Chapter 167

The Honchkrow was a wraith, a spectre of Sam’s inevitable defeat. Darkness stuck to its feathers like tar, and energy drifted off its body like ash as it lifted itself back into the air and curved around to land before Xavier.

Trevenant, with a long gash in the bark of his chest, disappeared into red light. As he slowly clipped his Pokéball back to his belt, Sam spoke the sole question that entered his mind.

“Why?”

“Why, what?” Xavier repeated. “Do you mean why do this? Why send out Honchkrow? Or why Honchkrow wants revenge?”

Settling down in front of its trainer, the Honchkrow brought ira wings in just to leer at Sam. The weight of its piercing red gaze felt as though it stabbed into him, and its expression was filled with such malicious intent that it wouldn’t have been out of place on a malevolent spirit.

“Your Trevenant was the one to call Honchkrow to Route 43’s forest,” Xavier said, his voice lacking any emotion to it. “Honchkrow came because he owed Trevenant. Trevenant once brought him a berry to help with a broken wing. So, with Trevenant’s call, he answered, and he thought he would do something—actually achieve something—but all he got was... nothing. Nothing happened. All of that fanfare, and he was just forgotten. All of the other Pokémon might have been fine with it, but him? It ate away at him. He didn’t even get a thanks.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam said softly.

The Honchkrow tilted its hat to obscure its eyes, letting its expression disappear into its shade.

“Yeah. He knows. But it’s just...” Xavier clenched his fists. “Is it so wrong to want to feel important for once?”

His gaze turned to the field, and the way he gritted his teeth made Sam’s chest twist. However, that sight lasted for only a second, and Xavier’s stare was brought back to Sam as he waited for the battle to resume.

They still had a fight to get through.

Alright. Think, Sam, think! How do we counter a Pokémon with crazy strong moves? Trevenant can take a punishment, but Trevenant is—

He exhaled. Trevenant was unconscious. Honchkrow had taken him out in a single hit.

Destiny Bond is too obvious. Gengar and Mismagius are too vulnerable. Typhlosion and Drakloak are both injured, but Annihilape might be skilled enough. Except, he’s trained to take many hits, not single, super effective criticals. He could likely keep himself up, but a single move is barely going to do anything for him to let him enhance his Rage Fist.

Yet, weighing his options, Sam still chose Annihilape, but it wasn’t for his Pokémon’s strength. On the field before him, the hulking ape Pokémon let out a grunt as he appeared. Annihilape brought back his head back to glare at Honchkrow, and his growing rage made his hair rise and fade into smoky wisps.

“Curse,” Sam ordered.

To handle Honchkrow, his only options were to either avoid its attacks or limit the time it could spend in battle.

As a clawed shadow formed over Annihilape’s hand, he let his jagged fingers dig into his chest, and he was immediately struck by the pain of that Curse. Honchkrow was forced to pull up and back before swooping down for another hit.

For all of the intent it had to land another Night Slash, against Annihilape, getting close would be too much of a risk.

“Tailwind,” Xavier ordered instead.

A wind began to blow out from behind the Honchkrow as it flew. Its speed rapidly picked up. And, after his Curse-inflicted injury, Annihilape had to take a moment just to stabilize himself on the field.

The Honchkrow’s conjured winds were harsh, but they carried the Honchkrow along, making it move that much faster than before. However, there was a wobble to its path and a strain to the flaps of its wings—the Curse was eating at it, but Xavier didn’t let it last that long.

Honchkrow had already taken out one Pokémon, and now that its Tailwind was set up, the bird was pulled back off the field.

So Curse did make him return Honchkrow. It won’t be taking any further damage from Curse when it’s next sent out, but it’s at least no longer actively threatening us.

I’ll pretend that’s good.

We don’t need to deal with it just yet. Xavier has lost a bit of his momentum. We need to claim that for ourselves, except...

