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The New Normal - 9-9
🕑 Added 2024-04-19 10:30:02 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 9-9 – Wrath of a Tyrant
My match against Shin turned out to be easily scheduled. I had given my public acceptance to Shin’s ‘invitation’ practically right after his TV interview was over, and suddenly I had a call barely two hours later saying that my match was scheduled for the next afternoon.
Apparently the League officials who were in charge of organisation the Indigo Conference were especially interested in having a ‘impromptu show match between the previous two finalists’. They thought that it would give the public something to focus on during the less interesting Open Qualifiers, and of course for the sweet ad revenue.
I didn’t mind. That just meant that I could fight Shin early.
However, one of the advantages of Shin’s obscurity was that I did not know what to expect from his team. From what I remembered from our previous fight all that time ago, I didn’t think he was that strong of a trainer. He was a Steel specialist, but I didn’t think his level of strength could rise above that of a Gym Leader.
But he had a year to train up. A lot could change over a year.
Not that it mattered to me, in this very moment. Shin had thoroughly pissed me off going after my sister like that. From what Klee reported to me, he had gone out of his way to ensure that her Pokémon ‘stayed down’ – refusing to hold back whatsoever in his deliberate act of cruelty. It would take almost a full week for them to recover, and even longer to make a full one.
That could not go unanswered.
I didn’t care at all about whatever preparations Shin had made for this battle. Tyrant and I were fully in sync – we would overcome and crush every pathetic little obstacle that he dared try against us.
A League official then told me that the match was about to begin, and that I should make my way to the arena. Grasping that last strand of thought in my heart, I stood up from the bench that I had been sitting on and made my way to the arena.
Rage tempered my heart and resolve, but it did not dictate my actions.
Despite the extremely short notice, a huge crowd had gathered here to see us fight. I could feel the excitement in the air; as the audience must have been expecting a cool match to take place. They expected an even fight between old rivals, where the underdog that was Shin would show off his newfound training and do his best to fight an uphill battle against me.
But if they expected that kind of narrative, then they were about to be sorely disappointed. I would not settle for anything less than a humiliation.
Another roar of the crowd drew my attention, and I turned to see Shin making his way into the arena, smiling and waving to the crowd as he did so. However, as soon as he turned away from the crowd, he gave me a look of utter, burning hatred. As if he wished to set me alight with his very eyes.
But it was more than that. The way that his teeth gnashed; the way his fists tightened and his eyes glared – there was a twisted obsessiveness in it. It was like my destruction had become his very life goal; the reason for his existence. Whatever was the kind man that I had once fought against was gone, replaced by this envious thing that stood against me.
I should have felt pity for him, but I didn’t. He hurt my sister. That was enough.
There were no greetings or words between us. No friendly banter. No, this was a grudge match between two people who hated the other, who looked to destroy the other’s reputation so thoroughly and utterly.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THIS WONDEROUS SHOWMATCH BETWEEN OUR TWO FINALISTS FROM LAST YEAR’S INDIGO CONFERENCE! THEY HAVE GENEROUSLY GATHERED HERE TODAY IN A FRIENDLY MATCH TO SHOW HOW HIGH YOU COULD RISE IN THE INDIGO CONFERENCE! AND THE LEVEL OF STRENGTH THAT WE HOPE TO SEE FROM ALL OF YOU ONE DAY!” The crowd roared out with cheers and shouts, completely unaware that this was as far from a ‘friendly’ match as could be.
“THIS WILL BE A 6v6 MATCH BETWEEN THE TWO TRAINERS, WITH THREE SWITCHES ALLOWED!”
“SO TRAINERS – ARE YOU READY!?!”
I just gave off a quick nod as I grasped Tyrant’s Premier Ball in my hand. I could feel his ball vibrating in my hands, just waiting to release all of his pent-up anger.
And I was going to let him.
He would be the unbeatable arm of my retribution; the personification of all my rage and anger. Shin was in for a bad time.
“RELEASE!”
“GO! Breloom!”
“Tyrant.”
“SLAKINGGG!!” Tyrant roared out as he exploded forth from his Premier Ball, stampeding across the battlefield as he locked his rage-filled eyes onto his target, kicking up a small cloud of dust and rocks as he went. The battle lust that was radiating off him was palpable, and the air seemed to grow thick with tension from Tyrant’s sheer presence alone.
