The New Normal - 17-4

The New Normal – 17-4 – Ascension

(Bruno POV)

The feeling of someone tapping on his shoulder told him that it was time. His battle against Drake was here.

Opening his eyes, he exited the meditative state that he was in as he wordlessly stood up and walked forwards into the arena. The crowd were loudly cheering their support from all around him, but he allowed none of it to enter into his mind. Right now, his mind was like a cage – bounded by the iron bars of his discipline.

After his loss against John, this would be his second time participating in an official challenge against a member of the Elite Four, where he would be fighting in a full 6v6 battle. And this time, he would not allow a repeat of his first loss to occur again.

And unlike before, he was not doing this just for himself. This was not merely for his own satisfaction. He was well aware of how hard his friend had worked to put him into this position – to grant him the opportunity to fight this battle – and he was not about to let all that hard work go to waste.

Effort must be rewarded – it was one of his core philosophies. So he was here to ensure that it was.

Despite this, he refused to make use of the more ‘underhanded’ tactics that Steven tried to get him to use for this battle, for the simple reason that winning like that did not feel right. He knew that Drake was a man who fought with straightforward tactics, and so was he. So there was no reason to tarnish the simplicity of that.

His opponent stepped into the arena opposite him. Drake was trying to say something to him, but the words never registered in his mind. He had no need to distract himself with idle prattling. Nor did he feel any fear or anxiousness, despite how important this battle was. No, he had surpassed those feelings a long time ago.

The battle was all that mattered. All he cared about the signal that would start the battle.

“…FIGHT!” And there it was.

“Go, Blastoise!”

“First up, Hariyama!”

He nodded inwardly as he watched his Hariyama emerge onto the battlefield opposite of Drake’s Blastoise. This was a good matchup for him, as his Hariyama was the most defensively inclined, but also slowest out of all of his Pokémon – which made it really good at sponging hits while also making it bad at dealing with agile fliers. So Blastoise was the perfect opponent for it.

“Hydro Pump, Blastoise!”

“Protect and Giga Impact, Hariyama.”

Two enormous geysers of water was shot its way like they had just been shot out of a barrel of a cannon. Yet his Hariyama made no move to dodge. Instead, Hariyama exploded out with an orange glow as it threw up a Protect shield and charged forwards into the oncoming Hydro Pump.

The Protect shield rapidly cracked and shattered as the powerful torrent of water slammed into it, but it held on for just long enough for Hariyama to crash into Blastoise with a devastating Giga Impact. And since Hariyama wasn’t even winded from using such a powerful attack, it followed up by delivering a bone-shattering uppercut straight to the chin.

But Blastoise had already managed to surround its head with an armour of psychic energy, which allowed it to tank the blow before retaliating with a powerful Zen Headbutt of its own, crashing both of their heads together.

Yet his Hariyama held on and refused to flinch, using its free arm to deliver a powerful Force Palm that struck Blastoise hard in the stomach, forcing it back slightly. Hariyama tried to continue the assault by following up with a Thunder Punch, but it was interrupted as a quick Ice Beam shot out from Blastoise first.

The beam of Ice slowed down Hariyama for long enough so that Blastoise could counterattack with a powerful Ice Punch right to the face.

However, all that damage was instantly stored within a Counter. Then Hariyama’s fist was literally glowing with power as it converted all of that stored energy into a brutal and crackling Thunder Punch that ruthlessly slugged the Water type in the stomach.

Blastoise bent over in half as it reeled back with a painful groan, and Hariyama mercilessly capitalised on this opportunity by lunging forwards with both arms as it picked up the Blastoise and brutally threw it to the ground with a Seismic Toss.

Except Blastoise had quickly retreated into its own shell, preventing it from taking a bulk of the damage, and fired off a spinning Hydro Pump from both barrels that blasted Hariyama back.

Seeing this, Blastoise exited its shell and flung itself off the ground as it swung around with a hammering blow from an Aqua Tail. Yet that was blocked by a raised arm from Hariyama, who once again used Counter to channel all of that power into a Drain Punch to the face – though that too was blocked by a quick Protect from Blastoise.

