The Type Specialist

“Florges, Moonblast!” I shouted.

A pink sphere shot out from where it formed in her hands and hit the opposing Tangrowth dead on. The Moonblast slammed into it, and thankfully I saw some of the Fairy Type energies penetrate its body. Its chaotic nature would cause the Tangrowth to struggle to bring forth the full force of its special moves.

“Retaliate with your Power Whip!”

Tangrowth’s arm extended out and raised up to slam down onto Florges. A Grassy Terrain was currently set up, empowering the Tangrowth’s moves, since it was too stubborn to let Misty Terrain take effect. However, the attack missed despite the boost thanks to a well timed Grass Knot tripping it, and once Tangrowth was prone on the ground, Florges finished it off with another Moonblast.

With that battle concluded, I had won my third match of the tournament. We managed to win thanks to Florges’s constant self-healing, her nimbleness in the air letting her avoid being grabbed by Tangrowth’s vines, and her Aromatherapy curing the paralysis inflicted by its Stun Spore. This battle went a lot better than my second battle, where she had fought a Lairon and I cursed myself for not teaching Florges Sunny Day.

Why did I think Florges should only rely on Cottonee to set up Sunny Day? If she has both Synthesis and Solarbeam, she should be able to set it up, too.

Lairon had fainted to her Grass Type moves, and Florges took practically no damage thanks to her ability to hover. Now that the third round was in progress, most trainers had now shown off each of their Pokémon at least once, and I was starting to get a pretty good idea of who to be wary about.

As I walked back to the waiting room, I went over the threats in my mind.

There are four trainers I need to watch out for. The Altaria trainer who beat Wally, the generalist with the Chansey, the Bug Type specialist with the Beedrill and Heracross, and the Grass Type Specialist who was a part of my group back in Sea Mauville. All of their Pokémon are exceptional, and I don’t doubt I’ll be seeing them in the Ever Grande Conference, too. However, I need to make sure I’m ready for that Altaria trainer.

Ugh, and the worst thing about this is I don’t know who I’m going to fight. This isn’t set up like a classic tournament, where all matchups could be researched ahead of time. Here, all matches are determined randomly. I could fight one of them, or I could fight all of them. I just have to wait and see.

I returned to the personal room I was provided to see Mawile resting with Altaria. Altaria was in perfect health, and Mawile was in much better shape after all of the damage she sustained against Pyroar. With my victory in the third round, I had somehow made my way into the top eight, which meant I would need to make it through three more battles if I wanted to win. I had to make sure my Pokémon wouldn’t get too tired.

There were several nurses on staff, but since this was a competition based on endurance rather than pure skill, they only helped trainers to make sure no Pokémon were seriously injured rather than healing all sustained wounds. Trainers were supposed to help their Pokémon recover through their own means, which either meant healing moves or items. To ensure that better off trainers didn’t have too much of an advantage, everyone had access to two Hyper Potions and a handful of Full Heals provided by the organizers. It let trainers that didn’t have the money use healing items to keep their Pokémon in the running.

I hadn’t realized this aspect of it at the time, but Florges was an excellent choice to include in my three Pokémon selection. The only Pokémon that were allowed out were Pokémon that were registered, so if I released someone else I could get in trouble. If Florges wasn’t part of my team she wouldn’t have been able to heal, so I was more than happy I had that option available.

Florges took a moment to lean against a wall to rest now that her battle was over, and glanced at Mawile to make sure she was healing properly. Healing moves took a lot of energy to perform, which is why Pokémon that specialized in them like Chansey and Audino were so important in Pokémon Centers. Florges was starting to get really tired between both her battles and her healing, so I decided she would sit out the next battle for sure.

“Only two or three matches left,” I said. “Mawile, you’re on deck. Florges needs to rest, and Altaria is our ace in the hole.”

Mawile looked up from where she was tossing her stone up and down and nodded determinedly, but she was still a bit tired. While she had no major injuries from Winston’s Pyroar, resting for a few hours wasn’t enough to get her back to perfect condition, and it didn’t make sense to exhaust Florges further before then. I already gave a potion to Mawile to help, but fighting at a Type disadvantage was no joke.

Honestly, this tournament is biased towards trainers with Pokémon that can heal. It’s a little ridiculous how much Florges is helping. I wonder if that's intentional.

