
Bigblue bellowed and raised massive walls of rocks to block milotic's attacks. Waves of Stone Edges burst out from the ground at milotic's position, who used a Splash to spring itself up into the air to dodge the attack.
Never would have thought that Splash actually has some sort of use.
Milotic's temporary departure from the ground gave Bigblue enough time to quickly change the entire area into a swamp. We had fought Wallace's milotic before and Bigblue's swamp only hindered its movements slightly, but we need every advantage we could get right now.
"Blizzard!"
Milotic froze the entire battlefield in a split second, rendering Bigblue's efforts into naught. Bigblue propelled himself forward with a Battering Ram and slammed into milotic, taking this chance to bash it with a Mega Punch.
Milotic began to slither and wrapped herself around Bigblue, who used a Body Slam onto the ground to force milotic off him. Milotic used a Dragon Tail which Bigblue caught and then retaliate with Counter, throwing it into the other end of the arena before going after it with a Waterfall.
Milotic healed itself within seconds with Recover and tried to force Bigblue to sleep with Hypnosis. Bigblue disrupted its attempt with Rock Tomb before breaking the ice around them into gigantic ice boulders with Earthquake. He then threw the huge blocks of ice with Rock Throw, causing milotic to run for cover.
This is a disadvantageous battle for Bigblue. Milotic can heal itself rapidly with Recover while Bigblue can only recover his lost health with Rest. The Rest and Sleep Talk combo is a little risky to use since there's no way to know what moves Bigblue will be going to use with Sleep Talk, especially with this milotic as his opponent. We need to do something unexpected and drastic to even have a chance to bring this milotic down.
My mind drew up a blank. Milotic's proficiency with water type moves is probably miles ahead of Bigblue so we shouldn't engage it in a water fight. Our only advantage, which is Bigblue's swamp, is currently frozen and it will take a lot of effort to break through it. There's no point in trying to bring back the swamp since milotic can freeze it way faster than we can create it. That leaves the rock type moves, but the thick layer of ice on the ground makes it a lot harder for Bigblue to call upon huge amount of rocks from the ground to aid him since they need to break through the layer of ice coated across the arena.
The only way is to get physical, or to get stupidly suicidal.
Maybe both.
"Get close with Battering Ram! Don't let it gain distance!"
Bigblue shot forward like a speeding missile and crashed near where milotic is. He made a grab for the serpentine pokemon, who forced Bigblue to keep his distance with a Brutal Swing of its tail. It then tried to unleash another Blizzard, but Bigblue had anticipated it and defended himself with a Protect. Bigblue used a Return to deal physical damage onto the milotic and succeeded, but milotic blasted him away with a Hydro Pump.
I watched in frustration as milotic healed itself once more with Recover. I have no way of stopping the usage of that move, Bigblue's skillset does not give much room for him to sabotage others.
Bigblue used an Earthquake to crack the layer of ice once again before sending the sharp shards of ice flying towards milotic with an Icy Wind. Milotic defended itself with a Water Pulse but found Bigblue right in front of it the moment its wall of water receded.
Bigblue's Double-Edge met milotic's Aqua Tail and the two pokemons inflict massive amount of damage on each other. Bigblue didn't let up and pressed on with a Mega Punch, but milotic dodged his attack by springing up into the air again with Splash before slamming him into the ground with Dragon Tail. Bigblue is now dangerously low on health and I can see his Torrent ability kicking in. Milotic simply used that short few seconds to use Recover once more and I can see Tucker smiling in excitement at his inevitable win.
Bigblue and I still have one chance left though.
Milotic had landed close to Bigblue and was about to finish him with a Blizzard when I gave my command.
"Endeavour and Superpower!"
Bigblue immediately caught milotic and a powerful punch from him brought milotic's health down to the same level as his. Bigblue immediately followed up with Superpower and crashed milotic past the thick layer of ice on the floor and deep into the ground. A huge cloud of dust rose into the air from the impact as everyone waited to see the outcome.
A huge burst of water slammed into Bigblue and sent him flying into the air. I cursed in my mind when I saw that milotic had defended itself from Bigblue's Superpower with a Protect. Just one more attack can take Bigblue out for good.
"Bigblue, Rest!"
"Don't let him heal up! Scald!"
