The New Normal - 16-12

The New Normal – 16-12 – Intermission

A.N. Sorry about the delay, again. I’ll probably remain quite busy for some time, so I do apologise in advance for any further delays. I’ll try to not make the delays be any more than half a day. Thanks again for understanding.

(Iris POV)

Before Unova stumbled across the New Regions, she had thought that the greatest Dragon specialist and trainer to be her teacher and master, Drayden. In her eyes, he was everything that a Dragon specialist needed to be – strong, unyielding, and absolutely ferocious. Because of this, she thought that Drayden was easily the strongest among the Unova Elite Four.

However, with the introduction of the New Regions and all of their trainers and Pokémon, she had come to realise just how large the wider world truly was. Plus, she had come to realise that there were other contenders for the throne of ‘strongest Dragon specialist’ – namely Lance and Drake, the latter who also managed to beat Drayden in his previous fight as well.

She had hoped that she would get an opportunity to fight against Drayden, for her to have the opportunity to show off everything she had learned and how much she had grown. But with the defeat of her mentor, she was denied that opportunity. Yet that was almost a blessing in disguise, as Karen had explained that Drake was widely considered to be the best Dragon and Water specialist in the world right now, excluding Champion Lance and Ex-Champion Wallace respectively.

Which was why she was understandably nervous since Drake and Burgh were their next opponents.

As Karen had put it, “Before his friendship with John, Drake was already considered to be the strongest amongst the Hoenn Elite Four. And after everything he has accomplished alongside John over the past few years, his reputation has only grown even more impressive. His dragons were able to stand against Palkia and survive – so you would be a mad fool to look down on his strength now.”

“Do you think I’m stronger than him?” She had asked Karen.

But Karen just shook her head, “I won’t lie to you. You are not. If you were to fight 1v1 right now, you would not win. Drake is just too strong for you right now.”

She looked down at that, but Karen wasn’t done yet, “Don’t worry too much. Remember, this is a 2v2 fight – so you will have me to support you. You won’t have to deal with Drake by himself, and I’m very familiar with how he fights. I’ll be able to come up with something to just even the odds, so just trust me and fight at your very best.”

That gave her a surge of conviction that she had carried into the arena during the day of the battle. There were many things on the line for her. Not only was her tournament run on the line, but also her pride as a Dragon specialist.

Yes, she acknowledged that Drake was stronger than her. But she wouldn’t allow herself to be squashed like a Bug. Even if she was overpowered, her pride as a Dragon specialist demanded that she at least put up a good fight before going down.

She wouldn’t accept anything less.

But as they walked into the arena, getting into position for the battle, she had something she had to say to Karen first.

She tapped her partner on the arm, “Karen? No matter if we win or lose this battle, thank you for being so helpful and encouraging. Thanks to you, I really felt myself improving a lot during these few weeks. And I don’t think I could have adapted to all these new changes without you.”

Karen really had helped her so much; it was almost impossible to list out the things that she had done for her. Not only did she help her catch a few new Dragons in Horsea and Vibrava, but she had spent so much time teaching her all about the many common threats that Dragon types would often run into.

For example, Karen had once spent an entire evening with her, after already spending a full morning and afternoon training with her, just to run through how best to counter and fight around the new Fairy types.

So it was safe to say, without Karen, she would have been a lot more lost than she was now.

“Aww… you don’t have to say that.” Karen smiled down at her, “You know I was just happy to help. But you can save those sentiments for later – we aren’t about to lose this match. You aren’t the only one that has a lot to gain if you beat Drake. Don’t forget that you aren’t the only ambitious person on this team.”

Before she got a chance to ask Karen to elaborate, the crowd’s booming roar silenced those thoughts and served as a reminder for the battle to come. So she threw all those thoughts aside and focused on the battle ahead, running through their preparations in her mind one final time.

Karen really had meticulously planned out the battle ahead, and now was just a matter of executing the plan.

Eventually, all of the trainers had taken up their respective positions, and she looked forwards to see Drake grinning at the two of them. In her eyes, Drake’s excited smile and bloodthirsty eyes made it seem like he was trying to Intimidate her. She didn’t let him get to her though, and she held strong as she threw out her first Pokémon.

“FIGHT, HYDREIGON!”      “Spiritomb, disrupt them.”

“Break them! Go, Kingdra!”       “Go forth, Accelgor.”