Thinking about my future battles, I couldn’t help but to be nervous. I wasn’t the only one keeping a Pokémon back to stay well rested, and if I mistimed when I sent out Altaria, it was possible I would lose before he even got to battle. The Bug Type specialist had only shown his Beedril and Heracross, but not whatever his third Pokémon was. However, since I had Altaria, having a Pokémon in perfect health fighting a Pokémon that had already battled would give me a significant advantage. I would just need to play it smart.

I heard my name be called on the intercom, and I headed out to the field. The break between battles was getting shorter due to fewer trainers being present, but battles were starting to be spaced out more. Since the number of trainers had been reduced to be so much smaller than it was before, the fields had shifted to be two larger fields rather than four moderately sized ones.

When I found my way to field A, I saw that my opponent was the trainer with the Chansey. He was dressed in a white button-up shirt and his dark hair was tied back, almost making him look like an office worker. While it wouldn’t be great to underestimate him, I was relieved it was him and felt like I had a higher chance of victory since every one of his Pokémon had fought at least once. Having a Chansey as a partner was impressive since that meant that the Chansey was one of the rare few that was actually willing to battle, or it was alongside him to learn to train to be a nurse. I was leaning towards just being comfortable with battling since the screen above the field stated he had earned seven Gym Badges.

When I approached the field, the other trainer waved at me.

“Let’s have a good battle, alright?” he called out.

I waved back.

“Let’s do our best, then!” I replied.

It was nothing more than simple pleasantries, but it established friendly contact and made us look better in the eyes of the crowd.

He might be trying to earn a sponsorship, if he doesn’t already have one.

A tournament official wearing that same orange jacket approached our field, gave the classic rundown of the rules, then waved his hand to tell us to send out our Pokémon. I sent out Mawile, like I had planned, while he sent out his Tentacruel.

Huh. I expected his Chansey.

The Jellyfish Pokémon flopped onto the ground then lifted itself up with its numerous tentacles. I had seen him use it earlier, but it was still a little strange for me to see an ocean-based Water Type on solid ground.

The battle started with simple commands. Mawile used Misty Terrain to potentially prevent burns if Tentacruel knew Scald, and the surface layer of Tentacruel’s body partially turned to liquid. That was Acid Armor, and it let it better diffuse the force of attacks across its body, increasing its defense against physical attacks.

The opposing trainer called out for Tentacruel to use Surf next, and Tentacruel’s eyes glowed a dark blue as a wave of water formed underneath it, carrying it forward. I was confused why a special attacker would be moving to get close, but it was to Mawile’s advantage anyway, so I wasn't complaining. Mawile tried to prepare for any incoming attacks by moving behind her jaws and reinforcing them with Iron Defense. She used the brief moment before the Surf hit to land a Sucker Punch, but Tentacruel’s Acid Armor caused her fist to slip off of its liquidy body and Mawile was swept up by the wave.

Tentacruel took advantage of Mawile being carried by the Surf to shoot out a Water Pulse at her. The force of the move caused Mawile to be spun around in the water, and she splashed around in confusion as the Surf receded. She stumbled back to her feet to try to regain her balance, but was unfortunately completely confused.

Now that Mawile was having difficulty staying standing, Tentacruel used this opening to wrap its tentacles around her with Bind and prepared a short-ranged Water Pulse, intending to deal more damage up close. However, since Mawile was being held in place by Tentacruel, her loss of balance from Water Pulse wasn’t inhibiting her movements in any critical way and she was able to snap down on Tentacruel’s tentacles before they tied her jaw closed. We were lucky Mawile was a Steel Type, because if she didn’t have immunity to poison, Tentacruel’s tentacles would have likely poisoned her on touch.

Tentacruel screeched in pain as the Vice Grip snapped down on it, and a few of the tentacles reflexively let go of Mawile. However, Mawile wasn’t free yet, so she bit down harder on the tentacles she was holding, this time her jaws sparking with Thunder Fang.

Acid Armor was useful against blunt damage, but it had little effect against the digging teeth of Mawile’s jaw. Electricity shot through Tentacruel, dealing super effective damage to its Water Type body, and it released Mawile to try to get her to stop her attacks.

However, Mawile didn’t want to let go just yet. She maintained her Thunder Fang, biting down harder as Tentacruel swung its tentacles up and down to try to get her off. She held on like a dog playing tug-of-war and wildly flew around in the air as it flailed, the Tentacruel getting more and more seriously injured.

