The New Normal - 12-3

The New Normal – 12-3 – A Grand Finale

“It is time! Show them your power, Xatu!”

It was finally here. Will’s prized starter took to the skies, serenely swooping around in the air with powerful flaps of its decorated wings. Without even a moment’s delay, both a Reflect and Light Screen shimmered into existence around Xatu, and a pink bubble of protective energies surrounded the Psychic Type.

Then it began to glow a bright pink as Xatu began channelling a Calm Mind.

Not wanting its foe to have the opportunity to set up, Venomoth shot to the skies as it looked to disrupt Xatu’s attempts to set up – only to immediately run head-first into a minefield of Future Sights.

The resulting surprise explosion blasted Venomoth down to the ground, where an Air Slash just narrowly grazed passed it as the Poison type dodged at the last second with a hasty roll.

Koga frowned; he must have realised what I had – in the few seconds that Xatu had emerged from its Pokéball, not only had it managed to set up a Reflect and Light Screen, but it had also somehow found the time to prepare a Future Sight trap as well. Worse, as far as I was aware, there had been no visible indicators for when Xatu had deployed the move.

“Bug Buzz, Venomoth! Make a path!”

Deciding that offense was the only path available to him, Koga sent Venomoth forwards – who rushed towards the setting up Xatu while unleashing a constant Bug Buzz around itself. As the Bug Buzz came into contact with the pre-prepared Future Sights, the Bug Buzz managed to partially neutralize the Future Sights thanks to the fact that Bug was supereffective against Psychic.

Of course, this was always going to be a makeshift solution at best, and Venomoth was still being bombarded from all sides from the constant detonations of Psychic energy as it desperately rushed towards Xatu, trying to catch up with the Psychic type in the air. It even tried to buff itself up with an Agility, pushing its already high speed even higher.

Yet Venomoth would never be able to catch up with Xatu as the Psychic type simply began rapidly Teleporting around the air. The speed of Xatu’s Teleports was more than a match for Will’s Gardevoir, and I believed it even surpassed it at times. Xatu was literally able to blink around the entire arena within seconds; almost like it didn’t even need to take any time to channel a Teleport.

By doing so, Xatu never allowed Venomoth to get close as it simply continued to harass the Bug Type down with its own Air Slashes and Psychics, all the while leading Venomoth to smash into more and more prepared Future Sights.

And all that damage was starting to rack up, causing further and further injuries to be inflicted on the Bug type, and the fact that Venomoth was weak against Psychic attacks only added to its frailty.

At one point, Venomoth had tried to predict where Xatu was going to Teleport to, as a subtle pink glow had always appeared just before Xatu would Teleport to that position, and it dove forwards with its fangs out as it tried to surprise its foe with a Leech Life. However, instead of meeting a Xatu, Venomoth simply flew face first into a prepared Psychic – knocking it out of the air as it reeled from the blow.

I was amazed; Xatu had also been able to manipulate its own Psychic signature to fake a Teleport while also simultaneously firing off Future Sights and actually Teleporting around for real. Impressive.

Now fallen to the ground, Venomoth instinctively released a cloud of Stun Spores into the air to try to punish a counterattack. Unfortunately, Xatu was completely immune to the effects thanks to Magic Bounce, and it finished off the Venomoth with a well-placed Psychic that blasted a hole into the ground.

Xatu never got in close to Venomoth, not giving it a single opportunity to land a hit as the Psychic type perfectly maintained its distance and remained completely unscathed. Xatu had completely nullified Venomoth’s incredible speed and even outmanoeuvred it with its Teleports.

It was the first time this battle that Koga didn’t have a trick up his sleeve to play, and the results were evident. Xatu had dominated its foe.

It had been a perfect victory for Will, much like how Koga’s Crobat took down his Gardevoir earlier.

“An impressive showing.” Koga unexpectedly spoke up, and was that a grin on his face?

“Thank you.” Will replied, bowing dramatically, “I must say – you took the winds out of my sails there for a moment with your surprises and tricks. So it feels much better now that I’m starting to turn the tide.”

“Fwahahahahaha!” Koga laughed out while withdrawing his fallen Venomoth, “Have you now? Well, let’s see if you can back up your words.”

The ninja clasped his hands together dramatically, before throwing out and releasing his Crobat – likely acknowledging that his starter was the only Pokémon he had that was actually capable of defeating Will’s Xatu.

And thus, the battle of the starters began.

Crobat rocketed forwards, blitzing through the air like a bullet as it locked on towards its target. However, its prey remained calm, and Future Sights began detonating through the air as Xatu tried to catch the speeding Crobat in one of its many Psychic traps.