The battle had devolved into a uncontrolled brawl, where clever strategies and tactics could play little part in the battle. It was merely a test of each Pokémon’s respective strengths, techniques, and endurance to see who could overpower the other.

In other words, it was the perfect battle for him.

As he watched the two Pokémon exchange powerful blow after powerful blow that slowly shattered the arena around them – with each of their strikes being strong enough to instantly knockout a lesser and more fragile Pokémon – he noted that Drake’s Blastoise had improved significantly in terms of its technique.

Blastoise’s tenacity and endurance was more than what he had expected, and it was holding on against his Hariyama better than he had evaluated from their past battles. It was to the point that even with Hariyama boosting its own Attack by igniting itself to activate its Guts, Blastoise was not going down that easily.

While other trainers might be upset about such a development, especially in an important battle like this, he was instead pleased to see it. After all, though winning may be his goal, it was only a good win if his opponent was sufficiently challenging. And he was always pleased to see others working hard to improve their skills.

As the battle raged on, the unending brawl between his Hariyama and Blastoise was as brutal as he expected. Both Pokémon were hammering into each other with savage abandon, but he noticed that Blastoise’s technique was starting to slip as its injuries began to pile up. In contrast, as a result of his extensive training to drill in a sense of iron discipline, his Hariyama remained as composed and as focused as it was in the beginning of the fight.

Each of its Arm Thrusts, its Brick Breaks, its Thunder Punches – were all in perfect form. The level of energy exerted was always just the right amount, and each strike was carefully aimed to ensure maximum damage. Combined that with the occasional Drain Punch that leeched back some health during periods where Blastoise wasn’t able to block, and his Hariyama was slowly but steadily winning their brawl.

In the end, there were no flashy finishers. There were no big combo of moves that showcased the Pokémon’s incredible movepool. There were no surprise reversals that was able to completely turnaround a losing fight. Instead, there was only pure grit and tenacity. It was just two Pokémon duking it out to the end, to test their strengths and determination against each other to see who would fall first.

And as his Hariyama stood triumphantly over a fallen Blastoise, it was his Fighting type that proved supreme. It was wounded and bruised, but triumphant nonetheless.

However, that was only one Pokémon down. There were still five to go. The fight was far from over.

==============

(Steven POV)

As he sat in the VIP room with the other three remaining Elite Four members, he felt his fists clench unconsciously as he watched Bruno’s Hariyama secure its first knockout against Drake’s Blastoise.

Despite the comments and cheers from his new peers, he remained completely silent as he concentrated on the battle below. Bruno may have been able to walk into this battle with an unshakeable will, but he didn’t have that same kind of iron discipline as his friend did. He knew he was nervous.

There was a lot riding on this battle. And it was always easier to be nervous on someone else’s behalf, since you had no control over what happened.

His thoughts aside, Drake expectedly sent out his Altaria next, as it was the perfect counter against the slow and immobile Hariyama. Altaria instantly took to the air – and out of Hariyama’s reach – before beginning to set up with a Dragon Dance.

Fortunately, Hariyama interrupted it with a Taunt, which was crucial at denying further set up moves,  and the Fighting type tore up a huge chunk of rock from the ground to act as a shield to block against the incoming Air Slashes that were fired its way.

One would normally expect a Hariyama to be completely incapable of fighting back against an agile and aerial opponent like Altaria. However, Hariyama proved that thought very wrong as it hurled huge chunks of rocks that flew through the air like spears of hardened stone as they shot towards Altaria.

However, even with this amazing display of power, Altaria proved too agile to be hit. Perhaps if the battle had lasted longer, then Hariyama may have been able to land a good hit against the Flying type, but Altaria never allowed the battle to reach that point.

Even while dodging, Altaria continuously fired off a never-ending stream of Air Slashes towards Hariyama. Hariyama did try to block against them, but there were simply too many. And with Hariyama already being so wounded, and with its health slowly ticking away from the Burn that it suffered, even the slightest touch from an Air Slash was enough to cause Hariyama to flinch.