Despite the damage she was dealing, Mawile eventually did let go simply because the damage she had taken previously from Surf and Water Pulse was stacking up, and the movement from Tentacruel’s flailing was far too disorientating. Tentacruel was still worse off than her, however.

Unfortunately, right when Mawile landed on the ground, Tentacruel’s trainer called out for it to take advantage of that brief moment where she dropped her defense.

“Hydro Pump!”

Tentacruel reared back on its tentacles to expose its dark underbelly and better position itself for the powerful Water Type move. Mawile tried to rush forward to bite it again, but she still hadn't regained her balance from both landing and the confusion and tripped, face-planting into the ground. There was an uncomfortable pause as tears welled up in her eyes and she looked up at the Tentacruel pathetically, trying her best not to sob.

Tentacruel, despite having the word “cruel” in its name, paused at seeing Mawile start to cry. It didn’t seem like Tentacruel was feeling especially bad for her, but it was caught off guard by that sudden show of weakness. Of course, Mawile wasn’t actually weak, she was just using Fake Tears.

Using Tentacruel’s momentary delay to her advantage, Mawile swung her head up to land an Iron Head on the now exposed black underbody of Tentacruel, where the Acid Armor didn’t extend, and knocked it a foot into the air. It was just enough damage to finish it off after all of the Electric Type damage it sustained from Thunder Fang, making Mawile the victor.

“Great job, Mawile! Incredible use of Fake Tears!” I shouted.

My opponent frowned and returned Tentacruel, then looked at me and smiled. It wasn’t a genuine smile, but merely a show. He closed his eyes to calm down.

“Good battle,” he said emotionlessly.

There was a brief pause as if he wanted to say more, but left before the referee could even tell us to leave.

I couldn’t blame him for getting upset. Since this battle was in the fourth round, all the winners of this part of the tournament would now be receiving prizes. I had secured fourth place at minimum, which meant I would receive a discount at the Lilycove Department Store and a few physical rewards. He would still earn cash for being in the top eight, but it wasn’t as much.

I returned Mawile to her ball and started heading back to the room where Florges and Altaria were waiting. There would be two matches left, and I needed to prepare my team.

“Based on what's been shown on the screens, most trainers here have six or seven Gym Badges,” Wally said. “I think the majority have six, and only a handful have seven. But what I don't get is how that Altaria trainer, Sia, doesn’t have any badges at all! She got in purely on a recommendation, and got to skip the elimination battles before the tournament just like us. I can't believe that she has no experience, she’s too strong for that to be true. I think she’s trying to hide her identity.”

I hummed in thought.

“I guess I need to be extra careful if she's stronger than what she's let on. At least we’re being given a break between battles. I don’t know if Florges and Mawile would be able to fight in the final round, otherwise.”

Florges was currently napping while standing under the light in the center of the room, and Mawile was leaning back on a bench doing her best to rest. All of Florges’s healing had taken more out of her than I realized, and Mawile was exhausted after fighting the Tentacruel, and was still recovering. I would have to use Altaria in my next battle if I wanted to progress further.

Wally, meanwhile, was helping me figure out strategies for my upcoming matches. He had gone around to talk to other competitors during my rounds, and joined me when I found out I was allowed to have guests with me in the simple, private locker room that was assigned to me. As long as he didn’t directly interact with my Pokémon, no rules were being broken.

“So who’s left, exactly? I was too focused on my previous battle to find out who won," I asked

“Well, you have that one Bug Type specialist, a Grass Type specialist, and Sia, like I said earlier,” he replied.

I grimaced.

I would be happy that my trainer’s intuition is getting better and I was able to tell who would make it to the final rounds, but honestly knowing that the strongest trainers are the ones who are proceeding doesn’t make this any less nerve-wracking.

“I guess I need to figure out ways to counter them,” I said. “I’m not sure what Pokémon the Bug Type specialist will use, but my guess is that he’s definitely using his third. His Beedrill and Heracross were looking tired, so that’s probably his plan. The Grass Type specialist is a bit more worrying as her Pokémon are all still in good condition, thanks to their self-healing moves, and Sia could use any of her surprisingly strong Pokémon.”

Wally hummed.

“Well, at least Altaria has the advantage over Bug Types and Grass Types,” he stated.

I raised my eyebrow.

“What makes you say that?”

Wally gave me a confused look, as if I had just said something really stupid.

