Chapter 170 [OLD VERSION]

Author Note:

You can read the updated Chapter 170 HERE!

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The audience’s cheers were a low, underlying hum. The announcers' voices were nothing more than muffled whispers coming from outside. The closed door blocked off the noises of the League’s staff hurrying by, and the only sounds that entered the dressing room were the loudest reminders of the current battle going on.

Sam was waiting. He was up next. That meant his opponent was on deck, as well, and he couldn’t stop thinking about what she must have been doing to prepare in her room.

However, he wasn’t nervous. He felt perfectly calm. Right now, nothing was holding him back.

The only thing that remained was excitement, for he and Redi would finally be having their match.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” his mother asked from atop one of the room’s stools. Delcatty curled around her legs, and Sableye slumped, utterly defeated, being held in her arms like a limp doll.

“I am. I'm just... thinking,” Sam said. “This is something I've been waiting all season for—for longer than even my battle against Xavier. We constantly talked about facing each other in the Conference to the point it just became another casual topic. But that’s happening right now. It almost doesn’t feel real. Everything we ever talked about...”

He let out a slight laugh.

“All of it is about to come true.”

Sam looked around at his team. Everyone was out and getting rest. They were in the best shape they could have possibly been in after days of tough battles behind them. Trevenant had a discolored line on his chest from where his bark had regrown after that Honchkrow’s attack, and both Typhlosion and Gengar had their eyes closed, tired but trying to regain as much energy as they could before entering the next battle. Neither Drakloak nor Mismagius looked that different from normal, but Annihilape was utterly still. Sam had never seen him so motionless before. Even back when he evolved hadn’t been this bad, yet, Sam could tell it was just Annihilape gathering every ounce of focus he could.

He had his own reason to look forward to this match.

“It feels strange,” Sam said quietly. “I'm excited, but I'm also just so... calm. I guess I should probably be hesitating about knocking a friend out of the Conference, but why would I hesitate? We already talked about it. I’ve already experienced myself, and I know Redi would rather lose to me than any other stranger she might face here.”

“You’re that confident?” his mother asked.

“Of course,” Sam replied. “Do you really think I'd let us lose here?”

His mother chuckled, and the many Ghost Types in the room cheered.

For just about every other battle, Sam had watched the fights from the audience, and for many of them, Redi had sat nearby. Right now, they were split up. Redi was in the other room. Likely, she was talking to her Pokémon and giving her parents one last call. Both of them knew their match would be one of the highlights of the Conference, and a certain moment stood out to Sam, where he and Redi had given a dual interview to Marilyn just before they had stepped inside.

The reporter had asked them about their goals in this battle.

Both of them had responded immediately.

“To win.”

That was their shared reply and their shared objective. Neither of them would be doing anything to make this an easy fight.

“We already know how we’re going to fight her,” Sam said to his team, looking at every Pokémon here. “We know her top threats and some of the counters she might have prepared for us. Ursaluna’s Guts ability, Porygon’s Trick Room, Dragonair’s speed, Wyrdeer’s defenses, and then Kangaskhan... just about everything to it. I’m probably most worried if it knows Endeavor.”

He looked around again.

“We won’t be able to put Ursaluna to sleep without being battered by Sleep Talk,” he said. “We can’t let Dragonair outpace us, paralyze us, and then prevent any of our moves. We have to make sure our status effects land, and we have to take advantage of everything we have. And then we’re also stuck to not using Ghost Type moves. Which sucks. All of her Normal Types are going to be immune to most of what we can do.”

Sam then purposefully paused, and a small smile crept onto his face.

“But do we care?” he asked.

Every Pokémon in this room shouted their name in the equivalent of a loud, “No!”

Sam hopped out of his chair.

“Redi and I are going to come at this match in completely different ways,” he said to his team. “She’s come up with her counters, whereas I don’t have anywhere near as much of the same. I could plan all I want, but she’d just come up with something to prevent that. So, we have what we have, but we’re also ready to adapt to anything she throws at us. That’s how we’re going to win.”