Sam bit the inside of his cheek. Honchkrow might have been gone, but the threat it carried was still there. Although he didn’t need to worry about it right now, it could still come back out later. He also still had to worry about every other Pokémon on Xavier’s team.

This was not an easy match.

As much as Sam wanted to laugh again, to show once more that this battle was fun, he couldn’t. Not after that. With Trevenant’s faint, Xavier had firmly established his ground. Sam needed to search for every possible opening and order his Pokémon perfectly if he wanted to win.

Replacing Honchkrow was Xavier’s Noctowl, and it appeared already flying in the air. Its wings caught the Honchkrow’s Tailwind, and that constant gust let it race ahead with great speed, the force following it even as it turned and changed directions.

“Foresight. Air Slash,” Xavier ordered.

“Rock Slide, Annihilape!” Sam shouted in return.

Eyes flashed. Noctowl identified Annihilape. His Ghost Type would be useless—and now it knew exactly where to aim as it flapped its wings for an Air Slash.

Terrifyingly, this move came out without making even a single sound. As it was composed of the air itself, it was also almost invisible, only barely present through the white-tinted arcs of the blades hurtling toward where Annihilape stood.

In reaction, Annihilape quickly shoved his arms into the ground, and he tore up the field before him. Dirt, compressed into stone with Rock Type energy, hurtled upwards toward both the attack and his foe.

Noctowl easily avoided the Rock Slide, but the hurtling stones disrupted its Air Slash.

Then, Sam had to make a decision.

“Return,” he said, trying not to let any of his nerves creep into his voice.

He’d had victories in the first two matchups of this fight, but his team had taken great sacrifices to achieve them. Poliwrath was burned, its physical potential greatly reduced, and Yanmega was now injured and paralyzed. However, in exchange, Typhlosion had become heavily injured, and Drakloak was nearly exhausted.

Simply put, Sam couldn’t afford another trade like that.

Instead, as he sent out his next Pokémon, cackles rang out, and Mimsagius let shadows erupt from behind her. An almost mocking grin crossed her face, and Noctowl’s eyes reflexively flashed for another Foresight.

“Confuse Ray. Night Shade. Will-O-Wisp,” Sam ordered.

The order of attacks felt nonsensical, but Mismagius knew what plan Sam meant.

Her arms twisted around her; she spun to release her moves. A surprise beam of illusions shot out to strike the flying Noctowl between the eyes, and darkness pulsed to surround her in a sphere. Then, like hornets leaving their nest, her flames broke through her Night Shade to race toward where the Noctowl was still in flight.

“Whirlwind,” Xavier ordered.

With a flap of its wings and a burst of wind, Mismagius’s flames all dissipated at once.

“Hyper Beam,” he said next.

“Hyper Beam!?” Sam repeated, barely able to believe his ears.

He roared for Mismagius to get out of there, and her sphere of shadows flicked back as she rushed to escape across the field. Distance would not provide cover, but it would provide time to react. And, she had a slight bit of saving grace: Noctowl was confused.

But that wasn’t true. Though her Confuse Ray had landed, Noctowl tracked her straight through her illusions.

Sam was so used to the weakened version of the move used in Chuck’s matches that he had completely forgotten Foresight let a Pokémon ignore forms of evasion. Confuse Ray was meant to solely confuse, but that wasn’t how his Pokémon were using it.

With perfect aim, Noctowl let the wind blow it higher into the air, and a sphere of light formed in front of its chest as it bent its wings. The sphere’s glow was almost blinding, but Sam could at least call for one thing:

“Power Gem!”

The two lasers struck.

Completely and utterly, the Hyper Beam consumed Mismagius’s Power Gem laser. Her ongoing Night Shade was burned away, and the power of Noctowl’s move made her cry out in pain.

But she wasn’t the only one hit. Her Power Gem had managed to pierce through. Though it had been consumed by the Hyper Beam, it had also stabbed through like a needle entering a straw. Just like how the Hyper Bam had consumed her, her Power Gem stabbed right at the Noctowl’s chest.

