Chapter 183: Overwhelming Might
"Tyranitar-"
"Golem-"
""USE STONE EDGE!""
"GOL!"
"TYRAN!"
Receiving their orders at the same exact time, both pokemon summoned a tidal wave of razor-sharp stones that rushed at the other on either side of the arena.
*CRASH!*
The dual Stone Edges collided in the middle between them, neither one giving ground as they instead shattered to send sharpened rocks flying in every direction.
"Use Stomping Tantrum!" Calem ordered his Tyranitar next, while Ace remained silent as Golem similarly charged forward in a Bulldoze.
*STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!*
*CRASH!*
The very ship seemed to shudder as Golem and Tyranitar charged one another at full force, before colliding in the middle of the arena where the remaining pillars from Stone Edge were. And as the two ground type moves collided, it was as if the arnea was being torn into two while both Golem and Tyranitar took significant damage.
"Amazing..." Gabby utered in awe of the battle between titans, only glancing away for the barest of seconds to make sure Ty was still recording.
"Now Iron Tail!" Calem ordered as Tyranitar and Golem entered a stalemate of strength, before the former swung around and slammed it's metallic tail at the latter.
*DOGON!*
Golem was sent flying back due to the strength behind the attack, seemingly taking significant damage, but nimbly rolled to his feet while looking no worse for the wear.
Then, presumably at Ace's silent command, Golem tucked his legs and feet in and shot forward like a deadly cannonball as it used Rollout.
"Iron Defense!" Calem ordered, and Tyranitar braced itself for the incoming collision. What neither he nor Tyranitar expected though, was for Golem to suddenly stop using Rollout as it got close to Tyranitar, and instead to punch it with all of the momentum it had built up until now.
Brick Break!
"TYRAN!"
Tyranitar roared as it reeled from the attack, being doubly weak against fighting type moves as a rock/dark type. And Golem wasn't done yet.
"Do it again." Ace ordered him, out loud this time, and Golem readily complied as he hit Tyranitar again. And again.
What had started as a battle between titans quickly devolved into an all out slugfest as Golem hit Tyranitar repeatedly with Brick Break, dealing significant damage and giving it no chance to recover or counter attack.
"Tyranitar, use Iron Tail!" Calem hurriedly told it in an attempt to break free from Golem's relentless assault.
"TAR!"
Roaring in affirmation, Tyranitar tried to swing around to slam it's metallic tail into Golem yet again, except this time it didn't properly connect. Instead, Golem anticipated the attack thanks to Ace and redirected both of his hands to use Brick Break on the Iron Tail itself.
*DOGON!*
Many people winced as the sound of the two attacks colliding echoed throughout the arena, resulting in Tyranitar's tail being forced back as the metallic coating shattered.
"Now, use Bulldoze and finish it!" Ace commanded out loud.
"GOLEM!"
Roaring in affirmation, Golem tucked his shoulder and charged at Tyranitar to slam his entire body into it, driving it back from the force and the ground type energy covering him.
*CRASH!*
The entire section of the stands shuddered from the force of Golem's Bulldoze, which also kicked up a cloud of dust that the megaton pokemon casually walked out of, leaving an unconscious Tyranitar in his wake.
"TYRANITAR IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee announced, declaring the first defeat of the final battle.
"No way..."
"So quickly?!"
"Tyranitar aren't weak either."
Such comments could be heard from the spectators as Calem recalled his pokemon, and Golem stomped back out to the middle of the arena.
"Amazing!" Gabby exclaimed in awe from where they had been interviewing Lance before the battle started.
"Indeed. it was an excellent battle." Lance nodded in agreement beside her.
"I choose you, Doublade!" Calem called out suddenly, signalling the start of the next round as he sent out the same pokemon that took out two of Lucas' earlier.
"Come back Golem." Ace called out to his pokemon, who tucked his arms and legs in before rolling back to Ace's side.