It was a complete inversion of how they both started as trainers, but in a way, that just proved how much they had grown.

“This is going to be our toughest battle. Ever, possibly. But do you know what we're going to do?”

One last look. He sent one last look to Typhlosion. Annihilape. Gengar. Mismagius. Trevenant. Drakloak.

And Dreepy, of course, alongside everyone else. So many Gastly and Haunter were watching him stand there and smile.

“What we're going to do is win,” Sam said. “We’re going to defeat Redi in our battle, and we’re going to win this tournament overall!”

With that declaration, shouts erupted, and the entire room cheered. Anyone in the hallway would have shuddered at the haunting noise that came from inside.

To the side, his mother clapped.

“You can do it,” she said. “I believe in you—all of you.”

“I believe in us, too,” Sam said. “And I absolutely believe we're going to win, but just in case, let's go over a few more strategies Redi might have planned...”

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When Sam and Redi stepped onto the arena floor, the audience’s volume was already nearly deafening. Between the eight battles taking place today, just about every match had at least someone who had gathered a following, and several of those battles were proving to be just as meaningful as the one about to take place right now. At this point, the majority of the battles involved friends or rivals who had met on their journey. The matches were building up to the point that few would call the pattern a mere coincidence.

Here, it was a battle between two of the three new trainers left in the Conference, with the two of them having been traveling companions for most of the season. Their story had spread in interviews, and people were excited to see just who would win.

Sam’s Ghost Types would leave members of the audience shivering in fright, and Redi’s Normal Types would leave others in awe of their powerful attacks.

It was the excitement, the need to see that battle, that led to those cheers. However, the audience quieted down and started to murmur in confusion when the two trainers approached the head referee instead of the field.

It looked as though the two trainers had come up with the same idea independently from one another, as the two of them seemed surprised at the other’s presence but rolled with it anyway. The words they spoke to the referee weren’t picked up by any microphone, but both trainers visibly supported one another’s arguments.

The head referee, the one in charge of the three referees keeping an eye on these late-tournament matches, glanced between the two trainers. He seemed to chew on their idea before replying with a slight nod, and both trainers jumped in celebration.

The way they grinned in unison was far too cute.

Only now did they take up their positions on opposite sides of the fields, and before the referee said anything at all, two Pokémon were already being sent out across from one another. An Ursaluna appeared, its mass seemingly shaking the arena itself, and the Annihilape sent out opposite to it was quiet, motionless, and focused. It stood completely still, preparing itself in place, slowly eyeing its opponent up and down with an unreadable look on its face.

The two Pokémon looked each other in the eyes, and that was a dangerous sign. It was well known that people should never look either a Primeape or an Ursaring in the eye—that was how dangerous fights started—but right now, both of these Pokémon were doing exactly that, and they were those species' evolved forms.

When neither side immediately lashed out, excitement started to build once again.

What kind of monsters were these if they were so focused on preparing their attacks?

Slowly, a single step hit the dirt, and both the Annihilape and Ursaluna approached. The Pokémon walked to meet one another in the center of their field, and their movements were a mix of lumbering and striding; the base motions were a mix of both bragging and intimidation.

When they met in the exact middle, the Annihilape rolled its shoulders, and the Ursaluna pushed off the ground to stand on its hind legs.

They maintained their eye contact.

Both of them drew an arm back.

And then, two simultaneous swings hurtled right at one another.

Shockwaves seemed to crack the air. A Shadow Punch collided with a ringing Slash. There was a visible strain in the two Pokémon’s arms, but both of them remained utterly unaffected.

The Annihilape’s Ghost Type move did nothing to affect the Normal Type Ursaluna, and the Ursaluna’s Normal Type move did nothing to affect the Ghost Type Annihilape. The only thing that hit them was raw momentum, as the energies contained within their attacks did nothing other than support this clash.

Arms were drawn back again, and two more swings were thrown out.

Another hit, and then another swing.