“Alex, Altaria’s a Flying Type. He has a Type advantage over both of them.”

"That's not the case," I stated, shaking my head.

Wally looked shocked, and so did Altaria, as he snapped his head to face me.

"Altaria's been training as a special attacker, and the Flying Type moves he can learn that matches how he likes to fight amounts to solely Hurricane.

"He doesn’t know the move, and it isn’t like it would be especially good for him to learn it. Hurricane is a powerful attack that takes a while to form, so Pokémon can easily dodge or interrupt it. What’s worse is that Hurricane is much stronger and faster to use in the rain, which Altaria’s ability negates. It’s not the greatest choice unless he fought with a weather condition still up.”

I turned to face Altaria.

“I know that this isn’t relevant to our battle, but would you be willing to battle without using your ability sometimes?”

He cocked his head without responding. I sighed.

“That’s what I thought.”

Going over options in my head, I ended up settling on a strategy for the Bug and Grass Type trainers that was essentially just what we did normally.

“He only really has Cotton Guard and Flamethrower against them,” I said. “Any other thoughts, Wally?”

He shook his head.

“I’m trying to not learn too much about your team before the Ever Grande Conference, Alex. I don’t know.”

I leaned back.

“I guess it’ll have to do. Thanks for your help.”

Wally left soon after to let me strategize more in depth with my team. We had about half an hour to rest before the fourth round battles had all finished, and I and the three other remaining trainers were soon called up to the main field.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome! To the last three matches of the Lilycove tournament! This has gone on longer than expected, so our sister tournaments in Kanto and Unova have already finished! Hello, from Hoenn!” Gabby said while waving at the camera.

I tried my best to maintain a demeanor of confidence.

So now everyone is focusing on these matches? Oh, that’s going to be a lot of people.

“With four competitors left, I think it’s time to introduce who’s competing," Gabby stated excitedly.

"Up first is the rambunctious Rory, a trainer in his second season straight from Kanto, earning a total of six Gym Badges so far. He’s shown impressive skill with not just his Heracross, but specifically with his Beedril, which is a Pokémon not commonly seen in high level play.

“Next we have the hardworking Hope, whose team of Grass Types have earned her seven badges so far, and have stunned their opponents both due to their clever techniques, and in the case of Vileplume and Bellosom’s Stun Spore, quite literally.”

Some members of the audience laughed at that joke.

“Her Cherrim is even more impressive, knowing Heal Pulse as revealed in our interview between matches.”

What? She got interviewed? I guess they had to broadcast something between rounds.

“Thirdly, we have the astounding Alex, who’s coming in with an unexpectedly strong team of Fairy Types and seven Gym Badges to boot. For the first time, we’re seeing a Florges compete in a battle in this stadium. It's only ever been seen in contests before now!”

I blinked at that.

What? No one has used a Florges in a battle here? Florges is an incredibly powerful species, and Flabébé has been in Hoenn for years! I guess Flabébé is a bit hard to find, and people probably don’t use it to fight much due to the species's normally timid nature. Still, that's completely unexpected.

“The battle between Mawile and Pyroar in the first round was definitely a highlight,” Gabby continued. “If you missed it, don't worry! All battles are recorded and uploaded to the Pokémon League's archives online."

“Finally, we have our secretive Sia. She provided nothing but a name and a desire to win when she entered this tournament, but she's been sweeping all of her battles. Her mysterious background shines through between her Altaria, her Corsola, and her strange, cosplaying Pikachu, making her a force to be reckoned with.”

I glanced over to where “Sia” was standing, and looked her over. She was small, either a younger trainer or just short. If I had to guess, she was probably an older teen, maybe with a year or two on Wally. Right now she was wearing a long blue hoodie that stretched to her knees and wore a pair of black sunglasses that hid her eyes. It was blatantly obvious she was trying to keep her true identity a secret.

Gabby picked up her mic where she was seated and stood up.

“And that does it for our competitors! To amp up the competition, we have a special announcement from Hoenn’s Pokémon League Champion, Steven.”

Gabby swept her hand to the side dramatically and my head snapped to face the monitor displaying the broadcast being shown across the world. The logo for Hoenn TV flew onto the screen, covering the excited Gabby and interested Mr. Sukizo, then shrank back out revealing Steven sitting in his office. His desk was a large polished slice of a geode, and there were numerous rare stones arranged on the wall behind him. He was sitting upright and in his easily identifiable dark suit, and smiled after waiting an appropriate amount of time for the audience to cheer.