I gripped onto the handrails anxiously as milotic immediately went in to disrupt Bigblue's attempt to heal up. The only good thing is that by doing so, milotic is forsaking its own chance to heal up as well. For milotic, the best defense right now is a good offense. As long as it is able to keep up the pressure, it can win since Bigblue is so close to fainting right now.
"Bigblue, Surf!"
Bigblue immediately pushed milotic back with a huge wave of Surf, the scale of the attack being magnified thanks to the effect of his Torrent ability. Milotic defended itself by freezing the wave of waters before breaking through it. I let out a sound of frustration when I saw that milotic had healed up with Recover, again.
"Brine! Finish the swampert!"
"Bigblue, remember our first gym battle, do-or-die!"
It is really our last desperate attempt to finish off Tucker's milotic. If this doesn't work, then we will have truly lost.
Bigblue used an Endure and survived milotic's assault. However, his health is really dangerously low right now.
"Again! Endeavour!"
I can see Tucker panicking when Bigblue's attack connected onto his milotic. Just one more hit! I need to make sure that the next attack cannot be easily dispersed or defended! I need it to be fast! Water type moves are out of the question, so are Bigblue's ice, rock, and ground type moves. They always take a little too long to use. I need a blast of supercharged energy. Come on, what attacks are there that Bigblue can use that we need right now?!
"Bigblue, Hyper Beam!"
"Milotic, Endure!"
No way. The milotic species are able to learn that move too?!
Every usage of Hyper Beam forced the user to take a rest to recharge, causing them to be temporarily defenceless. Only skilled users of Hyper Beam can continue battling after using that move without rest. Bigblue is not a skilled user of Hyper Beam and I knew it. Using Hyper Beam is more of Snap's and Kratos's forte. I had made the wrong call.
I had made a wrong judgement by commanding Bigblue to use Hyper Beam and it cost us our victory. I can only watch as milotic knocked the now defenceless Bigblue out with an Aqua Tail.
The crowd cheered and celebrated in excitement when the referee announced Tucker as the champion of the 528th Ever Grande Conference. I silently recalled Bigblue back to his pokeball and planted a kiss on the surface as thanks.
"Thank you, Bigblue, everyone. You guys did great. I'm sorry that my error cost us our win."
I whispered these words to Bigblue's pokeball with my eyes closed before opening them again. I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel at least a little bitter with how I lost the match, but all the opponents that I had faced had accepted their defeat at my hands with grace. I have to accept mine too. Tucker had won fair and square.
I still can't believe that he used an Attract to defeat Toothless though.
I made my way down to the frozen arena where Tucker and I shook hands as a show of sportsmanship. The crowd cheered again at the sight and I gave Tucker my congratulations.
"Congratulations, that was a splendid battle."
"Thank you. I had thought that it will be my loss when milotic got hit by that Endeavour." Tucker admitted as his milotic shifted to stay by his side. It had used a Recover to heal itself after the battle was over. "I got lucky."
"You won fair and square. I made the wrong judgement call by commanding Bigblue to use Hyper Beam. You truly deserve to be the winner of this year's conference."
Our conversation was cut short when an official led us away to the side. A bunch of rock and ground type pokemons appeared and began to repair the battlefield. Within minutes, the arena became as good as new, and the prize presentation and closing ceremony began.
The announcer began to announce the standings of this year's conference starting from the Top 16. I saw my previous opponents walking out to stand with me and Tucker as an official directed us to stand at our specific spots based on our standing in the conference. Ajika stood behind me and gave me an encouraging smile, which I returned. His battle for the third place took place yesterday and he had won. He is the second runner-up of the 528th Ever Grande Conference.
After Ajika's name was called and he moved to stand back in his designated spot, the announcer announced my name.
"AND IN THE SECOND PLACE, WE HAVE VELDA VERA FROM PETALBURG!"
The crowd cheered once more as I walked up to receive a medal from Wallace, who is the guest of honour for tonight.
"That was a splendid battle, Velda. You might have lost, but you have improved by leaps and bounds since I last saw you. You did a great job. We are all proud of you."
I accepted Wallace's praise and smiled back at him.
"Thank you, Wallace. Your encouragement means a lot to me."
Wallace then gave me a pokeball.
Oh, right. The top three finishers of the annual Ever Grande Conference will also receive a pokemon from the Hoenn League on top of the many prizes we will receive. These pokemons are bred for battling and they are usually either extremely rare or have the potential to grow extremely strong. The league is also thoughtful enough to give the recipients pokemons that match their type specialty, but I am a Generalist. What kind of pokemon did I just receive?