A coarse hoot left its throat; the super effective move had hurt. When the light of its Hyper Beam faded away, Mismagius was still up, breathing heavily, majorly wounded, the gemstone on her chest glinting in the field’s light as if to threaten another Power Gem.

As much as Sam wanted Mismagius to heal here, he couldn’t call for a Pain Split after that. Noctowl was too injured to make that work. Using it now would see little benefit, and all it would do would be to give Noctowl an opening to finish Mismagius off.

At least, there was a bright side to this situation—the Tailwind petered out.

Right now, Mismagius was faster.

Sam had a chance.

But instead, Noctowl just disappeared in a flash of light as Xavier returned his Pokémon.

“No!”

Sam didn’t realize he had shouted out that outburst until after it had left his throat.

If he had called for a Mean Look, Noctowl wouldn’t have escaped. Instead, using that move had never even entered his mind because it hadn’t seemed necessary.

No, that’s not true, Sam realized. I never had a chance to use it because barely any time passed. Xavier never gave Mismagius the freedom to use more than one attack.

“Donphan,” Xavier said as he chose his next Pokémon. His voice was flat and even. “Ice Shard.”

“Ice Shard?” Sam repeated.

It was an unfortunate, surprise move.

Shadow Sneak wouldn’t have worked; Ice Shard caught both Sam and Mismagius off guard. This completely healthy Donphan should have been the perfect chance for her to heal with Pain Split. Instead, a shard of ice formed in front of Donphan’s tusks, and before Mismagius could realize what was going on, the ice shot out with blinding speed to strike her in the chest.

After the Noctowl’s Hyper Beam, that was enough. The chip damage finished off Mismagius, and Sam’s team suffered the second knockout of the fight.

And we’re the only side with fainted Pokémon.

He didn’t miss that he was down two while Xavier still had his entire team.

Sam was losing.

Badly.

For every inch he’d managed to pry away, Xavier had carved himself a foot.

Not one Pokémon on Xavier’s team was a pushover, and Sam was struggling to recover his position. Breathing out, he was forced to take a moment to center himself, using the same strategy to calm down that had worked so many times before in the past. He couldn’t let this match get to his head, no matter how much Xavier felt like a towering figure in his mind.

Across from him, that same trainer was completely silent.

Xavier was a giant. A mountain-sized wall to cross and overcome.

But yet, Sam had already climbed a mountain once before, and Xavier’s current icy attitude was nothing compared to the peak’s bone-chilling winds.

“Alright. Enough of that! No getting stuck in a spiral! No getting consumed by defeat!” Sam shouted, slapping his own face. “Xavier! You’ve made some great moves in your favor, but that doesn’t mean much! This isn’t my battle to lose! It’s your battle to win!”

Xavier blinked.

“That’s not—”

“Yeah, I know,” Sam said flatly. “I was trying to imply that you still have to fight to win instead of just carrying yourself to victory, but, well...”

For some reason, he swore he could hear Redi laugh.

Still, he knew how to handle this Donphan. He just needed to take this moment to calm himself and choose a strategy.

His smile returning, one of his Pokémon made their second appearance.

Annihilape once again hit the field.

His Pokémon was breathing heavier due to the self-inflicted damage from Curse, but out of every Pokémon on Xavier’s team, his Donphan was the one Sam knew how to counter the most. And, with Annihilape’s appearance, both Pokémon stared off. There was an edge to their gaze, not quite hostility, but definitely a desire to fight.

Oh, yeah. They had a standoff in Azalea’s Pokémon Center, didn’t they?

Sam pointed forward in the same moment he heard Xavier give a command.

“Defense Curl. Rollout,” Xavier said.

But Sam knew those orders had just sealed his victory.

“Bulk Up.”

Clearly, Xavier had figured out how Rage Fist functioned. Sam had tried to keep its uses subtle, but Xavier had seen right through all of that. Though the move had only ever come out once, it was like Xavier had dissected that momented. He had his Donphan roll in rapid circles around Annihilape to build speed and force rather than use its move to attack with increasing power several times.