As both of their Pokémon emerged onto the battlefield, she saw that both Drake and Burgh were giving Karen’s Spiritomb strange looks – just as they hoped for. Even though her Hydreigon was technically the more threatening Pokémon, Karen was confident that their unfamiliarity with fighting against Spiritomb would give them an advantage.

Karen had explained that there were likely less than two digits of trainers in the entire world that even had a Spiritomb, and certainly none as powerful as hers or Agatha’s.

And they were going to exploit this lack of knowledge.

The fight began, and Kingdra immediately took on a firing position in the far back while Accelgor zipped forwards with its tremendous speed and began to circle around her own Hydreigon. However, instead of having her Hydreigon target the Accelgor, she instead ordered it to focus all of its attention onto Kingdra – as she fully trusted Karen’s Spiritomb to be able to deal with the nimble Bug type.

And indeed it did. Despite its incredible speed, Accelgor found itself surprised when a trio of spectral claws suddenly tore out of the ground and formed a cage around the Bug type. A quick Bug Buzz was able to break through one of the claws, but that didn’t stop the others from slashing down with a duo of vicious Shadow Claws while a Taunt slammed into it at the same time.

Moreover, just like so many of their other opponents before it, Karen’s Taunts were so potent that Accelgor found itself unable to resist its effects. Therefore, instead of focusing on its original target, Accelgor momentarily lost all sense of rationality as it recklessly charged forwards towards Spiritomb’s ‘main body’ while releasing a repeating stream of Bug Buzzes around itself.

Unfortunately for Burgh’s Accelgor, all it was doing was charging headfirst into a trap. In its maddened state, it was too blinded by rage to notice the massive Dark Pulse trap that it was about to run into.

The resulting explosion of darkness engulfed the frail Accelgor, sending it flying through the air and crashing into the ground – right as a Rock Tomb crashed down on top of it.

Barely ten seconds had gone by in the fight, and Accelgor was almost knocked out already.

Safe to say, right now, Burgh was being completely outclassed.

…And the same could be said for her, because even as powerful as her Hydreigon was (in her eyes), Kingdra outmatched it in every way.

The whole point of her strategy was for Hydreigon to distract Kingdra while Spiritomb dealt with Accelgor. So while the latter was definitely going well, she was really struggling to handle the former.

In a Special Attack duel between her Hydreigon and Kingdra, the latter was easily winning. Kingdra’s attacks just came out stronger, as each one of its Ice Beams and Dragon Pulses were able to disintegrate every one of Hydreigon’s attacks.

Only her Thunderbolts were really able to break through, and that was solely because they came from above rather than from the front.

Therefore, every single attack from Kingdra proved to be an existential threat for her own Hydreigon. If her Hydreigon stood still for even a single moment, then it risked being knocked out of the fight entirely from Kingdra’s sheer firepower alone. And this was her Hydreigon – the Pokémon that many saw as the most powerful Special Attacker in all of Unova – being completely overpowered by the Kingdra.

Even having three different heads wasn’t enough to match against Kingdra’s singular one.

What was worse was that she had to keep up the offensive, as her Hydreigon needed to keep Kingdra busy while Spiritomb dealt with Accelgor. That meant that it couldn’t just focus on dodging or playing defensive, Hydreigon needed to try and fight back – even at huge risk to itself. Which meant that every once in a while her Hydreigon would get blasted by a devastating Ice Beam or Dragon Pulse that caused all three heads to growl out in pain.

And as the battle went on, and her Hydreigon’s injuries began to rapidly build up, that only caused it to grow even weaker, allowing Kingdra to dominate it further and further.

…It hurt, seeing her Pokémon so outmatched like this. She wasn’t used to this. But she understood what Karen had meant now – she would have never stood a chance against Drake alone.

Fortunately, her Hydreigon was saved by Accelgor going down first.

Having been already severely injured by the Dark Pulse trap and also slowed down by the Rock Tomb and Icy Wind that came its way, Accelgor had lost every advantage that it had over Spiritomb.

So naturally, Burgh had realised his mistake and tried to reposition Accelgor to the back so that it could help gang up on Hydreigon first. But Burgh had yet to realise that his Accelgor had been doomed the moment he had allowed his Accelgor to get Taunted by Spiritomb, as before it could make its retreat, Spiritomb suddenly burst forth from within the Bug’s shadow and smashed into it with a surprise Phantom Force.

Thanks to the Taunt, Accelgor couldn’t even throw up a Protect shield, and instead tried to block the attack by instinctively releasing a point blank Bug Buzz – which the Phantom Force merely ripped through and smashed into it anyways.