From there, the pace built up. Attack after attack came out.

Annihilape ducked and weaved, throwing out punches in an attempt to box. The Ursaluna responded with wild swings of its arms that proved that it would be a truly frenzied bear. Neither of them changed what attack they used, and whenever a move hit, nothing happened. The bare impact would maybe deal a slight amount of damage, but the swirling energies did nothing to bypass either Pokémon’s immunities.

A duck;

A slash;

A jab;

A roar.

This was a test. A challenge. A fight. This was a match of pure physical power alone. Both Pokémon refused to deal damage—their pride would not allow that. Their trainers didn’t dare speak, and neither did the referees. Even the audience seemed to go quiet.

Right now, the match didn’t matter. Victory didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the two Pokémon proving their strength.

And then, a shift. The two Pokémon slowed and drew back their arms once more. This time around, the Ursaluna’s claws extended out with crooked shadows, and the Annihilape’s arm tensed and flexed with densened muscles, the epitome of a Fighting Type move being prepared.

Then, they released their moves, a Ghost Type and Fighting Type attack rushing at one another. This clash threatened super effective damage, and whoever lost this exchange would be injured going into the proper fight.

Except, at the very last second, right before the two moves hit—

A whistle.

The pair of attacks froze an inch apart. The referee did not look amused.

“Return, Annihilape,” Sam said.

“Come back, Ursaluna!” Redi called out.

The two Pokémon pulled back their arms and shared a satisfied grin.

As they disappeared into red light, both of their trainers seemed amused. The audience finally had the chance to breathe again, but this wasn’t even the battle.

This was just a warm-up, a pre-match show.

Though the fight had not progressed—or even started, for that matter—this did prove one thing:

These two Pokémon were the strongest members of both teams, so if those two were evenly matched, then so were the trainers.

Neither side would have an advantage going into this fight.

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“Trainers, send out your Pokémon!” the referee’s voice boomed.

Sam’s heart was already racing, and he could see that Redi was already slightly out of breath. They had done nothing themselves so far, but the power that had emanated from their Pokémon in their spar had been undeniable.

Both Ursaluna and Annihilape had gotten what they wanted. They wanted to see which of them was stronger, and they got their answer—neither.

But the referee wanted the battle to actually start, so now was the time for the trainers to step in.

“Wyrdeer,” Redi named.

Sam found her choice to be curious, but it didn’t change his plan.

“Typhlosion.”

His first Pokémon and preferred lead appeared on the field. She roared her name, her voice echoing around her, and Wyrdeer merely trotted in place.

Then, the match properly began.

“Safeguard,” Redi immediately ordered as soon as the referee called for the battle to start.

On Sam’s side of the field, Typhlosion built a few wisps, but they didn’t head out from beside her.

Already, the announcers were commenting on the fight—Stantler, or Wyrdeer, specifically, didn’t learn Safeguard normally, but Redi hadn’t cared at all in the slightest for what people thought and had taken Wyrdeer’s expertise with defense and taught him the move just for this fight.

“Safeguard, huh?” Sam said as Typhlosion eyed her opponent. “Be careful. Wyrdeer is immune to your Parade, and Safeguard will prevent status.”

He knew he could call for a Fire Type attack, but a burn would never happen while Safeguard was up. Even then, Protect could stop any damage. With just this one order, Redi had shut down most of what Sam could do to start this fight.

“Hah! So what are you going to do, Sam?” Redi shouted at him with a grin. “Gonna switch? Gonna leave Typhlosion out? Either way, your Pokémon are going to faint!”

Already, Wyrdeer was beginning to trot forward, but he was slowly picking up speed. Psychic Type energy pulsed around his horns, and he prepared a barrier for his choice of either Protect or Psyshield Bash.

He could prevent any move from reaching him while still getting close to Typhlosion, but Sam wasn’t worried in the slightest. Redi might have limited his strategy, but right now, all Typhlosion needed to do was inflict a bit of damage and then prepare the field for whatever Pokémon he sent out next.