But this time, Crobat had surrounded itself with the ominous haze of a Dark Pulse, granting it a shield that it used to barrel through the many Future Sights mostly unharmed. Furthermore, that also meant that its speed wasn’t interrupted, and it rapidly closed the distance while letting out a ferocious screech.

Before I could blink, Crobat slammed into the Xatu, crashing into the Protect shield that Xatu had thrown up with a powerful Cross Poison.

“Trick Room, Xatu.”

But having Crobat get close was what Will had been waiting for. A huge burst of psychic energy exploded out of Xatu, and the air itself stilled and twisted as the dimensions were shifted. A hazy and distorted field suddenly filled the arena and surrounded the two Pokémon, and speed itself began to bend to Xatu’s will.

Taking control of the laws of reality with its mind, Xatu forcefully slowed down Crobat, twisting its once incredible speed against it and making it the slower of the two.

Unused to its sudden sluggishness, in a reversal of their usual roles, Crobat was unable to shield itself in time as Xatu shot forwards with its head glowing with power, crashing and knocking back the Crobat with a powerful Zen Headbutt.

Expecting another attack, Crobat sluggishly moved to protect itself with a Steel Wing, but it failed to predict that Xatu would disappear and reappear behind it with a Teleport. To its credit, Crobat’s incredible reaction speed made it aware of the surprise attack, but it wasn’t able to turn around in time thanks to the Trick Room – which allowed Xatu to bash the Poison type with another strong Zen Headbutt.

However, Crobat wasn’t Koga’s starter and ace for nothing. Before Xatu could hit it with another Zen Headbutt, Crobat began to plummet to the ground as it simply stopped flapping its wings, allowing it to dodge out of the way. By using gravity to move itself, Crobat was able to maintain some semblance of speed that wasn’t affected by the Trick Room.

Then, as Xatu readjusted and tried to punish the manoeuvre with a Psychic, Crobat released a Dark Pulse, trying to block the incoming Psychic. Instead, the Psychic actually broke through the Dark Pulse, slamming into Crobat and sending it falling faster towards the ground.

Thinking that it was perfectly safe and that Crobat remained crippled by the Trick Room, Xatu stopped its Teleporting as it focused all of its power into a large Psychic that looked like it would have finished off the wounded Crobat.

Yet, that was when Koga gave out a surprising order.

“Whirlwind downwards, Crobat! Facing the ground!”

Crobat quickly did just that, beating its wings hard and unleashing a huge gust of wind. However, instead of blowing Xatu back like with a usual Whirlwind, Crobat had angled it towards the ground – propelling the Poison type upwards with incredible speed.

Because this speed had nothing to do with Crobat’s own mobility, and instead was completely dependent on using the force of the Whirlwind, it was therefore unaffected by the Trick Room.

Taken by surprise at Crobat’s sudden burst of speed and being forced to cancel its Psychic, while also having to dedicate energy and concentration to maintaining the Trick Room, Xatu wasn’t able to Teleport out of the way in time as a Cross Poison slashed deeply across its frame, landing a critical hit and also infected it with a crippling injection of poison.

Xatu let out a cry of pain as it instinctively released a wave of Psychic, but not before Crobat could smash a boosted Payback into the side of Xatu before it was blown back. The one-two hit of powerful attacks, combined with the poison now slowly rampaging through its insides, finally broke Xatu out of its concentration and the psychic field that composed the Trick Room began to fall apart.

Now having regained its famed speed, Koga sought to finish the fight.

“Brave Bird and Cross Poison! Finish it!”

Crobat’s body began glowing with the signature silver of a Brave Bird, and he dived forwards in a sonic purple blur as he went all-out on the offense. On the other hand, Xatu was also able to quickly recover its concentration, and Will proved that his starter wasn’t out of the fight just yet.

“Mirror Image!”

Xatu’s form began to flicker in place for a moment, turning into a hazy blur before suddenly a small army of Xatu’s began to shimmer into existence all over the place, formed into place by Xatu’s careful manipulation of Psychic energies. What was even more impressive was that these weren’t the same as your standard illusions that you would see with a Double Team, instead, they all emitted a faint glow of Psychic power to help disguise which was the real Xatu.

From where I was sitting, I had no idea which was the real one.  

“Whirlwind, Crobat! Disperse them!”

Likely being unable to discern the real Xatu’s identity either, Koga did what I would have done and decided to just clear the field entirely. With another massive flap of its wings, a huge gust of wind formed and swept away the illusions. However, unlike with a regular Double Team, the illusions weren’t instantly dispersed, but rather flickered in place for a moment.