He was either doing that to avoid the strength increase of Rage Fist, or he was just waiting for Rollout to hit its peak before striking, anyway.

No matter what his reasoning was, both Pokémon had time to build themselves up. Pulling itself tight, the Donphan was a tire that left deeper and deeper grooves in the dirt. Annihilape, meanwhile, stayed in one place and watched. His eyes flicked around as he controlled his breathing, and he tracked his opponent while his blood began to pump.

Finally, Donphan was moving fast enough that it almost kicked up a sandstorm into the air.. A veritable sand tornado formed around Annihilape, and the Donphan leaped—

“Drain Punch!” Sam yelled.

With a crash, Annihilape’s fist slammed against the spinning wheel that was Donphan, and though his hand ground against the Pokémon’s attack, the ongoing spin did not halt. What did halt was the Rollout’s forward momentum. Donphan tried to dig into him, but Annihilape’s ongoing punch fought against that.

Then, slowly, red energy leeched off Donphan’s body and into Annihilape’s arm. With every drop that sank into him, his arm grew in size and strength, and a certain vitality returned to his face.

Eventually, he finished his punch.

With the sheer force of that follow-through, Donphan flew back, its Rollout interrupted, and it landed on the field, panting heavily.

Though he had not secured a faint, Annihilape looked better than ever before. He remained in that same spot he had stood when first sent out. Enhancing Drain Punch with Bulk Up meant the damage was enough to practically restore all of his health.

This was the combination that made an Annihilape so dangerous. Rage Fist was a finisher, not a primary attack. Every hit an Annihilape sustained built their rage to unleash in a finale, and Drain Punch gave them the healing needed to last as long as they could.

“So how do you like that, Xavier?!” Sam shouted. “Pretty great, right?”

Sam was smiling again, more than just proud of his Pokémon. Honestly, he hadn’t known if this would work; Drain Punch was only partially functional when they had left the Ilex Forest. Annihilape had practiced over the few weeks they spent there, but his focus was on Ghost Type moves. Drain Punch was very much a last-minute development, and it was Annihilape’s very final surprise.

I wanted to save at least one move for Redi, but at least we’re revealing it against Xavier and not anyone else. But this means Annihilape has shown off everything he knows. Other than a few basic strategies, he doesn’t have any secrets past this.

Out of everyone here, Sam felt as though he was the most tired. His Pokémon were fighting, but they were used to exhaustion. He wanted to win, and the stress was getting to him. Knowing that Drain Punch had landed so well helped a lot, and he and Annihilape waited for Xavier’s response—

But all they got was a sigh.

“Donphan, just... Finish it with Fissure.”

“What,” Sam said flatly.

Annihilape lunged, trying to reach where Donphan landed on the other side of the field before it could use this move, but his Drain Punch had simply knocked Donphan too far away. The heavy Pokémon in front of Xavier reared up on its feet only to slam down with its full body weight.

The impact sent a deep crack shooting out toward Annihilape, and the field opened up beneath him. It caught him off guard; his jump had not been long enough. Into that opening, he fell.

The two sides of the field then slammed shut.

Silence stretched out; the truth sank in.

Fissure had hit, and Fissure was a one-hit K.O. move.

“...You’ve never used that before,” Sam said.

“I’ve never needed to. I was saving it for a moment like this,” Xavier replied.

Donphan let its legs slam into the ground again, but this time, it wasn’t to attack. A pillar of earth broke through the floor to bring the fainted Annihilape back to the surface.

Sam had no words. He watched his unconscious Pokémon lie on the ground, remaining there without even a hint of motion to him. The referee’s face was tense yet blank—Annihilape didn’t look like he was breathing. But Sam wasn’t worried. He could tell his Pokémon was okay, just fainted. After all, Annihilape’s breathing tended to be incredibly light, and there were times he didn’t breathe at all when he slept.