Once there, they saw Ace say something to his pokemon, but could not hear him. Based on Golem's reaction though, he was praising the pokemon for his excellent performance.
When he finished saying what he wanted to say, Ace turned his attention back to the arena before declaring for them all to hear, "Weavile, you're up next!"
At Ace's command, the next pokemon shot out onto the arena in a blur that none of them could follow with the naked eye.
"Weavile, vile!" She taunted Doublade while making a gesture with her claws that basically said 'come on'.
"Oh! A Taunt to start with!" Gabby exclaimed excitedly.
"Wait Doublade! Don't fall for it!" Calem tried to get his pokemon under control, but was unable to.
Though under the influence of the Taunt, Doublade moved in unison as both of the ghostly blades attacked Weavile from either side with a Slash.
"Weavile." She sneered contemptuously at their attack, her own claws emitting sinister shadows as she swiped them to use Shadow Claw.
*CLANG!*
The metallic sound of claws meeting blades rang out as Weavile countered their wild attack, dealing significant damage to both blades due to their weakness to ghost type moves. Then, before they could recover, Weavile swung her claws once more while channeling darkness this time, unleashing a dual Night Slash against both of her opponents.
"OH! A double Night Slash attack!" Gabby commentated with stars in her eyes.
"Indeed. Doublade will be hard-pressed to make a comeback." Lance said while looking down at Weavile warily. After all, he wasn't too fond of ice type pokemon as a dragon tamer.
Even as Lance said that, the consecutive attacks seemed to have knocked some sense into Doublade, literally, as the Taunt wore off and they were able to listen to Calem once more.
"Now Doublade! Use Autotomize!" Calem ordered, and Doublade responded by discarding their scabbards and shedding a layer of metal to make themselves sleeker, lighter, and faster. "Then use Slash Assault!"
At Calem's command, the dual blades moved faster than anyone could follow as they attacked Weavile from either direction with deadly accuracy.
"Show them what speed really is." Ace told his Weavile out loud, to which she smirked viciously.
"""!?!"""
Under the gaze of everyone present, Weavile literally vanished before dozens of copies of her appeared all throughout the arena, completely turning the tables so that Doublade was now surrounded instead of her. And then, each of the illusionary Weavile swiped their claws to created dozens of blades of darkness to assault Doublade from every direction.
"Get out of there!" Calem tried to order them, but it was too late.
Even if Doublade had tried to go intangible, they still would have been subjected to the barrage of attacks due to their weakness against dark type moves, and there were no shadows in the brightly lit arena for them to hide in. Not only that, but they also discarded their scabbards earlier to use Autotomize, so they had no way to defend either.
*CRASH!*
The pair of Doublade were assaulted on all sides at once, taking each and every Night Slash with no way to run or defend themselves.
By the time the final attack had landed, neither Doublade was in the air anymore as they lost their strength, and fell to the ground.
"DOUBLADE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"
"Weavile!"
Weavile flexed her claws and raised them up for everyone to see as her victory was announced, and Calem recalled his Doublade back to their pokeball.
"Amazing..." Gabby uttered as display of speed and viciousness Weavile gave them.
"I concur. Weavile are notorious for being vicious and ruthless, and their speed can be borderline legendary." Lance commented beside her.
"I just hope our camera was able to catch alll of it!" Gabby stated while looking sideways at Ty, who gave her a silent thumbs up in affirmation.
By this point Calem had seemingly chose his next pokemon, as he grabbed their pokeball and threw it out.
"It's your turn, Charizard!"
"CHAAAAAAR!"
Sending a gout of flame into the air as it appeared, Charizard appeared more than a little ready to avenge it's fallen comrades.
"Weavile, return." Ace called out, and his pokemon returned to his side like Golem had earlier.
He then took a moment to compliment her on her performance, before directing his attention to the battlefield once more.
"Blastoise, I choose you."
"Blaaaaaaast!"