This completely disrupted its ability to chain attacks together and crippled its ability to fight, and in the end, Hariyama soon fell to the onslaught of Air Slashes coming its way.

Without even missing a beat, Bruno immediately sent out his Hitmonchan next. And it instantly began punting sharp rocks through the air at blisteringly fast speeds – even faster than what Hariyama had managed. Hitmonchan might not have any way of physically reaching Altaria, but with how powerful and fast those rocks were being punched through the air, he didn’t think it would matter.

And he knew full well how powerful Hitmonchan’s anti-air capabilities were. The Fighting type was powerful enough to even force his incredibly defensive Skarmory to have to dodge out of the way or risk being knocked out of the air. So with Altaria being weak to Rock attacks, it made those rocks all the more effective.

Just like he predicted, Altaria tried to dodge at first, but it had underestimated the speed at which Hitmonchan could punch those rocks through the sky, and a single sharp rock cut deep into its one of its wings, causing the Dragon to rapidly fall out of the sky. A second rock smashed into its other wings, and Altaria completely lost control of its flight as it spiralled uncontrollably out of the air.

Yet Altaria held on through the pain and fired off a sweeping Dragon Pulse, trying to prevent any follow-up attack from Hitmonchan. Though the Fighting type easily dodged past it with a Detect as it slid underneath the sweeping torrent of draconic power and rushed forwards to catch the falling Altaria with a devastating Ice Punch.

However, just as Hitmonchan was about to strike, Altaria suddenly fired off a surprise, almost point-blank Moonblast.

At such close range, there was absolutely no chance for Hitmonchan to dodge out of the way.

A frown formed on his face; he expected to see Hitmonchan being blasted backwards by a supereffective attack. And yet… that wasn’t exactly what happened.

Instead, both Altaria and Hitmonchan were somehow knocked back from the blow.

He had no idea what happened, and it was only a few seconds later when he saw the replay did he understand what just happened.

With an insane level of reaction speed, Hitmonchan saw the Moonblast coming and instantly converted its Ice Punch into a Poison Jab. Then it drove one of its Poison-clad fists deep into the incoming Moonblast, while the other delivered an Ice Punch right into Altaria’s chest.

The first strike helped nullify some of the incoming damage from the Moonblast, but it wasn’t enough to completely break through the Fairy attack. So as a result, both Pokémon took big hits and were knocked to the ground.

It was Altaria that recovered first as the Dragon immediately unleashed a violent Earthquake that ripped the arena apart with a tidal wave of explosive tremors. However, anticipating the attack, Hitmonchan threw itself into the air to dodge out of the way while simultaneously launching itself forwards.

Altaria punished this attempt by firing off a barrage of Air Slashes towards Hitmonchan. The Fighting type tried to block with a Vacuum Wave while also throwing up a Protect shield. It wasn’t successful at blocking all the damage, but it bought enough space for Hitmonchan to retain its momentum so that it came crashing into Altaria with a Bullet Punch into Ice Punch combo.

A retaliatory Dragon Claw almost slashed across Hitmonchan’s face, but it used Detect to perform a perfectly timed backstep to dodge out of the way before re-engaging with a haymaker Ice Punch to the face.

“This is going to be the pattern in this fight isn’t it?” Sidney noted, “As soon as Bruno’s Pokémon gets in close with Drake’s, the battle is heavily in his favour.”

“I’d expect nothing less from him.” He nodded, “Drake might be known for his Pokémon’s physical prowess and strength, but if you actually take a closer look at his team, he’s not exactly the same as someone like Lance. Many of his Pokémon are actually primarily Special Attackers, like Kingdra, Altaria, Blastoise, and even Flygon. Only his Salamence and Gyarados are truly comfortable with fighting at close range.”

“Which is unlike Bruno’s team, since all of his team are specialised for close-range fights.” Phoebe finished.