Slowly, though his fainted Pokémon was still on the field, Sam felt the corners of his mouth twist up.

Before he knew it, a laugh escaped his throat.

After that, another.

And then, another.

Soon, Sam was laughing harder than he expected.

“This is a great battle! Your Pokémon are crazy strong!”

Sam had to clutch his stomach as he returned Annihilape, and he honestly wasn’t sure why he kept cackling. The audience mumbled, as if worried, and he could only imagine what they must have been seeing. Likely, a trainer, churning shadows underneath him, laughing madly at the scene in which his Pokémon had fainted.

Picturing that image just made him laugh harder, and Xavier scowled.

“Why?” Xavier snapped out. “What act like this?”

“Because,” Sam breathed, hardly believing what he was doing, himself, “I’ve been waiting all season for this. For a real battle. A proper one. One that I’ve been wanting to have since the very beginning, and one that’s a true, impossible challenge!”

Everyone would know his team’s strength now.

Sam’s heart was racing for so many different reasons. He was on the edge, on a cliff, and he could feel his blood pumping through his veins. For all of the times he’d been panicked in the past, for all of the times he’d been so worried, this was unquestionably the worst position he and his team had ever been in.

Yet, he knew his team had a chance. His Pokémon could still win.

“Gengar!” Sam roared, breaking through his laughter with a smile. “Hypnosis!”

“Rollout!” Xavier yelled for a counter..

Donphan hopped up to return to its wheel, and it hurtled itself across the field toward Gengar, but Gengar’s smile was as bright as Sam’s.

From the air, he zipped down to meet Donphan’s charge.

This powerful Rock Type move was a powerful Rock Type move, but that was only if it had time to build momentum. Gengar was not a strong, physical Pokémon, but he could at least take this bare minimum hit, and he let his arms phase into the Donphan’s sides to see the Pokémon come to a halt.

Donphan slid, genuinely shocked at the unexpected stall, and it looked up in obvious surprise.

And Gengar was right there, waiting for it, prepared for this moment he had set up.

With a Hypnosis, Donphan’s eyes rolled back into its head, and Xavier wasn’t able to return his Pokémon. This time around, Sam actually remembered to call for a Mean Look, and Donphan was stuck, defenseless, as Gengar laughed and bounced around it and ate away at its dreams.

“Donphan is unable to battle!” the referee called out after a minute. “Trainer Xavier, send out your next Pokémon!”

“That’s our first K.O.,” Sam said, still smiling.

“So what?” Xavier snapped.

“So, we’re about to clean up!” Sam replied.

Yanmega came out. Sam wasn’t sure why. What Xavier didn’t realize was that while Sam’s other team members had practiced the attack more, Gengar had figured out Hex first.

Deep purple flames washed out of his arms in a fan, and though a Bug Buzz disrupted most of them, Hex was practically Gengar’s secret weapon. He didn’t need the entire wisps to land, only their embers, and the second those spectral flakes landed on the Yanmega, it jerked around as they joined in with its paralysis to course right through it.

It fainted there.

“Yanmega is unable to battle!” the referee announced next. “Trainer Xavier, send out your next Pokémon!”

“Get at least one more, alright, Gengar?” Sam asked.

Gengar’s answer came alongside a merry laugh.

Xavier, gritting his teeth, practically tore his next Pokéball away from his belt. His Noctowl appeared here, and that Pokémon was almost the perfect counter. Between its Foresight, Normal Type, and Insomnia ability, most of what Gengar could do would be shut down.

But Gengar wouldn’t let himself be taken out without a fight.

He let himself fall onto the field, and his feet entered his own shadow. Like riding on a pair of roller skates, he slid back, laughing, even as the Noctowl chased him with silent blades of wind slicing off of its wings.

“Hyper Beam! No, Psychic!”

Xavier was getting frustrated.

“Shadow Ball!” Sam ordered.