“Hello, everyone. As representative of the Hoenn League, I’m proud to announce a secondary reward for this competition, as a way to motivate the competing trainers to give it their all. Whoever wins will have the right to choose a single stone from my personal collection, no limits or questions asked. If you choose a Thunder Stone, you’ll get a Thunder Stone. If you choose a priceless diamond, you’ll get a priceless diamond. Even the very desk I am sitting behind is up as a choice. The possibilities are near endless, as I have quite the impressive collection if I do say so myself.”

He paused.

“Although, I would very much like to keep this desk. I use it to work, you see.”

Steven chuckled at his joke, and shook his head while holding up both of his hands, palms facing towards the ceiling. To the normal person, it looked like he was just making a silly pose to emphasize his joke, but to me, I realized that both hands were purposely placed to highlight two stones on the shelves behind him.

Both stones looked like marbles, but each were significantly larger. The one above his left hand was greenish-blue with a green and pink swirl in the center, while the one above his right hand was pink with a blue and white swirl in the center. While I couldn’t tell what the one over his left hand was, I knew in my heart what the one over his right hand was.

An Altarianite.

Steven lowered his hands to place them back on the table, and since I had met him in person a few times, I could tell he was hiding the faintest of smirks.

“That is all I have to say. I wish the competitors the best of luck in their final matches, and as Mr. Sukizo would say, ‘Have a remarkable competition.’”

The screen switched back to Gabby and Mr. Sukizo at their desk, and they proceeded to talk and make predictions about how the rest of the tournament would go. I didn’t pay attention to them, instead focusing on the other competitors.

I wanted to gauge if they had noticed Steven’s secret message too, but neither Rory, the Bug Type specialist, or Hope, the Grass Type specialist, seemed to have fully understood what Steven was implying. Sia, however, was tense and staring at the screen with determination. She turned to face me, having noticed me staring, and must have realized that I knew what those stones were, too. We nodded once to acknowledge one another, and another orange jacketed official came over to tell us what would happen next.

Essentially, they were keeping us on the main field to stay as observers, which was an interesting decision on the organizer’s part. It was at this point of the tournament that we would start revealing hidden trump cards and aces, and keeping us out here ensured that if any were used in these battles, the others would find out. I actually debated if I really wanted to send Altaria out here, but didn’t change my mind as Florges and Mawile were too tired to fight otherwise. My opponent for this round was not Sia, thankfully, but the Bug Type specialist, Rory.

The monitor above the field switched to display information for the both of us, but it really just reiterated what was already said by Gabby earlier. Rory looked confident, and I was unsure how to feel. I knew Altaria would be strong against Rory with his Flamethrower, but I had no clue how we would fare until the actual battle started.

Sia and Hope sat on the sidelines, and a different important-looking person wearing an orange jacket approached the field. He was clearly someone important locally, based on the cheers he was receiving, but it didn’t seem like he was famous region-wide.

“This’ll be your last one-on-one, so let’s keep things nice and clean, alright you two?” the man acting as our referee stated.

Rory and I both acknowledged him, and not needing to delay, he held up a green flag in one hand, then brought it down to signify the start of our match.

Immediately, I tossed forward the Love Ball to send out Altaria, and Rory tossed forward a camouflage Safari Ball to release a tall, red Bug Type standing on two legs with massive claws as hands. A Scizor.

The audience cheers skyrocketed in volume as both Rory and I revealed our hidden third Pokémon. Both Hope and Sia had already shown off their entire teams, so our battle would only contain Pokémon yet to be seen in this tournament. Gabby's voice suddenly echoed out from the speakers as it seemed she would directly cast our battle.

“In an incredible twist, Fairy Type trainer Alex didn’t send out another Fairy Type, but the Dragon Type Altaria! Who would have seen that coming? Rory doesn’t have the advantage he would have had if a normal Fairy Type Pokémon had come out instead, but that doesn't mean his Scizor is in any way disadvantaged."

Seeing a Scizor here would have been more threatening if I had sent out any other member of my team, but considering Altaria didn’t have the same weakness to Steel Types as everyone else, I was less worried than I would have been.

Credit to Rory, he didn’t seem too disappointed to not have an advantage, and focused on the battle instead.

“Cloud form, Altaria,” I commanded.