Accelgor collapsed to the ground once again, only to immediately get hit by a Hypnosis that instantly put it to sleep. What little remained of the frail Accelgor’s health was subsequently ripped out of it by repeated Dream Eaters that swiftly knocked out the Bug type.

Hardly a minute into the fight, and Burgh had lost his first Pokémon just like that. And truthfully, it wasn’t even a fight. It was merely a stomp.

She caught the deep frown and frustration that formed on Burgh’s face as he watched his Pokémon go down. She had come to learn that feeling frustrated when fighting against Karen was a pretty common phenomenon.

There was something about losing against a Dark specialist that really rubbed people the wrong way.

And so, when Burgh sent out his final Pokémon, an Escavalier, she could tell that he wasn’t happy about it.

His Escavalier was the complete opposite to his Accelgor. A Pokémon that was incredibly defensive that also boasted a very powerful physical attack, and was rightfully recognised as Burgh’s strongest Pokémon. Yet it had a crippling weakness, as it was also awfully slow. Without the aid of any boosts or Trick Room, his Escavalier was quite dependent on its foes running into it to be an actual threat.

…Which was why Burgh’s choice to make use of it was odd. A slow and bulky Pokémon was not good against Spiritomb, who could easily run circles around it while slowly disabling it. So why did Burgh choose to send it out when he had other more mobile options? Or was it a mistake?

Then a bellowing shout instantly snapped her out of her introspection.

“ENOUGH OF THIS, KINGDRA! NO MORE PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD – DRACO METEOR!”

Her eyes shot open wide as the sky began to darken. Blue orbs of pure draconic might began to form in the air, radiating out so much power that it distorted the very air around them. The battle almost paused as all of the participants braced themselves for the incoming attack – forced to respect the apocalyptic rain heading their way.

This was the pinnacle of what it meant to be a Dragon specialist. To be able to wield such almighty, unmitigated, and indiscriminate destruction.

Even though she ordered her Hydreigon to dedicate every last bit of energy it could to form a Protect shield, she knew it wouldn’t be enough. Drake had already demonstrated the sheer destructive power of this attack multiple times in his previous battles. Her Hydreigon would not survive.

…And as Draco Meteor made impact, the resulting earth-shaking detonation very much proved her point.

As she waited for the dust to clear, she wondered why Drake hadn’t used this move from the very beginning. Was it because he didn’t want to use such a taxing move so early on? In fear that it would drain Kingdra of most of its energy right at the beginning?

She didn’t know the answer to that. But she certainly knew the result of his Draco Meteor.

Just like she predicted, much like most of the arena, her Hydreigon was completely wiped out by the attack. Karen’s Spiritomb was doing little better, as even with all of its defensive moves and natural bulk, it was not able to get out of that attack unscathed. Even Burgh’s Escavalier was now sporting a few cuts and scrapes.

Yet such a powerful attack did not come without consequences, and Kingdra was now drooping with exhaustion after unleashing such an immensely powerful attack. So she quickly sent out her Haxorus and went on the offensive.

“Dragon Rush, Haxorus! Bring down that Kingdra!”

Her Haxorus surrounded itself with a burning blue aura as it charged forwards. Escavalier made an attempt to intercept, but Spiritomb forced it out of the way by threatening to burn it with a Will-O-Wisp and also simultaneously landing a Taunt for good measure.

However, even as tired as it was, Kingdra’s attacks were no less powerful. Therefore, her Haxorus was forced to dash out of the way of the incoming Dragon Pulse, while another Ice Beam nearly landed a glancing blow against it.

While this was all happening, much like she had predicted earlier, Escavalier was being subjected to the same treatment as Accelgor was. A seemingly unending army of ghosts hounded Escavalier from all directions, never allowing it any opportunity to interfere in the fight between Haxorus and Kingdra.

Escavalier had resorted to making use of wide-area attacks like Earthquake to try and disperse the many ghosts, but the effectiveness of its Attacks were cut in half by the Burn that it had already been inflicted with.

Better yet, while Escavalier was kept completely occupied by Spiritomb, the Ghost type was still able to send a few of its individual ghosts to help out with the fight against Kingdra.

So thanks to a well-timed volley of Shadow Balls from Spiritomb, that distracted Kingdra for long enough for her Haxorus to come slamming into Kingdra.

