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The New Normal - 10-14
🕑 Added 2024-07-08 11:00:08 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 10-14 – Ghostly Finale
Our planning almost went deep into the night, but we eventually called it quits so that we and our Pokémon could get a good night’s sleep before the upcoming battle. We were going to need it.
Besides, there was nothing more that we could really plan for. We had a decent understanding of what our opponents were capable of, having studied their past matches and all, but having things planned on paper and actually dealing with them for real were two different things entirely.
Still, I felt like we were as prepared as we were going to be going into this match. And luckily, depending how you thought about it, we were the first match of the day.
Karen, Cynthia, and Whitney had all sent texts over as soon as they heard the announcement of our upcoming match. While they all wished me well, Karen told me to kick Agatha’s ass for her.
I told her I was going to do my best.
As an additional piece of encouragement(?), Karen and Whitney both told me that they were going to be coming over to watch my match against the Champions. Apparently, both my parents were coming too, as they had to oversee the initial opening of the Mauville Branch of our family’s business, so they would be coming to see my match against the Champions as well. They wouldn’t arrive in time for the Finals, though.
That meant that it would REALLY suck to lose now and not give the match that they wanted. That just meant I couldn’t let them down now.
As we were the first match of the day, the rest of the morning flew by until it was already time for our showdown against Agatha and the twins. Roxanne and I stepped onto the stage to the roaring of the crowd. The cheers were considerably louder when Agatha took to the field though, perhaps due to her storied and more experienced reputation, and many more cheered for her victory.
It had been a long time since I was seen as the underdog, but I would prove to the crowd that they were wrong to think so.
“You look tense, John. Why? Scared of a few Ghosts?” Agatha taunted to me as soon as she approached. “Oh I can feel your mind whirring as you try to figure me out, but you really don’t need to think so hard. You’ll just burn yourself out. I promise we won’t be so easy to deal with compared to Winona and Samson, so maybe you could surrender right here and now and save this old lady the trouble.” I just snorted in response.
“And little Roxanne is here too.” She smiled, but there was no kindness in it, “I’m surprised. I thought you would be sitting it out so that it would be John against the both of us. Or is John going to have to carry you through this match too?”
The twins, who stood next to Agatha, were oddly silent at her mocking words. I would have thought that they would have spoken up to stop her, or at least say something rather than just keeping silent. That seemed very unusual for them.
And then it clicked for me. Agatha had told them to stay silent so that she could get the opportunity to unnerve us, because she knew Tate and Lisa would undermine her efforts.
Luckily for me, I had already warned Roxanne in advance to expect this kind of mockery from Agatha, so I hoped she could ignore it.
In the meanwhile, I grinned back at Agatha, “I said it before, but you being paired with the twins makes all of you look like one big family. It’s nice to see that the youth of today to be so caring for the elderly.”
“Bah, I’m not old and infirm just yet.” She scoffed, “And I can see that you trained your dear partner to ignore my words. You’re no fun at all.”
“And I can see that you told the children to stay quiet while you tried to rile us up.” I countered, “How naughty of you. You should let the kids talk. Who knows? They might have something more intelligent to say than the mockery that was spewing from your mouth.”
She rolled her eyes, “And when they do start talking, they never shut up.” Both of the twins smiled cheekily at her words, “I just wanted the peace and quiet.”
I ignored her and just smiled at the twins, “Do you like working with Agatha?”
They both nodded with big smiles, though they still didn’t say anything, “Well that’s good. Make sure she doesn’t fall over during the match. It’s not good for someone her age to exert herself like this.”
“And it’s not good for kids like you to get so mouthy to your elders.” She shot back, though the kids were already giggling. Even Roxanne had a small smile on her face, “Bah, the disrespect from you.”
She was cut off by the referee making their appearance known with your standard announcement before she could say anything else. Realizing that the time for talk was over, we all shared one final nod before we took our positions and got ready for the fight ahead.
This was going to be the final hurdle, but if Agatha was hoping to unnerve me then she had failed miserably. Victory would be mine.
“TRAINERS! ARE YOU READY?!” All five of us nodded.
“Three!...TWO!...ONE!...FIGHT!”
