The New Normal - 15-6

The New Normal – 15-6 – The Rise of a Stone

After our ‘conversation’ with Ghetsis, the rest of our explorations around Unova just wasn’t as interesting in comparison. That wasn’t to say that the sights were boring, far from it, but the reminder that there was another madman on the horizon did sour our mood a bit.

Furthermore, my time with Unova was fast approaching its end, and it was soon time for Karen and I to return home. That was expected – I knew that this was only supposed to be a short trip anyways, but I hoped that I would be back soon.

I felt that Unova as a region was just brimming with potential. Castelia City was just the perfect example of this, given that I still considered it to be the most interesting sight in all of Unova.

So I did my best to make use of the remaining time I had left to personally check out a few places that I was particularly interested in. For example, I visited Undella Town, since it was the place where Cynthia would eventually purchase a vacation home in canon, and it very much lived up to my expectations.

The entire place had such a relaxing and calming atmosphere to it that it was perfect as a holiday home, and the buildings were appropriately furnished to be at the peak of luxury. Not only that, but I knew that in a few years’ time that the Marine Tube would also be constructed, adding yet another amenity and luxury to the location.

Of course, it had a price to match, and it truly was an eye-watering amount. I could still afford it, sure, but seeing that many zeros was still a little shocking. Not that it really mattered for the moment, since as a foreigner, I wasn’t allowed to buy property in Unova yet. Otherwise, even with the high price, I would have seriously considered making an offer on the spot.

Despite this, I still hadn’t gotten close to exploring the entirety of Unova, and a part of me did want to stay for longer so that I could fully experience everything that Unova had to offer, but I knew that it was best for us to return home. We hadn’t been in communication with Lance for some time, and we absolutely needed to report back.

Though during my last moments of exploration, I had finally managed to stumble into the Pokémon I had been looking for all this time – an Audino. In fact, I wasn’t even the one to spot it. It had decided to approach me first. According to Klee, who had helpfully translated for me, it could apparently ‘hear’ my kindness and decided that it wanted to join me.

I was taken aback at first, but in the end I was all too happy to accept and subsequently caught it in one of my spare Pokéballs.

I still hadn’t come up with a name for it yet, but I supposed there was no rush for that. There was still much more I wanted to learn about my newest capture.

Right after that, it was time for us to leave. There had been a small departure ceremony for us, and this time Grimsley in particular treated us particularly respectfully, though not to the point of sycophancy. It seemed like the string of losses that they suffered against us really made him readjust his thoughts about us. I hoped that meant he would treat the delegates from Hoenn and Sinnoh with more respect from now on.

“I only hope nothing drastic happens now that we’re gone.” Karen said as we boarded the ship that would bring us home, “Not that I don’t trust him, but Drake isn’t the most diplomatic of people – and I heard how he verbally assaulted a guy that you met. Some advocate of sorts?”

“He deserved it.” I replied, “Trust me, or else I wouldn’t have backed Drake up.”

She sighed, “I guess this is what I get from leaving you two battle maniacs alone.”

I knew there was no real heat in her words, so I just chuckled.

We talked about a whole host of topics as we relaxed idly on the ship while we waited to be transported back to Indigo. Though most of that time was spent going over and writing down the most important points that we wanted to bring up with Lance when we headed back.

Ghetsis and PLASMA were at the forefront of those points. We absolutely were going to need a plan to deal with them.

===========

(Steven’s POV)

The Hoenn Conference was hardly a challenge for him or Bruno, which was to be expected. Not to be arrogant, but he didn’t do all that preparation only to stumble at the first hurdle. Nevertheless, after a series of honestly monotonous battles, the time had finally come. Although they had wanted to match up in the finals, so that they could have a full 6v6 and not a 3v3, not everything could have played out so perfectly.

He was finally matched up against Bruno.

This was a match that had not only been anticipated by himself and Bruno, but also by the many commentators that took an interest in their joint participation in this year’s Hoenn Conference. The two of them were easily the ‘trainers to beat’, and many had speculated about the outcome if they were matched against each other.

And today was the day the world would find out just how strong the two of them had become. It would also serve as a nice entrée for his upcoming battles against the Elite Four.