That was when one of the illusions suddenly teleported behind Crobat with eyes glowing a powerful blue as it prepared a Psychic. With instincts akin to a hunter, Crobat detected this sudden threat and instantly spun around on the spot, delivering a powerful slash from an Aerial Ace at the Xatu.

But the Xatu simply flickered out of existence; it had been a fake!

The real one was actually just flying behind it, and this time managed to land a Thunder Wave at the unsuspecting Crobat, causing the Poison type to let out a pained cry as it became paralysed. With its speed now crippled, Crobat was no longer the untouchable speeding missile it once was, and its speed was now much more manageable to handle.

Yet that didn’t mean the fight was secured for Xatu. Lowered speed or not, Crobat remained a threat, if a more manageable one. Worse, the poison that Xatu had been infected with had been rapidly building up as the match progressed, and was starting to become more and more of a hinderance for the Psychic type as its usual bright green look began taking on a sickly pallor.

Both trainers knew that Xatu would be able to cure itself of the poison with a Rest, and Koga seemed determined to not let that happen.

“Brave Bird! Down it!”

Muscling through the paralysis, Crobat took on a silvery glow as it surged forwards. Expecting the attack, Xatu instantly Teleported out of the way. But Crobat was able to suddenly pivot itself in the air, turning on a dime as it relentlessly chased after Xatu.

Xatu continued to Teleport around the arena, doing the same thing as it did against Koga’s Venomoth as it led the Crobat around a merry chase while throwing around Psychics, Future Sights, and Air Slashes towards its pursuer. However, unlike Venomoth, even while paralysed Crobat was able to fight back constantly with repeated Dark Pulses and Paybacks to force its way through the Psychic attacks, while also using its aerial manoeuvrability to dive and weave around many that it couldn’t break through.

Seeing this, Xatu dug deeper into its wide arsenal of Psychic moves to stop its pursuer. An Imprison locked Crobat in place for a brief moment, and while Crobat was able to swiftly break out with a Dark Pulse, a sudden image of Xatu with a charged up Zen Headbutt appeared right in front of it. Crobat quickly unleashed a wide slash with a Cross Poison, only to find that the image of Xatu was another illusion.

The real Xatu appeared behind Crobat and blasted it with another Psychic, knocking Crobat backwards and right into a prepared Future Sight. The double hit of supereffective attacks disoriented Koga’s ace, buying time for Xatu to cripple it further with a Confuse Ray.

Now confused and paralysed, Crobat was definitely far less of a threat than before. To its credit, its eyes remained focus despite its double status afflictions, but it was having a much harder time trying to pursue Xatu. Though it remained just focused and mobile enough to prevent Xatu from just Resting up and removing the poison.

Yet now Koga’s ace was forced onto the defensive, and it was clear that it was ill-suited for it. Crobat were ambushing Pokémon, meant for burst offenses that relied on its incredible speed to secure a victory. But in the current condition it was in, against a foe far more mobile than it, it was completely unable to keep up.

Nor did it have the endurance to remain in the fight for much longer.

Finally, another Dark Pulse from Crobat went wide, and it unfortunately flew towards and into an attack because of its confusion, allowing Xatu a free hit as the Psychic type blasted it with a rippling pulse of psychic energy.

That was one attack too much for the Crobat, and Koga’s starter began to fall out of the sky as its eyes began to close. However, in a desperate final act of sheer willpower and discipline, it forced its eyes to remain open as it pushed itself to the limit, delivering one final slash with its wings at Xatu.

…Only to miss once again as Xatu had already Teleported away. That must have been a bitter pill to swallow as Crobat was finally knocked out of the match.

It was a great victory for Will, putting the match at 5-4 in his favour, though not one that came without a cost. Crobat had inflicted significant injuries to Xatu, and it had bought time to allow the spreading poison within Xatu to tick away at its health, with its symptoms growing even more prominent – Xatu’s skin had grown sickly and diseased, and even if it tried to hide it, its wing beats and Teleports were far more sluggish than when the fight first began.  

For all of its psychic prowess, only a Rest would allow it to purge the poison from sapping away all of its health.

Unfortunately, Koga would not give him that opportunity as he immediately sent out his Ariados.

At first, I wondered how an Ariados would be able to deal with a target that could fly and was as mobile as Xatu proved to be. I didn’t think Ariados would have any method of reaching a target that was in mid-air.

However, Koga was very quick to prove those assumptions false.

“Pin Missile, Ariados. Harass it down.”

Ariados took up a firing position before beginning to fire off volleys of incredibly fast, and lethally sharp pins towards Xatu. They were shot out like sniper rounds, whizzing through the air like a high velocity bullet.