“Smokescreen. Flamethrower,” he ordered.

Redi was smiling, and she didn’t hesitate to call out, “Agility!”

With flames burning around her neck, Typhlosion exhaled to cover her half of the field in black. She disappeared into that smoke, but Redi’s Wyrdeer raced straight into it. Psychic Type energy fueled its momentum thanks to its Agility.

Wyrdeer’s horns peeked out of the top of Typhlosion’s Smokescreen, but Wyrdeer knew where it needed to run. It blocked the use of a Flamethrower with a conjured screen, and it then jumped at the source of that attack to swing its horns.

The force behind that swing forced some of the smoke back, and that faint gust revealed that Wyrdeer’s Psyshield Bash had missed Typhlosion by mere inches. However, she was still right there, and while Wyrdeer was lifting its head, she breathed out for another Flamethrower to singe its fur.

Safeguard prevented a burn.

“Again!” Redi shouted.

“Double Team!” Sam countered.

Wyrdeer jumped for another lunge, and it looked as though Typhlosion didn’t move at all. However, though the swing of its horns landed against her, they only phased through the image occupying the position Typhlosion left behind.

The ferocity of the Wyrdeer’s attacks saw the Smokescreen no longer fully cover this part of the field, but pockets of smoke remained around the Wyrdeer. Duplicates of Typhlosion appeared at their edges. Circling Redi’s Pokémon, a dozen Typhlosions stared off, and Wyrdeer’s chances of hitting the correct one were minimal at best.

But it didn’t look nervous, and Redi didn’t hesitate to get her next command.

“Earthquake,” she ordered.

“I should have expected that,” Sam said with a grumble. “Ursaluna already demonstrated this move. I shouldn’t be surprised he taught it to other members of her team.”

The wide area of this attack meant cracks spread out in every direction. Wyrdeer didn’t need to aim its move if it hit everywhere at once. However, Sam didn’t need to say anything for Typhlosion to jump to avoid it, but jumping did reveal a single copy of her leaping right out of her smoke.

She had isolated herself for Wyrdeer to target her, but Sam returned her for now. She’d already done what he wanted, and returning her here prevented Wyrdeer from using any further attacking moves.

“So,” Redi said, casually leaning back, unbothered by her Pokémon’s failure to land any attacks. “Who are you going to send out next?”

“Mismagius,” Sam said.

And immediately, Redi countered Sam’s next Pokémon—not with a move, but with a shout she gave in reply.

“Hey. Just so you know, Wyrdeer knows Psych Up! If you use Nasty Plot, Wyrdeer will get to copy the same boost!”

As Redi spoke, Mismagius dashed into the pockets of lingering smoke to hide herself. Meanwhile, Sam replied to his friend with a flat look.

“You’re bluffing.”

“Why would I bluff about that?” Redi responded. “If you really want to, you could check. Call for a Nasty Plot. Test if I’m lying.”

Sam looked her in the eye, and she easily met his gaze. Her mad grin was so impossibly wide that he genuinely couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth or just messing with him.

But she’s definitely trying to throw me off my game!

Except, Sam had switched into Mismagius for a reason, and he couldn’t care less about Redi’s words. Psych Up or not, Mismagius was the better special attacker. Taking a moment to copy that boost would only open Wyrdeer up to further attacks.

“Use Psychic defensively to avoid damage,” Sam ordered. “Build yourself; prepare to sweep. Get ready with your new attack.”

The smoke churned and shifted as Mismagius moved it around to hide her exact position. Wyrdeer slowly trotted to circle the now-smaller, fading cloud. It was no longer bothering to maintain its Agility; movement speed wouldn’t matter here. All that mattered right now was landing a proper hit against wherever Sam’s Pokémon was hiding in the cloud.

Sam waited. Wyrdeer couldn’t see Mismagius to use the move Redi had threatened, and Mismagius just needed the right moment.

The thing is, Safeguard’s protection couldn’t last forever.

And, just like Sam expected, the protective field started to fade.