The massive turtle pokemon bellowed as he stepped out onto the arena, stunning everyone present as he seemingly radiated his alpha might.
"Amazing, stupendous, glorious! I don't have the words to describe this!" Gabby declared , growing increasingly excited with every word. After all, it wasn't every day that a battle with an alpha pokemon could be witnessed.
"Charizard, use Thunder Punch!" Calem hurriedly ordered his pokemon, who flew up into the air before diving down while aiming at Blastoise.
*KER-KRACK!*
The entire arena was lit up and the electric power made the hair on everyone's arms stand up on end as Charizard delivered a powerful attack to Blastoise, hitting him right in the face. And Blastoise, was barely even fazed.
"Ice Punch." Ace commanded out loud.
"!!!"
Charizard immediately tried to fly away when it heard the order from Ace, and realized that it's attack hadn't worked. But before it could, Blastoise grabbed it with one hand while cocking the other back, and covering it in a layer of ice.
"BLAAAAAAAAST!"
*BOOOOOOOOM!"
This time it was Charizard who was punched in the face, and hit with enough force that it was sent flying across the arena with a layer of frost covering it.
"Holy Mew! Is that the strength of an alpha?!" Gabby exclaimed in disbelief.
"No. I think that's just Ace's own training programs." Lance said with his brow twitching slightly.
"Now, give it a Hydro Pump!" Ace told Blastoise, who readily aimed his cannons.
*KABOOM!*
Water powerful enough to blast through sheets of metal shot out of Blastoise's cannons, soaring through the air and hitting Charizard as it was still trying to right itself from the earlier hit.
"Charizard!" Calem called out, but it was pointless as his Charizard fell to the ground.
Though not yet defeated, Charizard was close to it after taking a full strength punch from Blastoise, and getting hit by a full powered Hydro Pump immediately afterwards.
"Now finish this before it recovers. Use Surf!" Ace ordered him to finish the match.
"Get up Charizard!" Calem cried out urgently.
Even as he did so, Blastoise summoned a powerful wave of water that washed over the entire arena, submerging and washing away Charizard before it could get up off of the ground.
"AND CHARIZARD IS DOWN FOR THE COUNT!" The referee declared as the water subsided, and revealed an uncnscious Charizard.
"N-No way..." Calem uttered in disbelief, as Charizard was one of his strongest pokemon. Yet it was trivialized by Ace's Blastoise.
"Wow... Even with type advantages, that was a quick battle!" Gabby declared.
"Of course." Lance said while nodding in agrement beside her.
"It wasn't just the type advantages at play, but also the fact that Blastoise is an alpha, making it's attacks even stronger, and Ace's own brand of training like I said earlier." Lance explained, drawing the attention of Gabby and Ty as they recorded his explanation.
"I see... Given your knowledge of Ace and his training methods, have you given him some pointers yourself, Champion?" Gabby eagerly asked, believing the key to Ace's strength was special training from a Champion. Perhaps Lance taking him under his wing?
Instead, Lance snorted before saying, "Not at all. Ace was taught by professor Oak, as everyone should know by now, but his training style and methods are something he came up with all on his own."
Gabby and Ty both blinked at his words, before they turned their attention back to the arena as Calem, having already recalled Charizard, determined which pokemon he would send out next.
"Let's go, Chesnaught!"
"CHESSSSSSS!"
Chesnaught roared as it appeared in the arena, it's eyes fixed firmly on Blastoise until Ace called out, "Blastoise, return."
"Blast!" Blastoise called before turning and returning to his master's side.
"You're up next, Crobat." Ace stated, turning towards the purple bat that was perched atop Gyarados.
"CROOOOOOOOO!"
Crobat screeched as she soared up and out onto the arena, prepared to do battle with Chesnaught.
"Isn't Ace just changing his pokemon to those who would be strongest against Calem's?" Gabby asked Lance curiously.