Luna and Sudowoodo came out on our side while a Gengar and Claydol came out on theirs. Luna immediately began setting up with what looked like a Calm Mind, while Claydol did the same as it began setting up both a Reflect and Light Screen before that was shut down by a Taunt from Sudowoodo.
It was a weak Taunt, and wouldn’t hold for very long, but it did its job.
Of course, that left Gengar unchecked, and with a cackle, the Ghost had already blinked behind Sudowoodo and blasted it with a powerful volley of Energy Balls. Sudowoodo stumbled from the impact and tried to retaliate with a Rock Throw, but Gengar proved much too quick for it as it vanished once again – only to reappear on the right of Sudowoodo again and shot it with another barrage of Shadow Balls.
And these Shadow Balls weren’t normal, as they left lingering wisps of spectral embers that managed to Burn the Rock type. Sudowoodo continued trying to fend off Gengar’s unrelenting assault, to little success. The Ghost type was running circles around the slower Sudowoodo. Yet Roxanne had been well-aware of how outmatched she was, and she knew her duty was to stall for as much time as possible.
In the meanwhile, Luna was still setting up with Calm Minds. Seeing the opportunity in front of it, Claydol aggressively Teleported next to my Fairy type, causing a surprised expression to break out on Luna’s face.
“Gyro Ball, Claydol! Punish it!”
“Shadow Claw.”
“WAIT, STOP! YOU FOOL!”
Agatha’s shouts of alarm came too late. Claydol had already begun spinning towards Luna, but instead of the look of surprise that it was expecting, Luna merely stood there with a sadistic grin on its face.
Then Luna pounced.
And Claydol was ripped apart by a single Shadow Claw, instantly cutting it down where it stood.
Claydol collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut just in time for Wraith’s illusion to fade – revealing his viciously grinning figure standing victoriously over his fallen opponent.
It was a one-hit KO, just as I planned.
This entire time, ‘Luna’ had not been setting up with Calm Minds. Instead, Wraith was setting up with Swords Dance meant to look like Calm Minds. Therefore, with his Attack greatly boosted, a supereffective Shadow Claw would annihilate any Pokémon weak to it.
I had obviously hoped to catch Agatha off-guard with this trick, but I wasn’t betting on it. She knew of Wraith’s capabilities, and was always a cautious fighter.
Surprised and shocked by their sudden defeat, the twins looked unsteady as they instantly threw out their next Pokémon, a Solrock. Judging by the sudden frown on Agatha’s face, that must not have been the plan. The twins likely jumped the gun.
And I wasted no time ordering Wraith to rush it down.
“Dark Pulse it, Gengar! Intercept!”
“Overheat, Solrock! Stop it!”
Agatha must have known that Solrock would not be able to fend off Wraith’s assault by itself, especially not with his boosts. So Gengar abandoned Sudowoodo to its pitiful amount of remaining health and quickly reappeared next to Wraith, unleashing a Dark Pulse to try to stop his advance. But Wraith was able to block that with his own Dark Pulse, before forcing Gengar to dodge out of the way with a Shadow Claw – giving him a clear line towards Solrock.
However, that was when a scorching wave of flames erupted out from Solrock. I was about to order Wraith to put up a Protect shield, but suddenly a wall of rocks shot up from below the ground, blocking the wave of fire.
“Helping Hand, Sudowoodo!”
With the last of its energies, Sudowoodo clapped its rocky hands together as Wraith surged forwards with a Shadow Sneak, sinking quickly into the ground as he went under the flames only to burst out from in front of Solrock before mercilessly slashing down with a boosted Shadow Claw.
Yet Gengar hadn’t been standing there idle. Punishing Wraith’s choice to ignore it, it let out another cackle as a vicious Curse set into Wraith, putting him on a timer as the unnatural and malicious energies began to rip through his body from the inside out.
But Wraith powered through the pain as he locked onto his target. Still stumbling from its injuries, and visibly panicking, the twins desperately ordered Solrock to Teleport away from there, only for it to be immediately shut down by a Taunt.