“Exactly.” He nodded, “And that’s not even including the difference in technique, which I can assure you that there are few out there who could surpass Bruno’s Pokémon in that respect.”

And just like he said, the moment that Altaria was not only grounded, but was also forced to engage Hitmonchan at close range, the resulting brawl was absolutely not in the Dragon’s favour. The swipes from Altaria’s Dragon Claws were all parried and blocked by Hitmonchan, while Altaria could do little to block against the hammering blows of Ice Punches that repeatedly smashed into it.

“…Think your Ghost types would be able to survive that?” Sidney asked Phoebe, “Because I know my Dark types certainly wouldn’t.”

“Nah, definitely not.” Phoebe shook her head, “I’ve seen the Dark types moves that his Pokémon can use. I’m in the same spot as you – as soon as he gets close, I lose.”

It was a sentiment shared among all three of the remaining Elite Four members. Bruno’s Fighting types countered both Glacia and Sidney’s respective Types, and he had the Dark type moves necessary to punish Phoebe if he ever managed to land a blow against her frail Ghost types.

Because of this, Drake was probably the hardest opponent that Bruno could have challenged – which was probably why he was so quick to accept the battle. His friend never backed down from a challenge, and if he did manage to beat Drake, then he was certainly going to be a contender to be considered the strongest among the Hoenn Elite Four. Similarly, the public would have no choice but to accept his suitability.

Soon, Altaria eventually found itself completely overwhelmed and outmatched and soon was pummelled into unconsciousness by Hitmonchan’s deadly fists.

Which was immediately replaced by Drake’s most fearsome Pokémon – his Gyarados.

“GYARADOS!!” A wrathful roar echoed across the battlefield as the fearsome beast of uncontrollable and unyielding rage descended onto the battlefield. Hitmonchan was barely able to brace itself in time as Gyarados began its rampage of destruction.

The size difference between Gyarados and Hitmonchan made the Water type seem like a goliath in comparison. And the sheer power behind its blows could not be matched by Hitmonchan. Even though the Fighting type valiantly tried to hold its ground as it struck as hard as it could with repeated Thunder Punches, but it was not a battle it could win.

It didn’t matter that Hitmonchan was more martially skilled. It did not matter that Hitmonchan could strike with far more precision. It did not matter that Hitmonchan was more agile.

Gyarados cared for none of that, for it was pure brutality incarnate. Fighting it head-on at close range was not a matter of skill or speed – it was purely a matter of endurance and strength. It was a test to see if your Pokémon had the power necessary to take down such a monster.

And Hitmonchan was failing this test.

At one point, Hitmonchan had tried to parry an Aqua Tail that came slamming down from above. However, the power behind that Aqua Tail was so massive that Hitmonchan’s arm literally broke under the pure savagery of the blow. And now, with one arm hanging limply to the side, Hitmonchan was forcefully punted into the psychic shields as a Waterfall slammed into its side and launched it through the air.

A final Earthquake ensured that Hitmonchan did not get back up again. It was unable to withstand against the sheer might of Gyarados’ attacks.

But Steven knew that there was one Pokémon that could.

“It’s time, Annihilape.”

“ANNIHILAPE!!!” If Gyarados was the embodiment of wrath, then Annihilape was the god of rage. It let out an unholy scream of pure fury before throwing itself into the fight against Gyarados.

No, calling it a fight would not be correct. Nor could it be called a brawl. It was merely two Pokémon that had lost themselves to madness, doing everything they could to unleash all of their overflowing anger onto the other.

Annihilape did not fight like any other of Bruno’s Pokémon. Ever since it evolved from a Primeape, all of the previously ingrained discipline, skill, and technique had pretty much all been lost. Bruno had done his best to try to train those up again, but it was almost a herculean task. Annihilape’s only known emotion was anger, and it did not care who or what it had to unleash that anger on.

Bruno had actually judged Annihilape to be too dangerous to use in most battles, purely because he could not guarantee that his Annihilape could be controlled enough to not accidentally deal unrecoverable damage to a Pokémon. He categorically refused to release it out when next to a trainer, as Annihilape would attack them if he wasn’t careful.