“Now!” he shouted.

Mismagius had used Nasty Plot regardless of Redi’s threats, and attacking now meant Redi had to choose whether to call for Protect or re-use Safeguard. Coming from the smoke, Mismagius’s attacks took the form of wisps, but this was not Hex, nor was it purely a Will-O-Wisp.

No, the New Pokédex was great at informing Sam of new moves, and what better move for Mismagius than a Fire Type attack that took her wisps and gave them a new form?

As her Mystical Fire rushed out, she aimed to maximize its damage thanks to the ongoing effects of her Nasty Plot.

“Protect!” Redi yelled.

The flames hit and washed over Wyrdeer’s protective barrier.

“Into Bash!” Redi then continued.

Though Protect did not last, the barrier Wyrdeer had formed did. It wasn’t perfect, but its presence gave Wyrdeer just enough leeway to charge for a sudden bash right into the fading smoke cloud.

It didn’t need to aim; it only needed to cover enough area. Wyrdeer swung its horns wildly, and though it was clipped once or twice, it managed to swipe its horns through something, and a genuinely pained cry echoed out.

Sam could tell this was not a noise that had been faked.

“Psychic, throw it back!” Sam shouted.

“Psychic, resist its grab!” Redi yelled.

The remaining smoke was pushed back as both Pokémon brimmed with Psychic Type energy. As Mismagius was revealed, a blue glow appeared around Wyrdeer, but then a deeper blue glow appeared just to break the first.

Both moves failed to do much of anything.

Except, Wyrdeer was channeling its energy through its horns to use its move, and when Mismagius’s Psychic failed, it was still primed for a follow-up.

“Psyshield Bash!” Redi shouted.

Of course.

“Burn!” Sam yelled in return, attempting for his Pokémon to counter.

As fast as she could, Mismagius flew back, and her opponent blurred. Rather than immediately following Redi’s orders, Wyrdeer built an Agility to match her speed, and it slowly reduced the distance between them even as fiery wisps dug into its sides.

Wyrdeer was burned, but that wouldn’t matter. Its Normal Type meant no move that took advantage of conditions would deal damage. And, Mismagius was vulnerable enough to physical attacks that this second Psyshield Bash, regardless of whether it weakened, would take her out.

But the Agility bought Sam time, and before Wyrdeer truly caught up, he returned his Pokémon even as she flew backwards over the field.

“Whew. We got the burn. That’s all that matters,” Sam said. “Now, Wyrdeer will eventually faint no matter what, and all we have to do is—”

“You don’t even recognize our trap, do you?” Redi interrupted.

Sam froze as he reached for his next Pokéball, and Redi was smiling regardless of Wyrdeer’s condition. It was injured and burned, and it was wholly visible. Barely any smoke remained on the field.

“So... Let’s see. This is going to be your third Pokémon you’re sending out, right, Sam?” she asked. “You know that I’m still on my first, right? Yeah, we get seven switches for this match, but how many are you planning to use just to take out one Pokémon?”

She smiled at him.

“Sam, I’ll tell you now that I’m never going to switch,” Redi declared. “See, that’s my strategy for this battle! A bad match-up might be bad, but we’ll still always pull something off. Returning an injured or burned or paralyzed opponent is why all of your last opponents lost. Your team is pretty great at finishing off weakened Pokémon, right?”

Sam gritted his teeth, and Redi continued her taunts.

“I’m not going to let you do that. I’m going to force you to grind down all of my Pokémon, one at a time,” she said with a teasing smile. “Feel free to set up whatever you want, and feel free to switch as many times as you can. But each time you do something like that, that’s another one of your Pokémon tired out, and that’s even more resources you’re using just to take out one of mine.”

The field felt utterly silent even as the audience was lost to cheers. Redi’s speech had bought her enough time for the Smokescreen to now only be the faintest of whispers above the field.

All of Redi’s teeth were exposed in a grin, and Sam stood there, just taking in Redi’s words.