Wraith quickly followed that up by unleashing a point-blank Dark Pulse, blasting Solrock with the full intensity of its Dark power while also managing to block the incoming Dark Pulse from Gengar. Then, with the vicious and ruthless savageness that I’ve come to expect from him, Wraith tore Solrock apart as he violently shredded through the Psychic type with a flurry of Shadow Claws like the spectre of vengeance that he was.
Realising that rescuing Solrock was a lost cause, Gengar pragmatically abandoned its teammate as it blinked towards the tired Sudowoodo, bringing it down with a few Energy Balls that the Rock type barely had the energy to resist.
I thought that we had just secured an incredible lead, up until a violent Psychic Explosion abruptly detonated.
Solrock had just Exploded, and the resulting powerful wave of Psychic force proved that it was no normal Explosion. The arena was instantly turned into a ruin, with a spiderweb of glowing cracks now littering the arena from the resulting shockwaves of the detonation. And in the epicentre, I could barely make out a small crater that had formed which pulsed with glowing pink energy.
I frowned; there was no chance that Wraith could have survived that blast when he was hit by it face-first. He wasn’t Smough.
As the dust began to fade, I had already accepted Wraith’s defeat as I turned to Roxanne, “It’s going to a 2v1 against both of Agatha’s Gengars. Send out your best, stay defensive, and support me.”
She nodded, accepting her role. We both knew that just because we had knocked the twins out of the fight, as I had planned, didn’t mean that our victory was secured. In fact, it was far from it, as the battle was still a 2v2 – just that Agatha could only use one Pokémon at a time.
And there was no way Agatha was going to make things easy for us.
Then, with visibility now returning, I saw what I had expected. Both Wraith and Solrock were knocked out, but Gengar had evidently managed to avoid the blast with its shadowy tricks.
I gave Roxanne a nod and we both sent out our final Pokémon.
“Probopass, stay strong!”
“Vordt, go!”
Even though Probopass was Roxanne’s starter, it was Vordt’s presence that dominated the battlefield as he landed on the ground with an audible thump. I was initially tempted to make use of Smough, but knowing how slow both him and Probopass were, I feared Agatha’s nimble and agile Gengar could run circles around the both of us.
So I wasn’t taking risks. Wraith had done very well for himself this Tournament, and had really shown how useful he could be with his Illusions, but now was time for the big guns.
Now was the time for strength.
“URSA!!!!” My second most powerful Pokémon roared in a display of dominance, wasting no time as rocks began shooting out from the ground, immediately putting Gengar on the defensive. Frail as Gengar was, a single hit from any of these rocks might be enough to bring it down.
For the first time during this fight, Gengar was actually the one being pressured, as it found itself completely surrounded and overwhelmed by the sheer landslide of rocks shooting its way. It tried to make more space for itself by firing off its own Shadow Balls, but there was no chance that it could match the sheer volume of attacks from Vordt.
Gengar tried to sneak in a few Energy Balls towards Vordt, but they were quickly shredded in the air by his endless Rock Slide.
In the meanwhile, Probopass whipped up a Sandstorm that covered the whole arena, giving it a much needed Special Defense boost against the barrage of Special Attacks that was bound to come its way. Then, Probopass’ eyes narrowed in concentration as it began trying to Lock-On to the Gengar, which Gengar failed to notice as it was too busy trying to fend off Vordt.
Vordt continued pressuring Gengar, never letting up with his Rock Slides to buy time for Probopass. Then, as soon as the Lock-On could be properly targeted, Probopass buzzed as it gave the signal.
“ZAP CANNON!”
A single orb of crackling electricity burst out from the Probopass, rocketing through the air with incredible speed. Caught off-guard, Gengar didn’t have any chance to block it and was suddenly struck by a crippling wave of paralysis, causing the Ghost type to momentarily fall out of the air.
“Headlong Rush!”
Seeing the opportunity, Vordt moved. He let out a bellowing roar as he tore a deep trench through the arena with his charge and savagely smashed right into the paralysed Gengar, headbutting it with the entirety of his incredible might.
Gengar was sent flying uncontrollably through the air like it was nothing more than a crash dummy. It shattered against the psychic shields of the arena; the sheer force of Vordt’s assault decimating the frail Ghost type in an instant.