But that was why it was the perfect fit to match up against Gyarados. Because all of that uncontrollable, maddened rage had granted Annihilape an obscene level of strength and endurance. From the testing that Bruno did, Annihilape could withstand an outrageous amount of punishment, and then some, before it fell. Furthermore, for every hit that it took, Annihilape’s Rage Fist would only grow more and more powerful.

In terms of raw endurance and strength, it had become Bruno’s strongest Pokémon. And Drake was about to realise that very soon.

==============

(Drake POV)

What in the fuck is that Pokémon?!

Ever since he had joined the Elite Four all that time ago, he had prided himself in the fact that his Gyarados was nearly unbeatable in the realm of strength. And it certainly was unbeatable when it came to raw, savage anger.

Most trainers would have tried to temper Gyarados’ anger, to make it so that their Gyarados would be more disciplined and less prone to explosive outrages. Wallace had done that, and had taken it to another extreme by making his Gyarados completely calm and serene. But he did not do this himself – instead, he trained up his Gyarados to not suppress its own anger, but to convert it all into raw strength.

And because of this, he had thought that he would never see a Pokémon that could match the level of intense rage that his Gyarados could unleash. Not outside of another Gyarados.

That was, until today. Because right now, Bruno’s Annihilape was proving all of those assumptions wrong.

At first, his Gyarados seemed to have the advantage, and the ferocious Crunches and Aqua Tails that it struck with looked like they were doing good damage as they flung Annihilape around. But as the battle progressed, the spectral energies that constantly surrounded Annihilape’s fists grew brighter and larger, until Annihilape itself was entirely engulfed by this energy.

And now, every single blow from Annihilape was so fucking powerful that the resulting shockwaves from its blows were managing to cause the psychic shields behind it to flicker. Usually, such powerful attacks could only be done intermittently, such as with a Giga Impact or Hyper Beam, but every one of Annihilape’s attacks seemed to be backed by that much insane power.

At this point, his Gyarados had already Outraged, and had boosted its own power to a terrifyingly monstrous degree. Even a Champion would have to respect this level of strength that his Gyarados now possessed, and he was sure that even John’s Tyrant would have to be wary around it.

However, Annihilape did not even seemed to acknowledge this newfound power. Not because his Gyarados didn’t hit hard – it certainly did – but because Annihilape didn’t even seem to register the concept of pain itself. Even as a devastating Aqua Tail smashed against its skull, Annihilape only seemed to grow more mad.

…So this was what it was like to fight his own Gyarados. Fuck, he wasn’t a fan.

And his frown only grew as he realised that his Gyarados wasn’t going to win this fight. Even with the Outrage, Annihilape didn’t look like it was anywhere close to being knocked out. The spectre of wrath just kept on fighting, and for every hit it took, its own strength only continued to grow further and further.

A part of him realised that he needed to withdraw Gyarados before it fell. But he ruthlessly crushed that errant thought. He would not trample over the pride of his own Pokémon. His knew that his Gyarados would want to see this battle through to the end, even if it lost. So as its trainer, he had a duty to ensure that its wishes were fulfilled.

Their fight turned the already destroyed arena into a visage of destruction. The ground itself had been so cracked and shattered that there was no longer any flat ground to stand upon – and you could see a few exposed wires that were torn into the open from the sheer damage that they had inflicted. Several of the monitors on the sides of the arena had been broken, either because they accidentally ripped apart the electricity cables or because a stray attack had ripped past the psychic shields and broke them.

Meanwhile, the League had to bring out additional Psychic Pokémon to reinforce the psychic shields, because the shockwaves from their attacks were already straining the existing ones to the limit.

Then a deafening BANG echoed across the battlefield as an almighty punch from Annihilape sent his Gyarados flying through the air with so much force that his Water type crashed right through the reinforced psychic barriers – sending it completely out of bounds.