"Indeed, but there are no limitations on swapping out pokemon as long as they stay within the six pokemon allowed per battle. Plus Ace already proved that type matchups don't matter with his pokemon when he battled Brendan. Calem could also change his pokemon out as well, but then he might as well be saying that he and his pokemon can't win unless they have the type advantage." Lance explained, though he left the most likely part of why Ace was doing this unsaid.
It was fully expected that Team Rocket would attack once the tournament was over, so Lance believed that Ace was trying to conserve as much of his pokemon's strength as possible. Long, drawn out battles would not help with that, so he was trying to end them as quickly as possible through type match ups.
"Chesnaught, use Mud Shot!" Calem declared, starting the next round.
"NAUGHT!"
Roaring in reply, Chesnaught summoned handfuls of mud that it began to lob at Crobat in the air.
Without any verbal commands from Ace, Crobat expertly maneuvered through the air to avoid each Mud Shot, before unleashing a barrage of attacks onto Chesnaught in the form of Air Cutter.
"Spiky Shield!"
Chesnaught immediately put out both of it's hands and summoned a wall of spiked vines to shield it from the barrage of attacks, though the Air Cutter just sliced right through them to pepper Chesnaught with numerous wounds.
It was so distracted by them, that Chesnaught didn't notice Crobat suddenly ppearing behind it with two of her wings glowing purple.
"Look out Chesnaught!" Calem cried in warning.
"Chess?!"
"BAT!"
With a shriek, Crobat slashed Chesnaught with both of her wings in a vicious Cross Poison, damaging significantly and also poisoning it in the process.
"Damn it! Use Rollout now that it's closer to the ground!" Calem ordered hurriedly, as they were now on a time limit for how long Chesnaught could battle.
"Chesnaught!" It cried while tucking it's arms and legs, and launching itself at Crobat.
Rather than trying to fly up or otherwise avoid the attack, Crobat shot at Chesnaught while all four of her wings began to glow with steel type energy.
"Croooooo....BAT!" She cried out while slashing at Chesnaught with her wings.
*CRASH!*
For a moment the two of them entered a stalemate as they tried to overwhelm the other, before Crobat was inevitably pushed back and sent flying by the force of Chesnaught's Rollout. Instead of hitting the ground though, she managed to recover and fly up higher where Chesnaught could not reach her.
"Now stop using Rollout, and use Mud Shot again!" Calem ordered, and his Chesnaught did just that as it started lobbing globs of mud up at Crobat once more.
For a moment Crobat only dodged as she avoided each flying glob of mud, before she suddenly dove down and shot at Chesnaught while using the momentum of her dive.
"Spiky Shield!" Calem hurriedly ordered, which Chesnaught only just barely managed to get up in time.
However the shield was immediately shredded as Crobat unleashe FOUR Aerial Ace attacks at once, one for each of her wings, which hammered in Chesnaught without mercy.
Her attack dealt, Crobat immediately continued flying upwards so that she was out of it's reach once more and could prepare another attack if needed. It wasn't.
*Crash.*
Chesnaught fell to the ground, unconscious, signalling Calem's fourth loss.
"CHESNAUGHT IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee declared, making the loss official.
"Damn it... Return." Calem swore, recalling his pokemon while looking VERY anxious.
He then reached for one of his only two pokeballs left that he could use for this battle.
"Show them true air superiority, Noivern!"
"NOOOOOOOI!" Cried out the bat-like dragon type pokemon, it's voice echoing and forcing spectators to cover their ears. Crobat especially was effected, considering her superb hearing for echolocation.
"Crobat, return." Ace called out, and she readily returned to his side, perching atop his head affectionately.
"I think you're a bit big to keep doing that." Ace said wryly.
"Cro!" She protested adamantly, even crossing her wings as if to say she wasn't moving.
"Ok then. Gardevoir, how about showing that dragon who's boss?"
"For you my master? Anything." Gardevoir said telepathically as she Teleported directly into the middle of the arena.