So he stepped onto the battlefield, giving Bruno an expectant look as the two of them waited for the battle to begin. There was no need for any further posturing – the two of them had already said all that needed to be said to each other.

Today was the day to fight.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT FEELS LIKE WE’RE IN THE FINAL ROUNDS OF THE HOENN CONFERENCE ALREADY – AS TODAY WE HAVE A BATTLE BETWEEN WHAT SOME COULD CONSIDER TO BE THE STRONGEST CONTENDERS FOR THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE. AFTER THEIR RAMPAGE THROUGH THE PRELIMINARIES, THEY NEED NO INTRODUCTION. PLEASE WELCOME STEVEN AND BRUNO!”

The crowd cheered loudly, but the referee kept going, “LET’S NOT WASTE ANY MORE OF YOUR TIME AND GET RIGHT INTO IT! TRAINERS, RELEASE YOUR POKÉMON IN THREE! TWO! ONE! FIGHT!”

“Show off your power, Goodra!”

“Heracross.”

As they had mutually agreed earlier, they both decided to start off the battle with their most recent acquisitions. After all, it was their battle, so why couldn’t they decide on some ground rules beforehand?

The reveal of his Goodra, which was the first time he had used it in an official battle, got a round of surprised gasps from the audience as they took in its armoured form.

Despite being a Steel/Dragon type and looming over the opposing Heracross with its size, his Goodra didn’t have the same terrifying and intimidating aura that its other draconic peers might have. Instead, it looked almost depressed and slimy, and its slumped over posture like it was being weighed down by the heavy shell that it was carrying didn’t help either.

Yet, Bruno would not be fooled by this ‘weak’ appearance, as he had already seen his Goodra in action before in their past training sessions. Behind that miserable expression was a Pokémon of tremendous power just waiting to be unleashed.

And he was about to do just that.

“Fire Blast, Goodra! Torch that Bug!”

“Dig under it, Heracross.”

Heracross rapidly burrowed into the ground, narrowly avoiding the searing blast of flames that scorched the ground where it had just stood. Tunnelling quickly, the Fighting type reappeared right next to Goodra and smashed into it with a quick Close Combat.

But supereffective or not, he knew his Goodra was a defensive powerhouse, and he trusted his Pokémon to tank through the blow without flinching from the pain.

“Flamethrower, punish it!”

“Low Kick! Trip it up, Heracross.”

Unfortunately, Heracross reacted quicker, channelling power into its now glowing white legs as it knocked Goodra’s legs from under it, cancelling the Flamethrower as the Steel type crashed face-first into the ground.

Yet before Heracross could smash down with another Close Combat into Goodra’s exposed head, Goodra quickly retracted its head into its shell and into safety as the Close Combat practically bounced off of Goodra’s armoured shell. Not only that, but Goodra was able to use the momentum from the Close Combat to start spinning around, transforming its defensive shell into a heavy wrecking ball as it slammed into Heracross, knocking the Fighting type away.

This wouldn’t be a manoeuvre that he could use against one of Bruno’s more trained Pokémon as they would have had the reaction speed to Counter it, but he knew he could punish the lesser trained Heracross like this.

“Flamethrower, Goodra! While it’s vulnerable!”

“Dodge and Seismic Toss, Heracross.”

Nevertheless, less trained or not, Heracross was still a Pokémon that had been subjected to Bruno’s brutally effective training schemes, and a single Gyro Ball was far from enough to take it out of the battle. Even after being knocked back, it regained momentum by digging a clawed arm into the ground and using it to spin itself around and out of the way of the stream of fire.

Then, Heracross threw itself back at Goodra, ducking under the way of another Flamethrower. As Heracross approached, Goodra tried to fight back with a Fire Punch, but his Steel type was far too slow to hit the nimble Heracross as it proceeded to latch its clawed arms around the Steel’s type body. Heracross subsequently heaved Goodra into the air with its strength – before violently hurling it across the battlefield with a Seismic Toss.

Goodra’s high Defence was completely ignored by the Seismic Toss, which was why Bruno had made use of the move extensively in previous fights against his heavily defensive Steel types.

However, this is when Goodra’s Gooey ability made itself known. For each time that Heracross struck it, it was forced to come into contact with the sticky goo that Goodra naturally excreted from its body. The sticky goo latched onto Heracross’ arms and body, gradually slowing the Fighting type down as it failed to remove the adhesive substance from itself.