The first Dragon Rush was blocked by a Protect shield, but Kingdra couldn’t stop the follow-up Dragon Claws from eviscerating it at close range. Kingdra made a valiant effort of trying to headbutt Haxorus away with an Iron Head to make distance, but its unfamiliarity and poor technique meant that Haxorus easily blocked the Iron Head with a raised claw before continuing to slash it with vicious Dragon Claws.

At close range like this, it was Kingdra’s turn to be outmatched, and it soon fell to Haxorus’ unrelenting assault.

Kingdra was quickly recalled from the battlefield, and the almighty Dragon made its appearance, signalling its arrival in the fight with a thunderous roar that demanded respect.

“SALAMENCEEEEE!!”

Without giving them any time to react, Salamence swooped forwards, completely ignoring Haxorus as it chased down the bigger threat.

It slammed down in the middle of Spiritomb’s sea of souls, and the singular Earthquake instantly managed to dispel dozens of ghosts at once – dealing incredible damage against Spiritomb. Then, as Spiritomb was still disoriented and heavily vulnerable from so many of its spirits fainting at once, a radiating blue beam of pure draconic power incinerated Spiritomb’s main body.

For all of its trickiness, Spiritomb could do nothing as it was completely annihilated by that devastating Dragon Pulse from Salamence and was instantly knocked out of the fight.

It couldn’t even get off a Destiny Bond before going down.

And now, with Karen’s Spiritomb knocked out of the fight, for a brief moment as Karen swapped out her Pokémon, that meant Salamence only had one target in its sights – her own Haxorus. Letting out a ferocious and thunderous roar, Salamence exploded in an Outrage and charged at her Haxorus. Knowing what was about to come, she quickly gave an order.

“OUTRAGE, HAXORUS! NOW!”

Her Haxorus was just about able to flare out with an Outrage of its own just as the Salamence came slamming into it like a cannon. Haxorus let out a grunt of exertion, its feet digging deeply into the ground, as it did its best to hold out against Salamence’s overwhelming might.

For a brief moment, her Haxorus had unleashed all of its strength – putting every last drop of its energy, technique, and willpower into fending off Salamence’s assault – and was just barely able to withstand against the mightiest Dragon of Hoenn. Even a Dragon Claw from Salamence was narrowly blocked by her Haxorus, who tried to match it with one of its own.

The ground itself was howling in pain as the sheer shockwaves coming out from Salamence’s moves were enough to cause the ground around them to slowly crack and shatter apart.

Though this burst of strength from Haxorus couldn’t last much longer, the very fact that it was able to even buy any amount of time against Salamence was already admirable enough.

It was proof that her presence in this battle was not as useless as she first thought.

It proved that she had the potential to one day reach the heights, or even surpass, what Drake had achieved.

Fortunately, before Haxorus’ strength completely broke, another booming roar echoed throughout the battlefield as a Sandstorm was whipped up across the arena. The howling sands signalled the arrival of Karen’s Tyranitar, and there was finally a Pokémon that could match up against the rampaging Dragon.

An enormous field of sharp and jagged rocks impaled themselves on the distracted Salamence, causing it to roar out in pain as it dislodged itself from Haxorus. At the same time, Tyranitar shot forth a malicious combination of Taunt, Torment, and a Dark Pulse, which caused Salamence to spiral into completely irrational anger.

As a result, Salamence’s enraged eyes spun towards its new target as a blinding ray of light began to form within its draconic maw.

“DRACO BEAM, SALAMENCE! ANNIHILATE IT!”

“PROTECT NOW!”

A gigantic beam of pure draconic energy split through the middle of the arena, crashing into the Protect shield that Tyranitar threw up. That very same Protect shield was quickly being eradicated as the Draco Beam proved too potent to be fully blocked against.

Even Karen’s mightiest Pokémon stood little chance in a pure battle of strength against Drake’s Salamence. But then again, few could.

Trying to help out its ally, Haxorus tried to interrupt the attack with by unleashing a Stone Edge right from underneath Salamence, but Escavalier had finally managed to join the battle and intercepted Haxorus with an Iron Head.

But Burned as it was, Escavalier’s Iron Head didn’t do much damage to Haxorus, and her Dragon was able to Counter it and force it away with a Brick Break, making distance between the two.

A follow-up Focus Blast made sure Escavalier couldn’t catch back up again. Especially now with its incredibly slow speed.

Meanwhile, the Draco Beam had finally petered out, and Tyranitar immediately fell to its knees as it let out slow and painful breaths. Even with its high defenses and reinforced Protect shield, the Draco Beam still managed to do considerable damage against Tyranitar.