"Mama.....Fight...!" Ralts declared as she excitedly cheered for her mother.
"Master, I feel it prudent to alert you to the fact that my opponent has the Infiltrator ability. Any barriers I put up for defense will be rendered useless." Gardevoir warned Ace as she learned which ability it had, thanks to one of her own abilities, Trace.
'Thanks for the heads up.' Ace relayed his gratitude telepathically, before they got to starting the battle.
"Noivern, use Supersonic!" Calem started the battle, prompting Noivern to unleash a powerful shriek right at Garvedoir.
"Hmph. Pathetic." Gardevoir sneered as she easily Teleported onto the other side of the arena, avoiding the attack entirely before following her master's telepathic command.
Dazzling Gleam!
Dazzling lights appeared all around Noivern composed of fairy type energy, dealing critical damage to it since fairies were the ultimate enemy of dragon type pokemon. Even more so than ice type pokemon.
"Noivern! Quick, use Boomburst!" Calem quickly ordered, deciding to use Noivern's strongest, non dragon, attack right away. This way, Gardevoir would be unable to Teleport away from it since the attack would envelope the entire arena.
"NoiVEEEEeeeeEEEEeeeeeEEEERN!"
Immmediately, Noivern bombarded the entire arena with concussive noise that forced everyone to cover their ears in an attempt to protect them. Gardevoir on the other hand was less fortunate, as the actual target of the attack.
It took all of her will and strength to follow her master's command and amass fairy type energy, concentrating it into a mass that somewhat resembled the moon.
Moon Blast!
With Noivern still busy trying to destroy the eardrums of the spectators, it was completely unaware of the attack coming at it until it was already hit.
"GYAAAAAAAAA!"
Noivern screamed as it was hit with the concentrated fairy type attack, once again forcing everyone to cover their ears as it fell to the ground, though not out completely just yet.
"Here, just for you." Gardevoir said as she Teleported to Noivern's side, and planted her lips gently against the side of it's face.
"!?!"
Noivern jerked away when it felt that, as well as a murderous intent coming from Ace's side that made the man himself looked at Lucario bemusedly. But the damage was done.
Draining Kiss.
Even as Noivern jerked away from Gardevoir, it felt what little strength it had left draining away from it's body into her's.
"Good night." Gardevoir said playfully as she eyes began to glow with psychic type energy this time, making Noivern feel incredibly sleepy as it looked right into them.
Soon it collapsed to the ground, completely asleep after taking the Hypnosis from nearly point blank range.
"IF NOIVERN DOES NOT AWAKEN WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT, IT WILL BE CONSIDERED UNABLE TO BATTLE!" One of the referees declared, before starting the countdown.
"Get up Noivern!" Calem urged it desperately, to no avail as it continued slumbering peacefully.
"AND TIME! NOIVERN IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee declared as time ran out, signalling the loss of Calem's fifth pokemon.
"Don't take it personally Calem." Ace called out to Calem as he recalled Noivern, and reached for the only remaining pokeball on his belt.
"I'm trying not to, but that's kinda hard right now." Calem responded as Gardevoir returned to Ace's side, where Ralts greeted her happily.
Even now, looking at the lineup around him, Calem couldn't believe the sheer amount of MONSTERS Ace had, and he hadn't even used more than one or two of his true heavy hitters. Calem knew that none of the pokemon Ace had sent out, aside from perhaps the alpha Blastoise, could even begin to compare to Lucario or Pidgeot in strength, to say nothing of the absolutely MASSIVE Onix and Parasect he had as well.
But this was his final pokemon, and Calem would NEVER give up without giving it all.
"This is it, give it your all AVALUGG!" Calem cried out while throwing the pokeball out into the arena, which opened to reveal his final pokemon.
"LUUUUUUUGG!"
"Looks like you're up, Rampardos." Ace said, as the fossil pokemon stepped up beside him.