Though they still weren’t fast enough to catch Xatu, who was able to continually dodge away with a Teleport, it did manage to prevent Xatu from Resting up – which was likely Koga’s intent.

Ariados remained firmly focused on its mission, continuing to fire off a constant barrage of Pin Missiles that forced Xatu to dodge. Sure, the Psychic type responded with its own arsenal of counterattacks, but Ariados expertly made use of its String Shots to slingshot itself around the arena to dodge out of the way of several Psychics.

Had this gone on for longer, I was confident that it would only be a matter of time before Xatu would be able to take down Ariados, since its Pin Missiles were only good for harassing and couldn’t actually land a blow while there must have been something Xatu could do with its incredible movepool to catch and lock down Ariados.

However, Xatu was this close to succumbing to its poison, which forced Will’s hand.

“Rest and heal up, Xatu!”

“NOW! GET CLOSE AND FINISH IT OFF!”

As soon as Xatu shut its eyes, it began to fall out of the sky as it Rested. Seeing this, Ariados rapidly skittered over to it before pouncing onto it and stabbing down hard with a vicious Leech Life. It followed that up by ruthlessly sinking its fangs deep into the sleeping Xatu, delivering another dose of deadly toxins with a Cross Poison.

With Xatu still forcefully asleep, Ariados was all too happy to tear into this gift-wrapped present that was delivered right into its waiting claws. It slashed down with a flurry of attacks, striking with a series of Leech Life, Cross Poison, and Night Slashes.

Despite regaining some health with Rest, there was no chance that a frail Xatu would be able to withstand and out-heal Ariados’ ruthless assault. At one point, Xatu’s eyes actually snapped open as a particularly brutal Night Slash jolted it awake, but a Megahorn disoriented it before it could force Ariados away with a Psychic.

I had no idea if Xatu had managed to Rest enough to purge the poison from itself, but it didn’t matter in the end. Another Night Slash sent Xatu tumbling to the ground as it clutched painfully at its side, and both trainers knew that the fight was over.

However, Will had one final parting gift for Koga.

“Power Swap!”

The psychic move was released and took hold in an instant, sending out a small orb of light that was absorbed by Ariados just as it finished off Xatu with a final Megahorn. Xatu finally fell, but not before detrimentally swapping around its attacking stats with Ariados.

The crowd, who hadn’t had the time to properly process Crobat’s defeat, finally roared to life as Will’s starter went down. They cheered and screamed their approval of both trainers, but unlike before, a sizeable portion had now turned their support towards Will, showering him with praise for his starter’s commanding 2v1 victory.

The score was now at an even 5-5. Whoever won the next round would win the entire battle.

And so, it was down to this. An injured Ariados from Koga versus an injured Slowking from Will.

Yet, before Will moved to send out his final Pokémon, the two trainers stared each other down with a look of mutual respect.

“Whatever happens, happens.” Will said at last, “This was a well-fought battle. I am honoured to have you as my opponent.”

“Indeed.” Koga agreed, “My blood has not boiled like this in excitement for some time. You have far surpassed my expectations. This has been a battle to remember.”

Will chuckled, though he quickly returned to his usual seriousness, “This is it then. No hard feelings between us, but let the better trainer win.”

Koga nodded, and Will sent out his final Pokémon.

His Slowking emerged, still wounded and badly poisoned from its previous battles against Weezing and Venomoth. Its Regenerator ability did heal it up somewhat, but far from enough to restore it to full health. It immediately tried to remedy that with a Slack Off.

But Ariados wasn’t just going to wait around, and it tried to latch onto it with a String Shot while also rapidly skittering its way closer to Slowking. An incoming Psychic ripped apart its String Shot, but Ariados leaped out of the way before it could also be hit.

A tidal wave of Water tried to wash the Bug back, but Ariados pounced into the air to avoid the Surf…only to leap straight into a Future Sight that had been set.

Ariados was thrown back by the impact, but this time it managed to throw out a String Shot that successfully latched onto Slowking. Ariados immediately used that to swing itself around and land right next to Slowking, partially deflecting a Psychic with a Night Slash before headbutting Slowking with a supereffective Megahorn.

But before Ariados could follow up it was suddenly locked in place with an Imprison. It broke out with another Night Slash, but it didn’t account for the surprise Fire Punch that smashed into its face.

Fortunately for Ariados, it didn’t get burned, and it reoriented itself and rolled to the side just as another Psychic blasted a hole in the ground where it was previously.

Likely thinking that Ariados would be able to block another Psychic, and knowing Slowking had to stay on the offensive before it succumbed to its poison, rocks began levitating into the air as Slowking switched tactics and try to crush the Bug with a Power Gem. The rocks began to rain down from the sky, forming craters as they crashed into the ground, but Ariados proved its agility as it skittered across the ground, avoiding each and every rock as they fell.