This was why he was confident that Goodra would win a battle of attrition. And Bruno knew it as well, which was why he had to make every hit count before his Heracross slowed down too much to fight back effectively.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

“Goodra, Shelter.”

“Heracross, Swords Dance and buff yourself up.”

“Don’t let him, Goodra. Flamethrower to distract.”

Both Pokémon moved to buff themselves up, but his Goodra’s Shelter could be completed much faster than Heracross’ Swords Dance, and thus Goodra was able to interrupt the latter with a quick Flamethrower that threw off Heracross’ concentration as it was forced to dodge.

From then on, he ordered his Goodra to maintain its distance as it harassed the Heracross with a series of Dragon Breaths, Flamethrowers, and the occasional Flash Cannon. Both trainers knew that Heracross was forced to be the one to get in close, so his Goodra was able to slowly wear down Heracross from the safety of its Special Attacks.

Furthermore, against a ‘normal’ Heracross, even if the Fighting type did get in close, the almost stupidly high defensives of Goodra, especially after being repeatedly buffed up with Shelters, should have made it so that his Steel type would have taken no damage from Heracross even if it did get a hit in.

However, knowing what Bruno was capable of, he knew better than to think so arrogantly. And he was right to think so, as he noticed that instead of striking as hard as it could, Heracross was carefully analysing and planning out its attacks so that each strike was an act of pure precision that would deliver a critical hit and bypass all those defensive buffs.

That was to be expected from a Pokémon trained by Bruno.

So he forced his Goodra to stay disciplined and play safe. If it ever was at the slightest risk of taking a hit, it was to immediately retreat into its shell to avoid taking a painful critical hit.

Because of this, the battle ended up lasting much longer than most would have expected, and Bruno even exploited this overly defensive fighting style by feigning an attack before going for a Swords Dance to sharply increase Heracross’ Attack.

But, in the end, it was the Gooey ability that saved his fight. The goo had clung onto Heracross’ legs, slowing it down just enough so that it just wasn’t able to get out of the way from a surprise Iron Tail that smashed into its side. The impact knocked it to the floor, where it was completely exposed to a final, supereffective Fire Blast that finished it off.

It was a hard won battle, but his Goodra just barely managed to scrape by. There were a burst of cheers at his victory, but he tuned them all out. This was just the beginning, and there were far greater threats coming out.

Just as he thought that, Bruno sent out Primeape, which wasted absolutely no time as it charged towards Goodra.

And completely unlike Heracross, there was no hesitation in Primeape’s actions as it immediately began smashing fist after fist into Goodra’s armoured shell, completely unbothered by the slime that was beginning to coat its fist. Without wasting a second, it ignited its fists, burning off the slime and allowing it to continue with the pummelling unimpeded.

Fighting against Primeape was completely different to Heracross. While Heracross was certainly a formidable fighter, Primeape had grown significantly since its last official battle against John. It now was violence manifest, refusing to even comprehend the thought of a Pokémon that was unable to be broken by its fist.

To it, it wasn’t a matter of if a brick wall could be broken down. It was just a question of when.

Therefore, with Goodra having retreated into its shell for protection, the fact that Goodra had the audacity to not break before its fists only served to further fuel Primeape’s rage. Though as is typical with Bruno’s Pokémon, Primeape was extremely disciplined – it was in control of its rage, rather than the other way around. It never allowed its technique to slip even as its anger continued to grow.

Of course, he wasn’t just going to sit there and allow Primeape to pummel his Goodra one-sidedly, so he tried to come up with a counterattack as he ordered his Goodra to perform a Gyro Ball and Heavy Slam combo. Only for Primeape to catch the spinning Goodra in its arms and violently slam it back it down into the ground, cancelling the attack.

Then Primeape flipped the shell over before it dug its arms within and ruthlessly pulled out Goodra’s head. Now exposed, Goodra was completely helpless as Primeape unleashed a brutal pummelling right into its face; each punch unleashing all of its pent up rage on its helpless body.

Even with all of its incredible and buffed defenses, Goodra’s health was being savagely torn apart.