He could see that his Gyarados was utterly bruised and battered. There was no a singe part of its body that wasn’t littered with injuries, and its mouth and one of its eyes were so heavily bruised that they were sealed shut.

Yet even then, its eyes still burned with the same intense rage as it did at the start of the battle. Gyarados even managed to let out a frustrated snarl, as if demanding to be brought back to the battle.

But despite the spirit being willing, Gyarados’ body could no longer withstand the incredibly harsh punishment that it had already endured. And he knew that it had lost the fight. So as its trainer, he knew that he had a duty to look after his own Pokémon, and he made the executive decision to withdraw and retire his Gyarados from the fight before it could take on any more injuries.

Which meant that he was already down to three Pokémon remaining. And with Annihilape as empowered as it was, he knew that none of his Pokémon could dare to fight it at close range anymore. The very fact that he was now facing off against a Pokémon that he knew genuinely overpowered all of his was both humbling and exciting – since even against the likes of Tyrant or Emperor, he was confident that his Pokémon could at least put up a fair fight.

But Annihilape was different. He needed to take it down from afar. Not even his Salamence could comfortably fight against it in the state that it was in now.

So that only left one option – his Kingdra.

And fortunately, it seemed like his Kingdra proved to be a very thorough counter for Annihilape by simply not allowing the enraged Fighting type to get in close to land a hit.

His Kingdra was the artillery of his team – and it certainly proved itself here.

A fearsome and unending torrent of Hydro Pumps and Dragon Pulses ruthlessly blasted Annihilape backwards. And lost to its rage as it was, Annihilape wasn’t even bothering with trying to dodge or block the incoming attacks, choosing instead to meet it head on and forcefully tank through them.

That proved to be a foolish decision. Annihilape might be able to shrug off the pain, but it wasn’t able to stand its ground against the enormous torrent of power being shot at it and was forced backwards – undoing all of its progress in trying to close the distance. Furthermore, an Icy Wind from Kingdra only slowed Annihilape down further.

It was almost insultingly easy to take down Annihilape, since it had absolutely no survival instinct, making its previous display of absolute power even more ridiculous.

…A lesson for next time, he supposed.

In the end, much like his own Gyarados, Annihilape’s body broke before its spirit did. It refused to give up, even when both of its arms broke from trying to defend against the incoming Hydro Pumps, it still resorted to trying to use those limp arms to crawl towards Kingdra on the ground.

And if he thought that Gyarados’ eyes were burning with intense rage, then Annihilape’s only promised murder and destruction. If Annihilape ever got in range to hit Kingdra, Drake knew that it was going to be a one-hit KO.

Luckily, it never got to that point, as Bruno retired his Annihilape from the battle much like he did.

He let out a small sigh of relief. That fucking monster was finally gone.

===============

(Steven POV)

He leaned back in his chair as he watched Annihilape finally be taken down, and he turned to see how his other colleagues’ were reacting. To say that they were surprised would be an understatement, as all of them had expressions of shock on their faces as they watched as Annihilape devastated Drake’s Gyarados – a Pokémon that they were well familiar with how powerful it was.

This was Annihilape’s first official battle where it was able to unleash its full potential. And after today, it would undoubtedly be considered as one of the strongest Pokémon in all of Indigo. If Drake still hadn’t had his Kingdra available, then Annihilape would have undoubtedly swept through the rest of his team.

Of course, he knew full well that Annihilape’s invincibility was very much an illusion – and Drake had probably just figured out the same. Annihilape was basically unbeatable at close range. It didn’t matter who it fought against, if you tried to take it down with brute force, you would lose.

But if you disrupted it with support moves, or could stay out of its range either with Special Attacks or with flight/high speed, Annihilape was completely useless. It didn’t have the smarts or instincts to perform any kind of fancy manoeuvres to deal with those kinds of opponents – it just knew how to punch hard.

Bruno sent out his Hitmonlee next. Hitmonlee was the fastest Pokémon in Bruno’s roster, which was going to be very necessary if it ever wanted to close the distance against Kingdra.