"RAMP!" Rampardos roared as he stepped out onto the arena to face Avalugg, his clawed toes digging into the ground in anticipation.
"Avalugg, begin with using Harden!" Calem started the match, striving to increase their defense as much as possible, which was what Avalugg already specialized in.
"Rock Polish while charging in for a Headbutt!" Ace ordered out loud.
"Ramp!" Rampardos roared as he charged forward, his claws sending chunks of dirt flying as his speed quickly rose from his also using Rock Polish.
*CRUNCH!*
Several people winced at the sound of crunching ice as Rampardos Headbutted Avalugg, forcing the iceberg pokemon to brace itself despite raising it's own defensive power.
"Avalugg, use Powder Snow!"
"LUUUUUGG!"
At Calem's command, Avalugg summoned a powerful storm of snow that buffeted Rampardos while also making the temperature in the arena drop significantly.
In respone, Rampardos leapt backwards before slamming his foot onto the ground, using Stone Edge to destroy any stable footing Avalugg had to distrup it's attack.
"Now use Head Smash!" Ace commanded, making Rampardos charge forward while amassing rock type energy to his thick skull.
"!!!"
"Avalugg, use Blizzard to freeze Rampardos in it's tracks!" Calem quickly ordered.
"LUG!"
Avalugg roared as it did just that, sending a powerful blast of cold wind, snow and ice at Rampardos that built up all over his body, nearly freezing him before he could deliver his attack. Nearly.
If Rampardos had been further back, or Avalugg had used Blizzard any sooner, then it might have worked. Unfortunately for Calem and Avalugg though, they just weren't quick enough as Rampardos delivered his most powerful attack into Avalugg's side.
*CRUUUUUUNCH!*
Ace winced at the noise while also feeling bad due to the fact that he knew Rampardos also took a fair amount of damage this time, due to both the Blizzard and the recoil from using Head Smash. It was an attack so poweful, that even Rampardos' thick skull would be fractured in numerous places afterwards.
However, Avalugg undoubtedly took the most damage due to both how strong Head Smash was, and the fact that it was weak to rock type moves.
The Iceberg pokemon was literally flipped onto it's side from the force of the attack, while cracks spiderwebbed over the side of it's body from the point where Rampardos had hit it.
"Ava....lugg...." It moaned in pain, before falling unconscious as it passed out from the damage.
"AVALUGG IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! CALEM IS OUT OF USABLE POKEMON, MEANING THAT ACE KETCHUM IS OUR WINNER!" The referee declared, announcing Ace's victory for the entire world to hear.
"""..."""
For a moment there was nothing to be heard, before EVERYONE erupted into cheers at the conclusion of the first ever Inter-League Tournament.
"And there you have it folks! Ace Ketchum is the best of the young trainers all over the world!" Gabby immediately declared while turning her attention to Ty and his camera, before he focused on Ace down below. The only person who didn't seem to be celebrating his victory.
In fact, after shaking hands with Calem in the middle of the arena, Ace proceeded to return to his previous place as if he still intended to battle. Needless to say everyone was confused at this, until one of the referees gave him their microphone at his request.
"I HAVEN'T WON ANYTHING YET." Ace stated calmly into the mic, surprising everyone while Lance could already feel the indigestion coming on. What was Ace up to now?
"THERE IS STILL ONE MORE BATTLE FOR MY POKEMON AND I TO FIGHT BEFORE I'LL ACCEPT BEING THE WINNER. NEMONA, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE SO WE CAN KICK IT!"
Jaws dropped all around the arena as Ace challenged not just any trainer, but ANOTHER Champion level trainer, just like he had at the opening of the tournament. And anyone who knew her was NOT surprised at what happened next.
The cameras in the stadium all immediately focused on the VIP box, or more specifically a young woman with tanned skin and a green streak in her bangs as she eagerly leapt to her feet.
"I ACCEPT!"