Goodra did manage to retaliate with a desperate Dragon Breath, which seemed to only enrage Primeape even further before the Fighting type unleashed a killing blow of a Brick Break, smashing down hard into Goodra’s exposed neck, and finally knocking out his Steel type.

He wasted no time sending out his next Pokémon.

“Claydol, check it!”

Knowing what he did about Bruno’s Primeape, he knew that Claydol would be the perfect counter with it. Without needing him to give it any orders, his Claydol immediately began setting up with an Iron Defense and a Reflect, rapidly buffing its Defense so that Primeape’s punches would be blunted.

But Primeape wasn’t deterred; the fight against Goodra had already stoked its anger, and it had marked Claydol as its next target to vent its wrath.

However, unlike against Goodra, Primeape’s exceptional Fighting type attacks were not very effective against the Psychic Claydol. Furthermore, as if to make the task of bringing down Claydol even more difficult, Claydol managed to land a Confuse Ray onto Primeape, crippling its capabilities further.

But Bruno’s Pokémon was unstoppable, and a single Confuse Ray was far from enough to stifle it. Even as Claydol began to bombard it with Psychics and Future Sights, Primeape never let off of the offensive, expertly shattering through most of the incoming Psychic types with its Dark-infused fists.

Yet neither was Claydol sitting still, as it continued to Teleport around the battlefield while also throwing in a Gravity and an Imprison to try and slow down Primeape and kite it out. Those moves did manage to slow down Primeape, but the avatar of wrath refused to be stopped. Even when Claydol began to Levitate into the skies and out of its reach, Primeape remain doggedly focused on its target as it hurled itself into the sky in order to try and land a hit – only for Claydol to Teleport away just before it could do so.

At this point, Primeape didn’t even care about the Future Sights or Psychics that it was running into. It just wanted to bring down Claydol, and it only grew further and further enraged with each subsequent miss.

Once again, the battle had turned into another battle of attrition, one that he was confident his Claydol would win in the end. He believed that Primeape would tire itself out first as it was slowly harassed down with an unending barrage of Psychic attacks.

So there Primeape was, stewing in its own immense anger that it was unable to vent out on a target. The veins on its head threatened to burst out from them as its anger reached a boiling point; and even Bruno’s well-ingrained discipline was starting to falter as Primeape was beginning to smash its fist randomly on the ground in frustration.

The Confusion that it was inflicted with didn’t help matters either. And at one point Primeape had gotten so lost with its so rage that even when Claydol Teleported out of another attack, Claydol continued to strike at the air in pure, uncontrolled anger.

However, that was when things got interesting. Primeape was literally beginning to foam at the mouth. Its eyes had snapped open, looking completely deranged while also pulsing red. It wasn’t even moving at this point, allowing Claydol free reign to just blast it with repeated Psychics.

But it wasn’t even reacting to the attacks. In fact, it was probably so angry that pain was a feeling that it had forgotten about. All of its training and discipline was long gone as it subsequently threw itself forwards into a fully-maddened charge.

Primeape was completely lost to its rage.

In all of their time training together, he had never managed to make Bruno’s Pokémon snap like that. Usually, in their training sessions, they wouldn’t push their Pokémon nearly this far. It wasn’t healthy for them.

Yet, as it charged forwards, the unexpected happened. A burst of bright white light exploded forth from Primeape. At first, he thought that he had gotten Primeape so mad that it had somehow learned how to Explode from sheer rage alone. But no, this wasn’t an Explosion. This was something far more familiar.

The blinding white light forced him to cover his eyes and turn away. And when he turned back around, he was greeted by an expected, yet still completely shocking, sight. Not only was his Claydol suddenly pinned to the ground, Primeape’s figure had completely changed. It now looked more like a wraith than a Fighting type – like his Primeape had died and somehow willed itself back to life as a vengeful spirit.

Before anyone could recover from their shock, the new Pokémon wasted no time as it covered its fist in spectral energy before ferociously slamming it down straight into Claydol. Claydol let out a pained whirl and tried to Teleport away, but that was shut down by a Night Slash that interrupted the escape attempt.

With all of the buffs that Claydol had applied onto itself, he really thought that it would be able to withstand a few more blows. But apparently, whatever Primeape had just evolved into was proving him wrong. Those spectral blows were really hurting, almost liked they were empowered by its rage, and his Claydol ended up being knocked out after a few good hits.