This was the difference between fighting 1v1 and 2v1. Even though Probopass would be utterly outclassed in a 1v1 duel, and Vordt would have difficulty landing a decisive blow as he just did, the fact that Gengar had to deal with both Vordt AND Probopass simultaneously was a completely different story.
In high-level battles like this, it only takes one mistake for you to lose a fight, and having one more opponent to deal with only makes it more likely that you make that mistake. Hence why I prioritised knocking out the twins as quickly as possible.
However, despite her Gengar’s defeat, that didn’t rub the smirk off Agatha’s face, “Oh? Did I unnerve you? Don’t you know you’re supposed to take it easy on the elderly – you shouldn’t be using one of your strongest Pokémon against frail old me.”
I snorted, “Yeah, and the moment I take it easy on you would be the moment you knock me out of the Tournament. Come on now, don’t pretend like you’re intimidated by my Ursaluna. We both know you can match him.”
“Is that a challenge that I hear?” She grinned, “Well, you seem pretty eager to make it to the Top 3. But I don’t think getting there should be too easy for you. I think it’s better if I make you work for it.”
With that said, she sent out her final Pokémon. It was another Gengar.
But this Gengar was different to the one that she just sent out. I didn’t know what it was – since it looked identical to the previous one – but there was just this aura that it gave off that betrayed the immense spectral strength that lied beneath its small stature.
And Agatha immediately proved my suspicions right as she began giving out orders.
“Shadow Ball.”
Vordt immediately repositioned his rocks to form a wall between him and Probopass and Agatha’s Gengar, ready to block the incoming volley of spectral orbs. However, instead of shooting out from Gengar in a straight line, the Shadow Balls instead disappeared into small shadowy portals that were created by Gengar before they suddenly shot out from behind Probopass as a portal had formed in its own shadow.
Despite its impressive defences, Probopass still let out a buzz of pain as ghostly embers began spreading across its metallic frame. In retaliation, Vordt let out a stomp as an enormous artillery of giant rock spears shot towards Gengar, but this time, instead of dodging, Gengar threw up a huge wall of shadow that blocked the incoming Stone Edge.
The wall wasn’t able to block everything – Vordt’s geokinesis was too powerful for that – but it blocked enough so that Gengar’s natural evasiveness could handle the rest.
Then a maniacal cackle echoed throughout the arena as Gengar released two vengeful Curses against both of our Pokémon, immediately putting us both on a timer. I knew we had to take out this Gengar quickly.
I tapped Roxanne on the shoulder, miming a clapping gesture that she quickly understood.
“Helping Hand, Probopass!”
“TAUNT!”
In an unconventional use of Helping Hand, instead of boosting a direct attacking move, I had it boost up a Taunt. The boosted Taunt created a bolt of Dark energy that speared right through a surprised Gengar, and I watched as its eyes rapidly filled with rage.
The surprise wasn’t just limited to Gengar though, as Agatha’s face also betrayed her shock.
This was another specific move combination that I had planned with Roxanne. Knowing Agatha trained Karen, I knew a standard Taunt would likely be ineffective. But a Helping Hand boosted Taunt was a completely different story.
And now, with the Taunt setting in, I knew I had a small window where Gengar would be deprived of its usual arsenal of disruptive moves, and I had to take full advantage of it.
However, despite being enraged, Gengar didn’t move in aggressively like most other Pokémon would. Instead, it maintained enough rationality to keep its distance and not allow itself to lose itself to the Taunt-induced anger.
Then Gengar moved, using its incredible speed as it charged and practically reappeared next to Probopass. Probopass fired off its Zap Cannon, only for it to be deflected by a perfectly aimed Focus Blast.
Vordt tried to intercept with a Stone Edge, but Gengar proved too nimble as it danced around the sharp rocks before blasting Probopass with another point-blank, quadruple effective Focus Blast.
But, to mine and Agatha’s surprise, Probopass didn’t stumble. Instead, it Endured the attack with its impressive defences before it rammed itself forwards, crashing into the unprepared Gengar with an Iron Head. Probopass immediately tried to follow up with a Thunder Wave, but Gengar wasn’t on Agatha’s team for nothing as it recovered quickly enough to dodge out of the way.