However, that was far easier said than done. Kingdra might not be able to fight at all at close range, but it more than made up for that with its incredible ability to control the battlefield.

And it wasn’t just Hydro Pumps and Dragon Pulses that it had to dodge past.

As Hitmonlee charged forwards, a series of Whirlpools suddenly formed all around it, forcing it to have to leap backwards to avoid being caught within its watery grasp. As it landed, Hitmonlee immediately ducked out of the way as an Ice Beam narrowly sailed past its head – only to be hit by a surprise Twister that had secretly formed underneath it.

Hitmonlee struggled and forced its way out of the Twister, only to be battered by an Icy Wind that slowed it down which also slowly froze it over. The Fighting type threw out a Blaze Kick to melt off the creeping frost, before throwing itself into a combat roll as a powerful torrent of water nearly slammed into it.

Frustrated that it was making no progress, Hitmonlee stomped down on the ground before performing a powerful spinning kick as it launched a huge boulder towards Kingdra while also simultaneously unleashing a powerful Earthquake. Kingdra was ravaged by the Earthquake as the ground shook violently, but it still maintained its careful aim as it precisely sniped the boulder out of the air with a Dragon Pulse.

Of course, these were all just distractions for Hitmonlee to get close, and it dived forwards through the air with a powerful High Jump Kick.

Seeing the attack coming, Kingdra’s mouth began to glow threateningly with an blinding ball of energy. Steven’s eyes widened as he saw this; he recognised that this attack was the signature move of Drake’s Salamence – Draco Beam. And he had now taught it to his Kingdra.

But before Kingdra could fire off the attack, it was Hitmonlee’s High Jump Kick that connected first – delivering a merciless and savage kick to the face that completely shattered Kingdra’s snout. Kingdra instantly collapsed to the ground, but that was only the start of Hitmonlee’s assault.

Before Kingdra could even hit the ground, Hitmonlee darted forwards and drove its knee deep into Kingdra’s stomach. Then it ruthlessly smashed a Brick Brick right to the face, before spinning around and unleashing a devastating Axe Kick that hammered hard into Kingdra’s side.

That proved to be the end of Kingdra’s time in this battle. Hitmonlee had proven victorious.

And it maintained that momentum as it threw itself against the newly emerged Flygon.

Normally, Flygon should have proved nearly impossible for Bruno’s Hitmonlee to take down. Solely because it could fly out of range of Hitmonlee’s attacks and slowly wear it down overtime with Dragon Pulses and Earth Powers. Furthermore, thanks to its Ground typing resisting Rock moves, none of Bruno’s Pokémon would easily be able to force Flygon down – since they so heavily relied on using rocks to shoot fliers out of the sky.

That was why, during Bruno’s preparation for the battle, one of the main areas that he vigorously drilled his Pokémon in was to take down Flygon before it could fly out of reach.

Therefore, as soon as Flygon emerged onto the battlefield, Hitmonlee instantly launched itself forwards with a Mega Kick before Flygon could do anything else. Hitmonlee chose to use Mega Kick instead of High Jump Kick because it likely expected Flygon to throw up a Protect shield to block the hit, and didn’t want to take the ensuing recoil damage.

And just like it predicted, that was what Flygon did. The Protect shield successfully blocked the Mega Kick, allowing Flygon to retaliate with a vicious slash of a Dragon Claw. However, instead of retreating Hitmonlee allowed itself to take the hit so that it could keep up the momentum. Using Endure, it barely tanked through the attack and converted all of that power with a Counter and unleashed a brutal, fully-powered Close Combat right into Flygon.

Flygon was smashed into the ground before an Ice-infused foot stomped down hard into its face. But Flygon held on too, and fired off a point-blank Boomburst that sent Hitmonlee flying backwards. Due to its existing injuries, Hitmonlee was knocked out.

However, the damage that it had managed to inflict against Flygon was significant, significant enough that when Bruno’s Machamp finally graced the battlefield, Flygon was too slowed by its own injuries to take to the air in time before Machamp painfully buried an Ice Punch deep into its gut.