He had his strategy. Redi would give him that. But she was purposefully telling him this to give him too much freedom.

He could do whatever he wanted to take out her first few Pokémon—but then, what would happen after that? He would do too much too quickly. He wouldn’t be in a position to finish off her healthy Pokémon at the end.

And she’s revealed all of that just to psych me out.

The worst part about this is that her taunts are working.

Silently, Sam threw a Pokéball forward. It was only after his Pokémon appeared that he gave their name of, “Gengar.”

Unfortunately, unlike Mismagius, Gengar didn’t have Levitate. Redi knew that. In the resulting match-up, Wyrdeer fought primarily with Earthquake to try to catch and take him out.

However, Gengar outranged Wyrdeers just by floating upwards, but he wasn’t immune to Ground Type moves. When Redi changed her orders to call for Wyrdeer to start using “Earth Power” instead, he ended up being clipped a few times, but he was at least slightly better at taking special hits than anything physical.

Redi didn’t bother with Safeguard; Wyrdeer was already burned. The heat seared into its body slowly ate away at it, and Gengar managed to throw it off a bit more with a Confuse Ray.

In the end, none of Gengar’s Acid Sprays mattered. The battle became one of evasion and defense. To finish off this match-up, Wyrdeer took a bit more damage, but it ultimately fainted due to its burn.

With that, Sam secured the first knock-out of the match, but it left a sour taste in his mouth. He had used two switches and three Pokémon to take it out, and the rest of Redi’s team were entirely untouched.

Even with that faint, he couldn’t ignore that his team was currently worse off. He could tell for a fact that Redi was prepared for this. This whole time, in every match she went through without majorly relying on switching, it had all been practice for this one match—for this one counter.

“Kangaskhan,” Redi said after she recalled her fainted Wyrdeer.

As this appeared, Sam grimaced. This was the worst-case scenario; Kangaskhan was the perfect counter to Gengar. Between its Early Bird preventing sleep, its Normal Type making it immune to Ghost Type attacks, and its Scrappy letting it hit Ghosts, Gengar could do little to it, but Kangaskhan was able to do whatever it wanted in return.

Sam was prepared to return Gengar here, as much as he disliked using another switch. However, right as he grabbed Gengar’s Pokéball—

“Actually, nah. This’d be too easy,” Redi said. “Kangaskhan, return.”

As her Pokémon disappeared, Sam felt his jaw drop. Gengar burst into laughter.

And, across from them, Redi sent them a grin.

“Dragonair!” she shouted instead.

Sam then spoke to Gengar as fast as he could.

“It has Shed Skin, speed, and powerful Dragon Type attacks. It can control the wind and weather,” Sam told his Pokémon in warning. “Except, Shed Skin isn’t as reliable as Early Bird, so—”

“Thunder Wave,” Redi ordered.

“Hypnosis!” Sam countered.

He didn’t expect this condition to last long, but out of every Pokémon on Redi’s team, this was her only Pokémon capable of being damaged with Hex.

Lunging, Dragonair swam through the air to race toward Gengar, and Gengar eagerly met the Dragon Type head-on. He lowered himself, taking up a pose akin to a wrestler, and as Dragonair hurtled herself right at him, she tried to jerk to the side for a fly-by Thunder Wave, but his eyes flashed at the perfect time to send her falling to the floor instead.

However, though Dragonair’s sleeping form meant she fell and slid across the ground, the electricity had already been building in her body, and it exploded out to catch Gengar off guard.

The crackling energy paralyzed him, but Dragonair landed close enough that he could still move. Quickly, he jumped through that tension to reach toward his opponent’s head with his hands. As much as Hex would deal damage, it was as if Gengar could read Sam’s mind—right now, he needed to regather some energy with Dream Eater.

“Do it!” Sam yelled.

Sleeping, Dragonair squirmed as Gengar slurped up her dreams like noodles, and as expected, her eyes quickly snapped open. She practically burst through a thin layer of shed scales she left behind—using its Shed Skin ability quite literally—and Gengar flew back to avoid her.