But Tyranitar hadn’t just stayed on the defensive. While it was being blasted by the Draco Beam, it had fired off the occasional Dark Pulse that were absorbed into Salamence.

Each time that happened, the continued build-up of Dark Energy was only amplifying the effects of the earlier Taunt and Torment, which had now heavily deteriorated Salamence’s mental state, tearing away much of its mental discipline and focus.

It would take an incredible amount of mental discipline to be able to resist such effects, and for all of its monstrous strength, this was not something that Salamence possessed. Especially not when it had used Outrage, which only made it even more susceptible to mental influences.

Because of this, as the Draco Beam subsided, Salamence had all but lost itself to its rage. It wasn’t capable of heeding the commands of its trainer as it simply began to rampage uncontrollably, attacking ferociously at whatever target it deemed closest.

Not expecting its partner to suddenly rampage like that, the shockwaves from one of Salamence’s Earthquakes knocked Escavalier to the ground, right into a quadruply supereffective Flamethrower from Tyranitar. The torrent of flames fully engulfed the Escavalier, thoroughly incinerating it.

Her own Haxorus added salt onto the wound as it unleashed its own Earthquake, tripping up the scorched Escavalier with wave after wave of explosive tremors and sending it tumbling to the ground.

A second burst of flames managed to knock it out.

And all that was left was the single most powerful rampaging Dragon she had ever faced off against in her life. Even in its current state, she knew that many of the Unova Gym Leaders, including herself, would seriously struggle to take it down without their Pokémon getting utterly annihilated by its furious wrath.

Yet, Karen was an expert at taking down such a threat.

First, she didn’t make the mistake of having Tyranitar get in close against Salamence, knowing that even in this state Tyranitar would never win in a close-range engagement. Therefore, her Tyranitar fought like a Special Attacker as it sent out volley after volley of Icy Winds that greatly slowed down Salamence while also doing quadruply supereffective damage.

A subsequent Thunder Wave also paralysed the raging Dragon.

Meanwhile, her Haxorus did the same, staying far back and blasting Salamence with repeated Dragon Pulses that slowly wore it down from a distance.

But even then, even with all these status effects inflicted upon it, Salamence was far from out of the fight. It charged back in, shrugging off the entire minefield of sharp rocks that impaled themselves into it as it rushed through, and broke past Haxorus’ guard as it eviscerated her Dragon with a savage Dragon Claw.

Her Haxorus fell to the ground in pain, but thanks to the Torment, Haxorus was barely able to scramble out of the way before the follow-up Dragon Pulse only managed to land a glancing blow on it.

But Salamence was unrelenting, and proceeded to slam their heads together with a brutal Iron Head that caused her Haxorus to flinch. Tyranitar tried to stop it as a storm of rocks erupted out from below Salamence while Ice Beams blasted it from the side, but the Dragon had long gone past the point of feeling pain as it continued its single-minded onslaught against Haxorus.

Her Haxorus managed to hold on for a few more blows, but that was all. Salamence was truly too powerful for her starter to contend with. The difference in strength was just far too overwhelming.

And now there were two. It was Tyranitar versus Salamence. And for a brief moment, it almost looked like Salamence’s last stand would be able to make a complete reversal of the fight.

However, to her immense relief, that didn’t happen. By this point of the battle, Salamence had taken way too many hits and was severely injured. Not only was it slowed down significantly, it was also paralysed, and visible signs of frost had spread across most of its wingspan.

It was clearly running on anger and rage alone.

The smart play would be for Salamence to fly high into the air and start healing up with a Rest or a Roost, but the Taunt from earlier still didn’t allow it to do so. Worse, that same Taunt had still infected Salamence with an uncontrollable anger – meaning that it resorted to following through on its base instincts.

Which was to rush towards Tyranitar with a Dragon Rush.

Unfortunately for Salamence, Tyranitar easily punished this predictable move by firing off a massive Ice Beam that shattered its charge. At the same time, dark-infused rocks once again erupted out from below, impaling and trapping Salamence on the spot.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, a Mud Slap blinded Salamence, making it completely unable to see where it was going. Karen really was taking no chances.

With that, it was only a matter of time before Salamence eventually fell to a final Stone Edge that brought it down. Its spirit might still be going strong, but its body lied broken.

Drake had lost. It was their victory.