“Sword focus," Rory commanded as well.

Altaria brought out his wings and puffed up, protecting himself from physical attacks with Cotton Guard, and flew up into the air as a faint Mist enveloped him. With the combination of both Cotton Guard making him fluffy and Mist emanating vapor off of his body, Altaria literally looked like a cloud, hence my code phrase “Cloud Form.”

Scizor, meanwhile, brought up its large claws and swiped them against its steel-like chitin. A ringing sound similar to the sound of a sword being unsheathed rang out, and it stomped in a regular pattern as it did so. This movement continued a few more times as Altaria flew far above it in the air. When Altaria finished setting up his Mist, Scizor finished the Swords Dance it had used, sharply enhancing its physical attack, and began to stare intently at Altaria with Laser Focus. I was unsure what effect that move entailed, but I wouldn't have known its name if it wasn't for Gabby narrating our battle.

I decided to go for the obvious, even though I expected a Bug Type trainer like Rory to have prepared defenses against major weaknesses.

“Flamethrower, Altaria!”

Rory didn’t even need to say anything as Scizor brought up one of its large claws and swiped it down in the air. A crescent of sharp wind shot forward and sliced the incoming Flamethrower in two, causing the fire to hit the ground next to Scizor and not damage it. I expected that to be all, but the Air Slash continued forward in the air, straight at Altaria. He yelled in pain as the attack managed to cut through the Cotton Guard, dealing critical damage and ignoring the defense he had in place.

I frowned.

This is a better matchup for Rory than I thought. Scizor resists the rest of Altaria’s moves, and can easily defend itself from Flamethrower. At least the Swords Dance didn’t make that Air Slash any stronger, since Scizor didn’t use its enhanced claws directly.

Altaria flew around overhead, and breathed out another Flamethrower while I considered his options. This time, Scizor didn’t cut the attack in half, but jumped up high into the air with its wings, and jabbed its claw forward in a punch, carrying it towards Altaria with the momentum of the attack.

The Bullet Punch hit Altaria and he was knocked back, but thankfully the Cotton Guard helped reduce the impact. I noticed that it was aimed extremely well, and if Altaria hadn’t had Cotton Guard up, he would have taken significant damage. It seemed that this Scizor had its Technician ability mastered, allowing it to have a greater mastery of weaker moves like Bullet Punch.

“Try Flamethrower again!” I shouted.

Altaria breathed in for a Flamethrower, but Scizor beat its wings hard with Wing Attack, not necessarily using the forceful air created by the move to hurt Altaria, but to dissipate the flames from Flamethrower before they could reach it. It seemed like Scizor really knew how to fight against Fire Type attacks.

Retaliating after Altaria’s failed attack, Scizor used Slash to bring its claws down towards Altaria, but he flapped his wings once, hard, to gain some distance and moved out of Scizor’s range. Scizor’s wings weren’t strong enough to let it fly, but it could jump high up and hover in the air for just a few moments if it tried hard enough, so the Bug Type began to fall. I didn’t order Altaria to try another Flamethrower, but instead had him use a different move.

“Hyper Voice!”

Scizor seemed to have no way to defend itself from the supersonic screech, and vibrated in pain from the soundwaves as it glided back down to the ground. Its Steel Type let it resist the damage thanks to its hardened body, but Scizor had finally taken some direct damage.

Scizor can defend itself against Flamethrower, but it would be a mistake to completely disregard that move. I need to figure out a way to secure a direct hit on Scizor if we want to win.

Scizor ran across the ground once it landed, its wings enhancing its speed as it eyed the flying Altaria warily. Altaria used Hyper Voice again, continuing from my previous order, but Scizor managed to have already figured out how to avoid it and used Agility and Bullet Punch to increase its speed and launch itself across the field so the directed sound wave hit behind it. The Bug Type proceeded to jump into the air, and Rory called out a move.

“X-Scissors!”

Scizor shot forward with its wings buzzing behind it and crossed its claws in the air. Altaria tried to get away, but the cross slash managed to clip him before Scizor fell back down to the floor. I was getting worried that we might not have a way to win, so I decided to try something risky.

“Roost and Uproar!”

Altaria flapped his wings and shot towards the ground at alarming speeds, only to suddenly slow himself down at the last moment and softly land on the floor to begin healing himself with Roost. Flying Type energy circulated through his body as he rested, healing wounds and restoring his stamina, as Rory called out another attack.