Yet even as his Claydol fell unconscious, the newly evolved Pokémon did not care. Instead, it continued to pummel Claydol’s unconscious form, forcing him to withdraw Claydol before it took on any permanent damage.

However, as it was suddenly deprived of its prey, the evolved Primeape’s head whipped towards him. Its eyes locked onto his as it glared at him with pure hate in his eyes.

“ANNIHILAPE!!!!” The new Pokémon roared its name out to the skies, its voice tinged with pure, unfiltered, wrath as it charged towards him. Fortunately, Bruno withdrew his Pokémon into its Pokéball before the Annihilape got anywhere close, officially retiring it from the match.

It was likely too much of a danger to be sent out again for the moment.

“…Well, that was unexpected.” Was what he managed to say as he got over his shock, “I guess I should be congratulating you on your new evolution?”

Bruno frowned, “…Thank you, I suppose. Though truthfully I do not know if this evolution is a blessing or a curse. It seemed to have nearly lost its mind to rage. A Pokémon that I had personally trained up for so long should never attack another trainer like that.”

Yeah, he could see it being a bit of a handful, “I have full trust that you of all people will be able to discipline it.” He said instead, “And it is a new evolution. So I’m sure you’ll have lots to discover about it.”

“I suppose so.” Bruno nodded, “Nevertheless, enough talking. We have a fight to finish.”

He grinned, “Yes. Let’s.”

Without waiting for the announcer to finish whatever they were saying, the two of them sent out their final Pokémon. The two Pokémon each of them knew that the other would be sending out.

“Metagross!”

“Machamp!”

The two four-armed Pokémon emerged onto the battlefield, and Machamp was the first to make a move, breaking out into a charge as it rushed towards Metagross.

His Metagross four minds reacted instantly. One responded by firing off a blast of Psychic, another set up a Reflect shield, the next one unleashed an Icy Wind, and the last moved its arms into a defensive stance.

But Machamp was ready for that as it ripped out a slab of rock from the ground, using it as a makeshift shield to block the incoming Psychic and Flash Cannon, before throwing out a Fire Punch to dispel the incoming Icy Wind from Metagross.

Then Machamp got in range, and the two starters clashed against each other. Arm was locked against arm as the two Pokémon wrestled each other for strength, but while Metagross could only make use of two arms at once to fend off Machamp (as the other two were required to keep it upright), Machamp could make use of all four of its arms to push back against Metagross.

Despite being slightly pushed back, this was a position that both Pokémon were very familiar with; having been in this exact same spot in a majority of their spars together. And unfortunately for Bruno, he had always been the more creative of the two.

“As planned, Metagross!”

Without any hesitation, his starter unleashed the Hyper Beam that it had secretly been preparing with one of its four minds, taking Machamp completely by surprise as it was blasted point-blank by the enormous ray of energy.

The powerful Hyper Beam knocked Machamp back – and right into a Future Sight that had been set up behind it, the psychic attack detonating in mid air and sending Machamp flying into the sky, before Gravity suddenly intensified. Machamp was sent crashing back down onto the ground, right into the waiting fists of his Metagross – who slugged it in the face with a devastating Meteor Mash before unleashing another point-blank Earthquake right on top of Machamp.

This combo of attack was his proof that he had the right to become Champion. His Metagross may not have the raw power of Lance’s Emperor, the restorative prowess of Wallace’s Milotic, nor the speed and raw discipline of Cynthia’s Garchomp, but what he did have was the ability to combo devastating attacks together in a back-to-back series of attacks that offered absolutely no reprieve.

It was the unique advantage of Metagross having four different minds to work with, backed up by the necessary intelligence to calculate all this.

He did feel a little bad for Bruno’s starter though. Ever since he perfected this way of attacking with his Metagross, Machamp had never been able to win a serious spar against it. However, he also knew that Metagross was the only Pokémon he had that could actually bring down Machamp. His other Pokémon would not be able to withstand the pure, savage power that Machamp had at its disposal.

And even now, he would not give Machamp an opportunity to make use of said power. He knew just how powerful it was, and it would only take one good hit for Machamp to turn the fight around – so he ruthlessly moved to put Machamp down before it could do anything.