Realising the Power Gem wasn’t effective, Slowking’s eyes began to flash blue once again, but the attack came out far slower than I expected, giving Ariados enough time to interrupt it with a ferocious X-Scissor into Leech Life combo.

Yet this time Slowking remained on its feet, counterattacking with a quick blast of a Water Pulse that disoriented the Ariados. Then its eyes suddenly glowed a blindingly bright blue as a huge force of Psychic energy detonated around Slowking, sending out a powerful shockwave that sent everything flying back.

Ariados was no exception to this, and even its attempted String Shot was unable to shoot forwards as it too was pushed back by this forceful detonation of Slowking’s psychic energies, leaving the Bug to be thrown helplessly through the air as it landed unceremoniously onto the ground.

However, Slowking was in no position to follow up. In its desperation to shake off Ariados, it had expended a significant amount of his Psychic reserves in that explosion, meaning that it was temporarily out of energy.

Seeing this, Ariados was the first to recover from its injuries, firing off another String Shot around Slowking’s belly as it swung itself once again towards its target. At this point, the effects of the poison was growing increasingly crippling to Slowking, and its movements almost looked shambling as it failed to shrug off the Bug.

Landing behind the Slowking, Ariados targeted its leg as it slashed down hard with a brutal X-Scissor, causing Slowking to stumble and fell onto its knee. Yet despite the poison flowing through it, Slowking was not Will’s most defensive Pokémon for nothing.

It forcefully refused to fall over, retaliating with a surprising blast of Psychic that took Ariados off-guard and knocked it back slightly. Then, a Flamethrower came out of its mouth, though Ariados had already scurried away before it could get caught up in the flames.

Seeing this, Koga gave out a different order.

“Keep your distance and Pin Missile.”

Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Slowking succumbed to the poison, Ariados fell back, creating distance as to make it harder for Slowking to hit it with a Psychic or Surf. Then, repeating what it did against Xatu, Ariados took up a firing position as it started firing off further volleys of Pin Missiles to harass Slowking while the poison did its work.

But Slowking knew that if it fell, then its trainer would have lost. It knew that it was the last Pokémon standing that would determine victory or defeat. It knew that if it allowed Ariados to whittle it down, it was going to lose.

Therefore, with a surge of willpower, Slowking forced itself to its feet while its eyes began to flash blue once more. A Pin Missile flew right through it as it Teleported out of the way, appearing to the side of Ariados and blasting it with the most powerful Psychic that it could muster up.

Yet Ariados reacted quickly, throwing itself out of the way so that it only took a glancing blow. It let out a pained cry, but it still managed to pivot on the spot and lunged towards Slowking with a Leech Life. A Future Sight detonated on the Bug mid-air, but it wasn’t powerful enough to knock it away.

A last-ditch Imprison tried to stop it in the air, but it just came too late. Ariados jabbed deep into Slowking with its jaws, draining it of its health before laying into Slowking with a merciless flurry of supereffective attacks.

Slowking desperately tried to fend off this assault with a Protect, but Ariados was unrelenting, forcing through its own injuries as it furiously tried to finish of Will’s final Pokémon. And no matter its willpower, Slowking’ eyes eventually rolled back into its head – which fell limply onto the ground. Slowking had finally fallen.

The dream of a reversal was over. Koga was the victor.

“WOAH! AND SLOWKING FINALLY GOES DOWN TO KOGA’S ARIADOS, LEAVING WILL WITH NO MORE POKÉMON! THAT MEANS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THAT TODAY WE WELCOME OUR LATEST ELITE FOUR MEMBER. HE IS A GYM LEADER NO LONGER, FOR AFTER THIS VICTORY, HE IS NOW ELITE KOGA!! GIVE IT UP FOR OUR LATEST ELITE FOUR MEMBER AND HIS AMAZING VICTORY!!”

And we had a new Elite Four.

A.N. KOGA WINS! Just like Karen vs Sidney, I intended for this battle to be as close as possible while still highlighting both trainer’s strengths, and it suffered through many rewrites as I tried to get that dynamic just right. I hope it got it right.

While the last chapter focused on Koga’s strengths, just like the Interlude stated I wanted to show that Will was more than capable of standing on his own two feet. The reversal was nearly achievable, but Koga’s poison types proved to just be a slight step above. However, who knows what would happen in a rematch?

Nevertheless, we will dive into the consequences of this victory/defeat in the next chapter. And for those who like Will – I promise his story isn’t over yet. He might have lost, but it’s not over for him.