"I won't spoil the surprise, but I know you will raise it well. Congratulations again, Velda."
An official guided me back to stand at my designated spot in the middle of the arena as I gaze at the pokeball housing the new addition to my team.
"I have a feeling I am getting a cool fire type. The pokeball I received feels a little warm to the touch." Ajika whispered excitedly from where he is standing behind me.
"You definitely will." I replied in amusement without turning back. The camera is focusing on us and it will not look well on us if we just chat without paying any attention to the ceremony. I idly noted that the announcer had said that Tucker was from Pacifidlog when he went up to receive his prize. Huh, I couldn't tell. The locals there usually have tanner skin and Tucker definitely doesn't have tan skin.
The closing ceremony commenced and everyone in the stadium stood up in respect as the flag of the Hoenn League was lowered. The lowering of the flag marks the end of a chapter in my journey. After this, I will be starting another journey with my team.
Competing in the Hoenn gym circuit was fun. I had learnt a lot and met many new people. I met pokemons who ended up becoming indispensable members of my team. There were setbacks, but it was still a memorable and happy journey. It sucks being second place when we were so close to victory, but we can't win them all. We tried our best and we enjoyed ourselves. That is what matters.
Well, it's not like I really care about being the strongest trainer. I have only one dream that I want to fulfil in this second life of mine.
I just want to travel the world.
AN: So before you guys start to stone me to death for making Vel lose, let me explain.
No matter how smart or bright Vel is, she is just a trainer that is only two years into her training career. She is not a genius like Steven, but merely possesses another set of memories from her previous life and thus having a mature mind as a result. The only different thing that sets her out from the rest is that she is an old soul in a young body.
It was also never my intention to let Vel win. In fact, I had never intended for her to make it to the Top 2 initially but I kind of did it as a fanservice. Her team is also a random mishmash of pokemons that are rarely used for higher levels of battling. There's no way she can take on a team of overpowered pokemons under the command of a veteran trainer. Maybe she could after a few years when she has more experience, but not now.
Furthermore, unlike the other participants, Vel simply don't have the same drive as them to win. She just wants to try her best in this conference. Her dream is to travel the world, not to be the strongest. You guys can argue that she can be the strongest while travelling the world at the same time, but I feel that motivation is an equally important factor to consider. Without the motivation to be the strongest, there's no way she can be the strongest and stand at the very top in competitive battling.
Right now, the only thing I am hoping is that this final battle was exciting enough. It is hard to churn out exciting battles repeatedly for chapters after chapter. I am probably not going to do that again. It is a nightmare.
I'm not sure if I had surprised you guys by introducing Tucker at this stage of the story, but I had wanted Vel to face a 'canon' character and I want it to be a Generalist, since I don't think I had written a battle between Generalists just yet. The Hoenn Frontier Brains were the first group of people that came to my mind. I had wanted Vel to face Greta, but her team is more inclined to fighting types. So, I turned my attention to Tucker, whose pokemons were beasts to take down even in the games. I think I made the right choice in choosing Tucker, but that's my personal opinion.
I only checked through this chapter once. I really want to go through this chapter another time to look for more mistakes so that this chapter will be more pleasant to read. I'm sure that there are more mistakes out there in this chapter that I didn't managed to pick out yet. But I have work tomorrow and I am a little tired since it is kind of late at night, and I really want to publish this chapter as soon as possible. I know some of you guys are eagerly waiting for it. I'm not sure when is the next possible day where I have time to even turn on my laptop to edit this chapter if I don't get it published today.
Personally, I can't wait to write what is going to happen after the Ever Grande Arc. I have so many ideas in mind and I cannot wait to get it all out.
I think I have ranted enough and my eyes are closing already. Pardon the spelling/grammar mistakes if you do spot them. I had considered the option of beta readers to help me, but for both personal and practical reasons I decided against it.
This chapter is a milestone, whether it is for Vel, for IJWTTTW, or for me. I really cannot express what I am feeling right now. Words cannot express my heartfelt thanks to all of you, especially those who had stuck by this story and me since I first started writing on FFnet. IJWTTTW is my first story I had ever written in my life. IJWTTTW holds some sort of significance to me since it was the story that let me discover a talent of mine that I didn't know I possess.
As usual, I hope you enjoy the story thus far.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) ?