“Again, Metagross! Put it down!”

“Machamp! Evasive manoeuvres! As practiced!”

Despite the Gravity still forcing it down like an anchor, Machamp forced itself to its feet and parried a Psychic out of the way with a Knock Off while another arm blocked a Flash Cannon with a Fire Punch. Then it performed a dodge roll to move out of the way of an incoming Stone Edge, before suddenly closing its eyes entirely even as it broke out into a sprint.

His eyes widened, immediately recognising the move.

“METAGROSS! BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

“Focus Punch!”

Machamp’s eyes snapped open, and the Fighting type disappeared into a blur as it rocketed forwards with a fist extended. Knowing the attack was coming, Metagross used all four of its minds to throw up four layers of Protect shields – which were all instantly shattered by Machamp as it blew through all of them. The Fighting type brutally slammed into Metagross, delivering a blow so powerful that the resulting shockwave cracked the ground behind it in a ‘V’ shape, and causing the psychic barriers to flicker violently from the aftermath alone.

Metagross crumbled to the ground from the blow, letting out a pained whirl. This was the exact situation he had wanted to avoid, because Machamp wasted no time igniting all four of its arms and pummelled Metagross with a volley of devastatingly powerful Fire Punches.

Cracks appeared and began to spread across Metagross’ metallic frame in just over a few seconds of being subjected to this onslaught of attacks.

But once again, the advantage of having four minds was that Metagross was more resistant to being disoriented, even when being subjected to a brutal pummelling. Quickly calculating the best way to fight back, Metagross executed its plan of action.

First, it sent out a small blast of Psychic that precisely targeted one of Machamp’s arms so that it interrupted the incoming Brick Break. Then a Stone Edge came from behind, striking Machamp in the back and causing it to stumble forwards a small step. Simultaneously, a quick Bulldoze sent a pulsating tremor through the ground that helped to unbalance Machamp further. Lastly, it deactivated the Gravity that had been pushing down on Machamp for extra disorientation.

This all took place in less than a split second, and all of that was to just cause Machamp to break off its offensive for a brief moment. But it was enough time to allow Metagross to swing its armoured arms around and bash it with a quick Bullet Punch that Machamp couldn’t block in time.

That single Bullet Punch marked the end of Machamp’s offensive, granting Metagross the breathing room to do the following:

It set up a single Future Sight behind the Machamp, it quickly struck with a Bullet Punch to the knee, it faked out a Psychic that was actually a Flash Cannon, and it rushed forwards with a Meteor Mash.

The Bullet Punch struck first, forcing Machamp to its knees. Then, thinking that a Psychic was coming, it tried to counter with a Knock Off – which completely failed to block the Flash Cannon that struck it head on. Machamp flinched back slightly from the blow, which allowed the full force of the Meteor Mash to come crashing into its chest, knocking Machamp backwards and right into a Future Sight.

That final combo of attacks inflicted such heavy injuries on Machamp that it crumbled to the ground. Even though its fighting spirit still burned strong in its eyes, the body could not sustain itself on spirit alone.

Weighed down so heavily by its injuries like this, his Metagross finished off Machamp with a relentless series of Icy Winds, Psychics, Flash Cannons, and Stone Edge. All at a safe distance. He would take no risks.

And thus, he had triumphed over his partner. Achieving the first great victory in his climb to the top.

Next, the Hoenn Elite Four.

A.N. John gets an Audino! I wouldn’t have him leave Unova without one, meaning that he’s now acquired two new additions from Unova. It’s nickname and personality will be explored much more in a later chapter.

Meanwhile, Steven hasn’t had a proper battle in some time, and I wanted to highlight just how strong is he and why he’s worthy of being Champion. I also wanted to show off his Goodra as well, and how it’s already become one of his strongest defensive Pokémon. But there was a surprise in the battle too as Annihilape makes its appearance. It’s why I gave Bruno a Primeape in the first place, and I hoped the way it evolved was to your liking.

Rage Fist is truly a powerful Attack, and was why it was able to bring down Claydol so quickly. In fact, if Annihilape wasn’t about to attack Steven from pure rage and was withdrawn, it might have even been able to take out Metagross in the state it was in. Though that’s very unlikely, given how injured it already was. Hope you enjoyed!