Except, he was paralyzed. He might have healed himself, but right now, Dragonair was faster.

“Dragon Tail!”

Gengar’s eyes widened as the back of Dragonair’s body snapped out to slam into his chest. Her tail threw him across the field, the nature of this move saw him return to his Pokéball—Dragon Tail always forced a switch.

Sam had wanted to win here with Gengar, but now, he couldn’t do that without sending out a different Pokémon first.

“So how do you like that?!” Redi called out. “A taste of your own medicine! An injured and paralyzed Pokémon in your back pocket that you’re eventually going to have to send back out against us.”

“Gengar managed to heal with Dream Eater,” Sam pointed out.

“But not by much. Dragonair woke up quickly,” Redi said. “Look me in the eyes and tell me he’s perfectly healthy.”

Sam couldn’t.

Despite suffering from the Dream Eater, Dragonair looked no worse for wear, and she pulled herself back to hover above Redi’s side of the field. Her serpentine body moved back and forth as if to maintain her position underwater, and not even the air itself was disturbed. A faint glow from the gemstone on her neck spoke of the mystical nature of her fight, and as Sam watched her, he suddenly understood a simple concept.

If he wanted to defeat Dragonair without overextending, just like how Ghosts attracted Ghosts, you needed a Dragon to fight a Dragon.

“Drakloak!” Sam named.

His Pokémon got halfway through her initial before stopping herself upon settling her eyes on her opponent. Sam’s instincts had been correct; Dragon Types liked to be in charge. They desired it, specifically. While Drakloak might not have the strongest member of his team, she was the strongest Dragon Type on it, and seeing Dragonair here made her want to prove exactly that.

Right now, Drakloak would fight harder than ever before, but the side effect was that Dragonair would do the same.

“Agility. Outspeed it,” Sam said, remembering what Xaiver had once said. “Use whatever attacks you can, and keep in mind that Dreepy is great for distractions!”

“You know what? Nah. This’ll be easy. Dragonair, you already know what to do,” Redi ordered.

Unlike Drakloak, Dragonair had been trained in a Gym around dozens of other Dragon Types. She already knew how to fight against another Pokémon that shared her Type.

But Sam knew that was her flaw—she had never fought a Drakloak before, and she had prepared for the wrong kind of Dragon Types.

Immediately, both serpentine Dragons rushed one another with a use of Agility, and they slid across each other’s scales without dealing damage just to test one another in the air. They flew past and curved around to aim themselves for another clash in the sky.

Drakloak charged again, but she launched Dreepy ahead of her for a Dragon Pulse. Dragonair’s wings flapped on the sides of her head, and a Twister formed to catch him and send him hurtling away.

Dragonair and Drakloak neared, and they both pulsed for a Thunder Wave. However, the opposing energies of this move negated one another, and neither Pokémon suffered from the other’s attack.

“Dragon Pulse. Twice over,” Sam ordered.

“Bash right through with Dragon Rush!” Redi yelled.

Dreepy returned to Drakloak’s head with a use of Quick Attack, and he was sent right back out immediately after. Drakloak chased his attack while rushing Dragonair so that any repeated, defensive use of Twister would give her an opening to hit Dragonair in his place.

Quickly, Dragonair countered by covering herself in similar Dragon Type energy, just as Redi had ordered. Her Dragon Rush carried her forward, and at the very last moment, she spun to the side to let Dreepy hurtle right past her.

However, Sam had already expected this after seeing how Dragonair was fighting earlier. Redi’s Dragon Type wasn’t prepared for the second Dragon Pulse that had been hidden by Dreepy, and it crashed into her head-on.

Immediately, Dragonair started to careen out of control, her Dragon Rush carrying her forward regardless of what she might have liked. Drakloak initially chuckled at the motion, but her eyes widened when she saw Dragonair hurtle right at her.

She tried to flee, but the out-of-control Dragonair reached her.

Both Pokémon crashed into the ground.