“Bullet Punch and follow up!”

Scizor launched itself forward to get next to Altaria, smashing its steel-infused claw into Altaria’s chest. He wheezed as the air was knocked out of him, but he opened his mouth and-

“Use Flamethrower instead!”

Scizor was already crossing its arms to start another X-Scissor, but had to hurriedly back up to avoid the flames. It managed to dodge, but not completely. Altaria’s flames managed to sear into Scissor’s side, and it flapped its wings in panic to try to cool down.

"Altaria is bringing the heat!" Gabby shouted. "Can Scizor withstand the rising temperatures?"

Noticing the heat from Flamethrower was making it flap its wings far more than necessary, a connection formed in my mind. While Scizor could avoid direct hits from Flamethrower, I realized that it might not be necessary to attack it head on.

“Get back up and heat up the entire field with Flamethrower!" I shouted. "Don’t worry about hitting it, aim at the area around it!”

Altaria followed my instructions, and flew into the air. Flamethrowers shot out at Scizor, who managed to either dodge or slice the attacks in half, but as Altaria’s onslaught continued, the air within the field became fuzzy from the heat. Scizor, meanwhile, continued to flap its wings as hard as it could to regulate its body temperatures. Since it was forced to do that, it wasn’t able to use its wings to reach the same height Altaria was at.

“There we go, Altaria! Keep it hot and try to use Hyper Voice when you can!”

It was a tiring process for Altaria to use Flamethrower so much, since it was a move that didn’t match his type and required a lot of energy to use as frequently as he was doing right now. It was worth it, though, as Scizor was becoming worse and worse off. It tried to keep up its Laser Focus and Air Slash combo, but Altaria grew wise to it and slowly dodged the Air Slashes more and more easily, despite how tired he was getting. Eventually, it was obvious that Scizor would faint soon, and Rory called out one last, desperate attack.

“Hyper Beam, Scizor!”

Scizor brought one claw up and used its other to help it aim. It closed one eye as if it were aiming a gun, then opened its claw up as bright light emanated out of it. I called out for Altaria to use Dragon Pulse to weaken the attack, but the brilliant beam was unaffected by the ball of draconic energies, disintegrating the sphere and hitting Altaria straight on. The beam engulfed Altaria and continued past him, hitting a psychic barrier that surrounded the field, protecting everyone but the fighting Pokémon from the move.

This is so much more powerful than it is in the anime or games. Is Hyper Beam really a legal move?

I had to cover my eyes thanks to the sheer amount of light coming off from the beam, and after a few moments, the move faded and I saw Altaria’s form plummet with his Cotton Guard almost completely burned away. I prayed that he was alright, but my heart sank as he got closer and closer to the ground.

But then, like earlier, he pulled up at the last second to land for a Roost, and I smacked my forehead in frustration.

He’s been spending too much time around Cottonee.

Altaria wasn’t unscathed, but he was still fine to battle. Cotton Guard helped take the brunt of the Hyper Beam, and Scizor was more powerful with its claws than when it used special moves like Hyper Beam.

Across the field, Scizor was on one knee, panting heavily. Hyper Beam was an extraordinarily powerful move, requiring a lot of energy, and Scizor didn’t use it without a cost. Altaria may have been injured, but his Roost restored the damage he just took whereas Scizor was on the verge of fainting.

As Altaria flew up and screeched his name, Scizor disappeared in a red light.

“Hahh... That sucks. I forfeit. Don’t want to get Scizor more hurt than necessary. Good battle, Alex.”

I nodded at him.

“You too, Rory.”

The crowd was near deafening, and Gabby was speaking excitedly to announce the conclusion. Mr. Sukizo even called my battle remarkable, which was high praise coming from him. I had secured my spot in the finals, and now I just needed to wait to see who would be my opponent.

Sia’s cosplay Pikachu was... interesting. As far as I could tell it was a normal Pikachu, but it was wearing an orange costume dressed as a wrestler. It went up against Hope’s Bellosom, which meant Sia had the advantage, as Electric Types couldn’t be paralyzed, even with Stun Spore.