“Why?!” Xavier shouted.

Tiny balls of darkness appeared in Gengar’s hands, and he tossed them up, but all they did was splash against the Normal Type Noctowl harmlessly without dealing damage.

Gengar laughed and laughed and laughed, and Noctowl was led on a merry chase around the entire field. Its attacks were ineffectual against the sheer agility he was displaying, and his own attacks seemed to do nothing but make it mad.

“Psychic!” Xavier shouted, his voice low and demanding.

Finally, Noctowl caught up, and a Psychic Type glow utterly encased Gengar.

He squirmed in its grip; this move was super effective. The telekinetic grab brought him off the floor and into the air, where the Noctowl almost seemed to delight in his pain.

But, through the move, Gengar’s smile returned, and he looked right at his opponent.

“There you go, Gengar,” Sam said quietly.

Noctowl wasn’t prepared for Gengar to suddenly spit acid right into its face.

Rather than drop Gengar, the Noctowl squeezed in surprise, and the Psychic Type attack finished off Sam’s Poison Type Pokémon. However, the Acid Spray left Noctowl screeching. The move had gotten into its eyes and was eating away at its special defense.

“Drakloak!” Sam yelled, his pair of Dragon Types appearing above the Noctowl. “Do it!”

Dreepy’s screams of delight were wonderful to hear. Though tired, Drakloak could still attack, and she sent her brother rocketing toward their opponent, with Dragon Type energy utterly encasing him.

Noctowl looked up too late.

Dreepy and his Dragon Pulse smashed right into its chest.

There, the referee called out one more time.

“Noctowl is unable to battle!” he announced, his voice carrying. “Trainer Xavier, please send out your next Pokémon!”

Silently, Xavier returned his Noctowl. That was three of his Pokémon fainting in such an incredibly short period of time. The audience was roaring. Their cheers pierced through the air.

Sam was honestly surprised when he realized that he hadn’t noticed them until now.

“You... Even after all this time, you’re fighting like this. Why?” Xavier asked.

“Because my Pokémon are my friends. Because I don’t let down my friends. Because I want to help people, and because you’re my friend, Xavier.”

Xavier sent out his Poliwrath, and there was an exchange. Sam hardly paid attention. He watched the other trainer’s face even as Xavier called for moves, but ultimately, another Hex caught it. Typhlosion had sacrificed a lot to make sure Poliwrath was burned.

And then, Xavier only had two Pokémon left. His Honchkrow, and one more.

He looked over the field and over Sam’s Pokémon. Dreepy sent him a loud, happy squeak, proud of his participation, but Drakloak looked to be on the verge of passing out.

“Night Slash,” Xavier ordered next, and his Honchkrow appeared as a shadow that rushed straight toward Drakloak.

Its attack was delivered with ferocity. Drakloak did not have the energy left to dodge.

She fell after Honchkrow’s wing swiped straight through her body. Dreepy grabbed his sister to try to save her before she fell out of the air, but Sam managed to return them both before they slammed into the floor.

The battle was left just like that, with Sam and Xavier facing off. The only Pokémon remaining on Sam’s team was Typhlosion, and she was injured enough to be in range of her Blaze.

For all of his successes, for all of his small victories, he was still in the worst position he’d ever been in his life. His entire team was unconscious save for one, and his final team member was on the verge of falling unconscious.

But yet, he smiled.

And Xavier asked again:

“Why?”

“Because I believe in you, and because I believe in my team,” Sam said. “And because I believe we’re going to win this battle, so I’ll say this:

“Typhlosion, use Blast Burn.”

As she appeared, her flames had never been brighter. Her will to battle had never been so intense. Atop the edge of the arena itself, the brazier with Ho-Oh’s flames burned, but for a moment, it was almost like Typhlosion’s purple light threatened to put them out.

She breathed, and her fire breathed. A volcano erupted from her back.

“Night Slash! Now!” Xavier screamed.