With that impact, dust and dirt were thrown up into the air in a cloud. Dreepy lingered over them, looking down and trying to see if it was safe to return to his sister.

After a few seconds, the cloud slowly settled, and two forms became visible within.

Dragonair and Drakloak were both incredibly injured, but neither of them wanted to give up this fight.

“Double Hit!” Sam shouted as Dreepy returned to Drakloak.

“Extreme Speed!” Redi yelled for a counter.

“It can’t damage you with that! Focus on attacking when it gets close!”

“Try to breathe out for a Dragon Rage when it attacks!” Redi yelled.

“Paralyze it then!”

“No, you paralyze it then!”

Despite the exchange of commands, counter-commands, and counter-counter-commands, nothing happened on the field.

Dragonair and Drakloak had locked eyes, and neither Pokémon was willing to look away.

“...Dragonair?” Redi asked.

“Dreepy, is your sister okay?” Sam called out.

Dreepy squeaked and tried to tap on Drakloak’s head to get her to snap out of it, but she didn’t do anything, and just like her opponent, she refused to lose this “game.”

They were Dragons, the rulers of the skies, and they both faced a challenger to their claim. At no time had either of them truly had the advantage, and more than anything else, they instinctively wanted to prove that they were stronger.

...But there was more to them than just that desire. Both of them were strong, experienced Pokémon. Drakloak had spent years with her brother on her own in Galar, and Dragonair might have been young, but she had trained under a Dragon Type Gym Leader before being handed to Redi.

Dragon Types needed a great deal of experience to reach their final stage, but with the extent that Sam and Redi had been pushing their teams—

Faced with an opponent they both wanted more than anything to defeat, the two Pokémon finally broke away from their stares just to let out loud cries.

And dual, white lights completely overtook the field.

Sam couldn’t hear anyone. The audience’s cheers were far too overwhelming for any other noise to get through. Redi was the same, and just like Sam, she was forced to bring up an arm to cover her eyes.

Though the light was blinding, silhouettes were visible. Half-present forms changed within.

Dragonair’s body expanded outwards, and her tail seemed to shrink. She gained short arms and legs as well as wings on her back, and antennae stretched out from her growing head.

Drakloak, meanwhile, stayed mostly the same, but her form changed to be more, well, her. Her tail thickened and lengthened. The sides of her head stretched. Her entire being became one designed for speed, and her opponent’s became one designed for force.

When the two lights broke, a pair of pseudo-Legendary Pokémon faced off. A bright orange Dragonite grinned at her opponent, and a slithering Dragapult hissed at her foe.

Still, the arena was too loud for Sam or Redi to be able to give any commands.

But that was alright.

No command would have worked anyway. The two Pokémon on the field wanted to prove their strength themselves.

Dragonite rotated her newly obtained arms to get used to them, and Dreepy crawled over to climb into one of the two innate launchers on Dragapult’s head.

There was still so much more of the match to get through, but right now, these Pokémon had reached a second wind with their evolution and planned to make full use of that.

Sam would get his wish to face Redi’s Pokémon without a switch, but if Dragapult lost—

No. There’s no use thinking about that. She’s caught up well. She’ll win no matter what.

This was no longer a battle of a trainer’s skill. This would be a battle of how well the two of them had trained their Pokémon. For this part of the match, at least, he and Redi would only be able to hang back. The outcome of this exchange would be solely up to the two pseudo-Legendary Dragon Types on the field.

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Author Note:

I cheated in this chapter. The Stantler line cannot learn Safeguard. HOWEVER, if you’re willing to step back about 22 years, there is one way to get a Stantler that knows the move.

The New York Pokémon Center held an event in 2003 that handed out a Stantler that knew Safeguard. Why? I don’t know, but I’m using that as an excuse for why Redi’s Wyrdeer knows it, even though I prefer to stick to canon movesets.

Pokémon included in this chapter:
Dragonair / Dragonite
Kangaskhan
Ursaluna
Wyrdeer

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