Gengar reappeared behind Probopass already being circled by Shadow Balls – which correctly predicted and dispersed my attempt to ambush it with a Stone Edge. Then, before Probopass could react to what was happening, another volley of devastating Focus Blasts came smashing into its back.
This time, powerful defences or not, Probopass let out a pained whirl as it nearly collapsed face-first into the ground – tanking through back-to-back 4x supereffective moves proving too much for it. Coupled with the earlier Curse, and I knew Probopass was moments away from fainting.
In the meanwhile, Vordt had set himself on fire to activate his Guts and had charged towards Gengar, hoping to take advantage of Gengar’s decision to focus on Probopass. I could see the taunting grin on the Ghost’s face as it prepared to dodge away, only for that grin to turn into a surprised gasp as it suddenly stumbled backwards as a single rock shot out from the ground.
In one final act of defiance, Roxanne’s starter forcefully endured through its injuries one last time and mustered up the last of its energies to trip Gengar up with a weak Stone Edge, but it came just as the perfect time to trip up Gengar for long enough for Vordt to come crashing into it.
Probopass managed to let out one final buzz of content before it fell unconscious. But it had more than done its job.
However, just before Vordt smashed into Gengar, a group of shadowy tendrils suddenly burst out of the ground that wrapped around the charging Vordt as it tried to hold my raging Ground type back. The spectral tendrils pulled against Vordt, restraining him to the ground while Gengar prepared to leap away into safety while preparing a Focus Blast.
Had it been a weaker Pokémon that was ensnared, Agatha’s sudden surprise move would have saved her Gengar. But not against Vordt. Not against his unstoppable charge. Not against his strength.
“URSA!!!” And so, with a roar of utter defiance, Vordt slammed a paw into the ground, releasing a powerful shockwave of tectonic energies that tore apart the ghostly tendrils holding him back like they were little more than paper. Then he rocketed forwards in a brown blur as he ferociously slammed straight into Gengar with his full, uncompromising strength before it could escape – clamping down his paws around Gengar in an iron grip as he sent it skidding across the ground.
To its credit, Gengar only cackled at the pain – as if it was amused by it – before trying to force Vordt off with another Focus Blast. But that was quickly silenced as Vordt smashed down with a savage, Guts-boosted Payback.
The ground shattered from the impact of the blow, as Gengar’s face was practically shoved into the ground. Then the ground erupted once more as Vordt unleashed a mighty Earthquake, sending wave after wave of powerful seismic energy through Gengar and into the ground. The resulting tremors detonated from underneath Gengar, launching the Ghost type into the air before a final Sucker Punch sent it crashing limply into the ground.
As much training as it had gone through, a frail Gengar was not able to withstand tanking through back-to-back blows from Vordt’s overwhelming strength, especially after being boosted with Guts.
The fight was over.
Seeing Gengar faint, I was half-expecting Vordt to go down too from a Destiny Bond. Yet, it never happened; it looks like the Helping-Hand boosted Taunt from earlier lasted long enough.
I breathed a sigh of relief; I did not want to refight Agatha, though I had already made plans to just use both Vordt and Tyrant if I had really had to.
A sudden cheer from my right broke me out of my thoughts.
“WE DID IT, JOHN!” Roxanne cried out happily.
“WE WON!”
A.N. John makes it to the finals. It’s time for the showdown against Emperor.
And yes, Agatha is extremely strong. It’s why everyone still respects her, and why John took the fight seriously with Vordt. The one thing I really wanted to highlight in this fight was how important having a teammate is. Unfortunately for the twins, John managed to exploit their inexperience to knock them out quickly. Then, as I mentioned in the chapter, it is much harder to keep track of everything going on in a 2v1, and it only takes one mistake to lose a fight.
Agatha is no slouch, but she becomes more manageable when you have a teammate and she doesn’t. This fight would have gone very differently had it been a 1v1. Hope you enjoyed!
Comments
LittleScareCow
Great chapter, and it was cool to see even Agatha getting tricked by Wraith! I can’t wait for the showdown between Tyrant and Emporer!
LandoCali96
Wraith gonna be a monster.