The battle was pretty straightforward, for a while. It was a classic exchange of Pikachu’s Electric Type moves and Bellosom’s Grass Type moves. Bellosom set up a Sunny Day both to move faster thanks to its Chlorophyll ability energizing it in the sunlight, and to boost the effects of its Moonlight and Solar Beam. However, Pikachu managed to pull out a victory by paralyzing Bellossom with Thunder Wave, then stalled the Grass Type’s retaliatory attack with Electroweb, creating a net of electricity that tangled up Bellosom. While Bellossom was completely immobilized, Pikachu jumped into the air like a wrestler and slammed down with a Flying Press.

Pikachu couldn’t normally learn Flying Press, and I had doubted that Sia’s Pikachu would know that move just because it was wearing a costume, but it seemed that that was absolutely the case. Flying Press let Pikachu crash into Bellossom from above, dealing super effective damage as if it had used a Flying Type move.

The combination of limiting Bellossom’s movements combined with a super effective attack let Pikachu win the battle, and I made sure to note that Sia’s Altaria wasn’t the only threat on her team.

With the two finalists determined, the competition paused for an hour-long break. It was late at night at this point, and as this tournament had started late morning, my Pokémon and I were getting pretty tired. This time, the nurses actually helped our teams heal up, probably because having a bunch of tired Pokémon fight in the finals wouldn’t be that exciting. Florges needed the most help with how much energy she extended today, but a quick Ether got her ready for her fight.

Based off of what I saw in the battle earlier, Sia would be difficult to beat. Her method of battling was not efficient nor to the point, but rather flashy and showed off her Pokémon quite well. Despite her showmanship, I couldn’t find any weaknesses or openings in her previously shown attacks, so I knew it would be tough no matter what. Honestly, she fought less like she was taking on the Gym Challenge, and more like she was competing in contests. I would believe it was someone told me if she was a coordi-

I smacked my forehead again, causing the nurses treating my Pokémon to suddenly jump in shock. They shot me a side-eye, and went back to their jobs as I silently cursed myself.

I’m so stupid. Her identity is so obvious it's a wonder no one knows who she is. Please, who am I kidding? I bet everyone in the audience knew, but not me since I was focused on isolating myself in the locker room to better prepare my strategies. Knowing that, I really need to be careful in the upcoming fight. She wasn't a master-level coordinator in the games for no reason, after all.

Gabby spoke excitedly as Sia and I approached our corresponding sides of the field. The battlefield had been reshaped to take up almost the entire arena, making this the largest field my Pokémon will have fought in. The screens around the arena zoomed in on Sia and I, showing our determined faces as we took up our positions within the trainer boxes. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, more focused on going over possibilities in my head for how this battle might go.

Sia stood on the opposite side of the field, and we waited for the referee to show up. However, rather than starting, she motioned for the referee to come over, and whispered something in his ear.

He looked at her a little funny, but acquiesced and handed her his microphone. She held it in her hands, and I could just barely see her smirk from where I was standing across the field.

The broadcast switched to only focus on her, and the music paused and the cheering died down for everyone to hear her speak.

“...Hello everyone,” She said softly. Some members of the audience thought it would be funny to say “Hello Sia” back and those noises persisted for a few moments.

“I’ve been keeping a secret. Do you know what it is?”

More calls rang out from the audience, and a few of them actually shouted out her real name. I just felt dumber considering how many people already recognized her. Others heard her name being called out and made the connection as well, causing more and more cheers to build up as people realized who Sia actually was.

“‘Sia’ was just an alter ego I used to compete without making a fuss, but considering I’m in the finals now, I figured, ‘Hey, why not go all out?’ If I’m going to win I should do it in style, right?”

More cheers rang out as I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes at her bold claim. I didn't like that she was brushing me off so easily.

The cameras picked up my negative reaction, and a few boos rang out from the audience.

Did I just unconsciously make myself the villain here?

The camera cut back to Sia, and her smirk turned into a beaming smile.

“Well, if this is a show, let’s make it a show! Dazzling! Dizzying! Doldrums defying!”

Lisia tore off her jacket, flinging it away and she held her arms out, revealing that she had been wearing her blue and white, Altaria-themed contest outfit this whole time. It consisted of a poofy, Altaria-like fluff on her wrists, a top decorated with a large ribbon in the front, and a tutu-like skirt colored reminiscent of the night sky. Her way of speaking changed with that reveal, going from a meek woman to a proud coordinator.

“Contest Super Star Lisia ready to go!” she shouted. “Alex, let’s have a miraculous battle!”

After seeing such a dramatic entrance, I only had one thought.

Yeah, she’s definitely Wallace’s niece.