Flygon let out a pained screech from the quadruply supereffective blow, but that was quickly silenced as another Ice Punch caught it in the throat. Then to make sure it was finished off, Machamp slammed down with all four of its Ice-coated fists, delivering an unbearable amount of Ice energy right into Flygon and knocking it out.

“SALAMENCE!!!” And therefore, Drake’s starter revealed itself in the battle. The greatest Dragon in Hoenn had joined the battle.

============

(Bruno POV)

His Machamp was not afraid. Despite the raw power that was radiating out of Salamence, his starter met its stare with a calm look of its own. Its many arms waited expectantly as they began to coat themselves with Ice energy once again.

“DRACO BEAM!”

Not bothering with any kind of posturing, Salamence immediately dropped to all fours and quickly fired off a devastating beam of blinding blue light. The enormous torrent of draconic energy annihilated all that it came across, and with the ground already being so torn up, there was nowhere for Machamp to Dig to avoid the attack.

Except, he had no plans to run away. Instead, he was going to put all of his training with his Machamp to the test.

“Go, Machamp.”

Rather than dodging, Machamp reinforced all four of its arms with an armour of Steel using Bullet Punch, and charged towards the Salamence – taking the Draco Beam head on. The draconic beam of energy was so powerful that it literally managed to ignite Machamp as it came into contact with it, but his starter merely gritted its teeth and continued to step forwards, one agonisingly painful step at a time.

In an incredible show of pure determination and endurance, Machamp Endured the Draco Beam. Even as the ground around it literally began to char and melt from the sheer amount of heat that the attack radiated, Machamp still stepped forwards. Even as every bone in its arm began to crack and break, Machamp still stepped forwards. Even as its entire form was completely burned black as the flames engulfed its form, Machamp still stepped forwards.

And each time it did, the signature glow of a Counter would only grow brighter and brighter as Machamp stored all of that energy within itself.

Eventually, Salamence could fire off the Draco Beam for no longer, and it let out a coughing wheeze as it ran out of energy. Yet Machamp was doing little better either, as he was barely able to stumble forwards due to all of its injuries.

But it had endured. Despite all conventional knowledge saying otherwise, his Machamp had survived the attack. His starter, a Pokémon that many would never think could ever match up against a Dragon, had just proved that it could.

And now it was time to deliver the killing blow.

“FINISH IT!”

With a burst of determination, Machamp forced itself forwards. It channelled all of that accumulated energy into one singular blow. A blow so powerful that even the greatest of Pokémon would fall before it.

Because it wasn’t just an attack boosted by Counter. It was also a Reversal – an attack that was empowered the lower Machamp’s health was. Therefore, with Machamp at such low health, this Counter-boosted Reversal was going to be the single most powerful attack in his arsenal.

This was his trump card – a move that he had slowly developed to be able to bring down John’s Tyrant. A move that would represent the pinnacle of martial ability. A move that contained all of the power that Salamence had just tried to overwhelm it with.

A blindingly bright fist that glowed with all of that accumulated power was shot forwards.

And Salamence crumbled to the floor, with his Machamp following right after.

It was his victory.

A.N. AND BRUNO WINS! This was a long chapter, and I hope I managed to deliver the battle between Bruno and Drake. I wanted to emphasise certain Pokémon on Bruno’s team, especially Annihilape, and I hope it came across well. For Machamp, I wanted to show how a traditionally ‘weaker’ Pokémon could punch well above his weight with the right combination of moves. To be clear, it was only through a very precise set of circumstances that allowed Machamp this victory. It had accumulated all of that power through absorbing the power from the Draco Beam, and since it was literally on close to 1hp, the Reversal was full power. Without this, Machamp could not have done what it did.

I also wanted this battle to be less ‘strategy’ and more ‘endurance’, as befits both trainers. I know I’ve written a lot of battles where one trainer outsmarts the other, or makes use of some tactic, but I wanted this to be different. And I felt like the use of extra POVs would help with that. So hope you enjoyed!