…But even though she had won, she didn’t feel like the victor. Instead, she merely stared at Salamence’s unconscious form and bowed her head in deep respect to the Dragon.

Because in her eyes, Salamence had been the victor. For even in defeat, it had shown the world that, at least in Hoenn, it truly had no equal. It was almost able to 2v1 the entire fight.

She wished her Dragons could become that strong, one day.

She wanted to have the strength of a Champion.

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

(Janine POV)

Even though she tried her best to remain stoic and calm, she was anything but. Her fists remained tightly clenched as she anxiously stared at the battle.

Just like she had requested, her own starter Crobat was now duelling against her father’s own while the other two Fire specialists also kept to themselves. It was a battle of skill, agility, and power – the three things most Poison specialists desire in their own Pokémon. Therefore, this battle served as a test for just how far she had managed to come as a Poison specialist, and whether all of her training over the past few years had allowed her to narrow the gap between herself and her father.

Of course, her father’s Crobat was superior to hers in all of the three core aspects. Yet, thanks to all of the training she had been doing with Whitney and her overpowered Miltank, the difference in raw power between their Pokémon was not as wide as one would usually expect. Furthermore, because she so frequently had to find a way to break through Miltank’s high defenses, it led to her training up her Crobat’s Screech to be far more potent than normal.

So because her Crobat successfully landed such a debuff, the difference in strength was all but gone. Which meant that her attacks were actually dealing respectable damage against her father’s – something she could have never imagined to be the case only a year ago.

But even with that, as she soon realised, the outcome of their duel was set in stone from the very beginning. Her father’s Crobat was just much faster and more skilled. Even though their strength was relatively equal, his Crobat was able to expertly calculate how and when to approach her own Crobat – performing a deadly series of hit-and-run attacks that hers failed to match.

Yet despite this, it was not the outcome that she was most concerned about. No, it was the very fact that her Crobat had managed to hold its own against her father’s for more than five whole minutes before going down.

It had stood against a superior foe that outclassed it in almost every way, and it managed to fight back – not crumbling meekly before it.

After the battle was over, Flint had gone off to speak with Flannery – who also managed to prove herself against a superior Fire specialist (though, in the privacy of her own mind, she felt that her own performance was better) – while she remained behind to wait for her father.

Hearing the slight crinkle of the carpet, she turned around to see her father standing behind her.

“It is good to see your senses have not gotten dulled.” Her father said, smiling ever so slightly, “I am proud of your training, Janine.”

“Thank you, father.” She replied dutifully, not allowing her happiness to show on her face. It wouldn’t be proper, “Your words honour me greatly.”

Koga paused for a brief moment before gesturing towards her, “Come, walk with me. This is not a suitable place for what I want to say.”

Curious, but knowing that her father wasn’t one to say something like this unnecessarily, she silently followed after him as they moved over to a more private location outside of the arena. Her father spoke when he was sure that they had their privacy.

“You did very well today.” His father praised, an arm patting her on the shoulder, “More than well. What your Pokémon showed off today surpassed my expectations. I did not expect your Crobat to be able to fly as fast or hit as hard as it did. You must have been sparring a lot with some tough opponents.”

“I train a lot with Whitney’s Miltank.” She replied.

“Good. It is always important to have a rival to motivate you. It is good that you found one so early.” He nodded, “Yet that is not what I wanted to say to you today. From the reports I received, I understand that you are still feeling a little unworthy of the position you now hold. However, I say this now not as a father trying to praise his daughter – but as a mentor to his student.”

“From what you have showed me today, I believe you are a worthy trainer to hold the title as the Gym Leader of Fuschia.” He stated firmly, with a hint of pride and joy shining in his eyes, “Even if you were not my own daughter, with the training you have done and demonstrated, I would have been content to pass on the position to you anyways – knowing full well that you will one day surpass me. Therefore, even if I were to one day step down from the Elite Four for whatever reason, the Gym would still remain in your proven hands.”

“So congratulations, my daughter. You have grown to become someone I deem worthy of being a rival and peer.”

Those were the words she had always been waiting to hear – and she couldn’t have felt any happier. She didn’t even care that she had just been knocked out of the Tournament. This was far more important.

A.N. This chapter was focused heavily on Iris and Janine; two up-and-coming trainers that are rapidly growing to become extremely capable powerhouses on their own. So I felt a chapter on both of them to provide insight into their Tournament run would be good. Furthermore, this chapter was all about showing off their growth, and laying the foundation for what they would eventually grow into. Hope you enjoyed!