His Honchkrow dove right into her heat, a wing smashing across her chest.

That should have finished her off, but Typhlosion toughed it out because she and Sam were friends.

“LET’S DO THIS!” Sam roared.

“Get back, Honchkrow!” Xavier yelled in a complete panic.

No longer so confident, the crow Pokémon squawked and tried its best to get away, but Typhlosion’s dark flames consumed her, and she became an apparition that controlled the flood of fire that followed in her wake.

Briefly, the Honchkrow disappeared.

Barriers flashed around the field as fire consumed every visible space.

When they faded, all that was left was heat.

Typhlosion stood, barely conscious, and the Honchkrow was left twitching, smoking, and otherwise unmoving.

It had fainted.

“Honchkrow is unable to battle,” the referee said for one last time. “Trainer Xavier, send out your next Pokémon!”

He only had one left.

Xavier was silent as he returned his Honchkrow, and he solemnly clipped his Pokémon’s ball back to his belt. Typhlosion had the barest amount of stamina left, and she was continuing to stand through willpower alone. Blast Burn had taken practically everything out of her, and the sheer amount of energy used in that move meant she needed to take time to recover. As it stood, even a gentle breeze could finish her off.

Given Xavier had one more team member, the fate of this match boiled down to whether or not he sent it out.

Waiting, tense, Sam held his breath.

The arena seemed to go still.

“You did it. I can’t believe... You actually did it,” Xavier mumbled. “You told me to use my final Pokémon, and I—”

He laughed.

He laughed again.

For a while, he didn’t stop laughing.

Xavier’s reaction was one completely unlike him, and he looked almost as manic as Sam had felt before. His cackles echoed around the arena like a ghost’s, even as people in the crowd started to mutter in worry.

Xavier laughed for long enough that Typhlosion had time to recharge.

“Trainer Xavier!” the referee shouted. “Send out your next Pokémon!”

“I will!” Xavier said as he wiped an eye. “I just... I need a moment.”

He took one last breath in, and he grabbed a new Pokéball.

The Pokémon contained within appeared on the field.

Upon the audience laying their eyes on it, even more murmurs broke out, with these ones coming in confusion.

Other than Xavier, Sam was the only person here who recognized the species.

There, on the field, a small Pokémon with a pale body wrapped in an egg’s shell stood before Typhlosion. Defiant, it tried to punch to prove that it was ready, but doing so only made it fall onto its back.

“You’re kidding me,” Sam whispered to himself.

Xavier ignored him, and he silently watched his Pokémon rock back and forth as it struggled to return to its feet.

“...Trainer Xavier,” the referee said slowly, “What is this Pokémon?”

When Xavier spoke, he gave his answer singularly and confidently.

“Togepi,” he said.

And Sam knew there was no way that Xavier would win this battle.

========================================================================
Author Note:

As of Gen IV, Donphan learns Ice Shard as an Egg Move, and the Gen IV learnsets are the learnsets I use to determine the moves of the “powerful” trainers of this setting. In this time period, the average trainer tends to be stuck with Gen I / Gen II learnsets, but the more experienced trainers and the trainers more willing to learn get access to a greater variety of moves.

As two more quick comments, Typhlosion toughed it out as a reference to the games, specifically, the friendship / affection mechanics. With a strong enough bond with your Pokémon, they can withstand hits that’d otherwise knock them with the phrase “X toughed it out so you wouldn't feel sad!”

It’s happened a few times before in this fiction, but this is the first time I’ve ever written it so explicitly.

Finally, Togepi has been planned since the beginning, and I’ve tried to include several hints for it. The biggest hint I remember including was mentioning that Mr. Pokémon, alongside Professor Elm, was the one to donate the egg to the Beginner’s Tournament. That was meant to be a reference to how Mr. Pokémon is the source of the player’s Togepi egg in the games.

Pokémon included in this chapter:
Donphan
Honchkrow
Noctowl
Poliwrath
Togepi
Yanmega

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