There was no need for any instructions. He only had one objective – to smash, crush, and dominate all in his path. Tyrant was to bring the full might of his tyrannical strength into annihilating Shin’s Pokémon, until he could roar and stamp over their fallen forms as the absolute victor. We would accept nothing less.
“Mach Punch, Breloom!”
But though he looked momentarily surprised at my choice of Pokémon, Shin did not back down, showing no sign of fear as he sent his Breloom to meet Tyrant head on. Breloom rushed forwards, charging into Tyrant with determination in its eyes and with a fist glowing white as it prepared to smash a powerful supereffective attack right into Tyrant.
The confidence in Breloom’s eyes was clear and distinct, and it was unaffected by the heavy waves of pressure from Tyrant’s battle lust. Breloom must have thought that it could win in a close-range fight against Tyrant.
But then Breloom’s fist was caught in Tyrant’s hand. Surprised at its attack failing, Breloom immediately tried pulling its arm out of Tyrant’s grasp, but his grip on it was iron-tight. A sinister grin broke out on Tyrant’s face, and the confidence quickly fled from Breloom’s face – replaced with visible fear.
In a last ditch effort to break free, Breloom lashed out with its free arm and tried punching Tyrant in the face with a Drain Punch, hoping to stumble Tyrant for long enough to free itself. But Tyrant simply shielded his head with Psychic energy, tanking the punch with ease.
Then Tyrant grinned. It was not a pleasant one.
Breloom tried desperately to pull back, but it was far too late. Forcefully pulling the Grass type into him, Tyrant bashed their heads together with a savage Zen Headbutt, causing Breloom’s head to snap backwards. As Breloom stumbled backwards, dazed and disoriented, Tyrant kicked out Breloom’s legs from beneath it and brutally smashed his knee right into the falling Breloom’s face.
“KING!!” Not giving Breloom a single second of recovery, Tyrant let out an rage-filled roar as he lifted the smaller Breloom by its arm, dangling it in the air for a moment, before using both arms to cruelly slam it into the ground with such force that the ground shattered below them and burying Breloom’s head deep into the dirt.
Breloom’s pained gasp was muffled by the gravel and dirt that it was forced to eat.
Trapped and pinned in the hole that it suddenly found itself, Breloom attempted to release a small cloud of paralytic spores around itself in hopes of paralysing Tyrant. Too bad for the Grass type, all it managed to do was have a wave of searing flames blasted its way, torching the Breloom as the hole it was buried in was turned into a furnace.
The paralytic spores were all casually incinerated by the fire, as if they were nothing more than a mere afterthought.
Breloom let out a pained wail as the fire spread and scorched its body, and it struggled desperately to pull itself out of the hole. But Tyrant merely grinned at the attempt, and stomped his feet down as he unleashed a rippling Earthquake that sent powerful tremors to tear through the exposed Breloom. At the same time, Tyrant sent out another torrent of flames from his maw, mercilessly scorching the helpless and flailing Breloom as the Grass type was slowly burnt alive.
The once confident and determined Breloom was gone, and only the faint smell of roasted mushrooms remained.
Shin withdrew his Breloom with an angry look on his face. He didn’t give his fallen Breloom any acknowledgement as he simply sent out his next Pokémon, the impatience evident in his eyes.
“Do better, Skarmory!”
Skarmory let out a triumphant squawk as it took to the air, thinking that it could use its ability to fly to stay out of Tyrant’s range and wear down Tyrant from range.
But Skarmory was quickly disabused of that notion when an ear-shattering lance of thunder came hurling down from the skies above, impaling the Skarmory with a spear of pure lightning like an arrow seeking its prey.
Skarmory let out a pained cry as it fell slightly out of the air. But that was enough as the massive frame of Tyrant came leaping out of the crater, jumping so high into the air that he managed to grab onto Skarmory’s wings. Showing no remorse or hesitation, Tyrant then pulled down on Skarmory, using his full weight to forcefully drag Skarmory into the ground.
“Iron Defense, Skarmory!”
Accepting the inevitable, Shin started to have Skarmory set up for the likely brawl that was about to happen on the ground. He must have thought that Skarmory’s impressive defenses would give it some leeway against Tyrant.
But that was a mistake.
“ENCORE!”
Just before the two Pokémon hit the ground, a small aura of white energy came out from Tyrant, engulfing the buffing Skarmory. Skarmory’s eyes seem to tighten just as the two Pokémon came crashing into the ground, with Tyrant deliberately positioning himself on top of the Skarmory so that he had the Steel type pinned beneath him.
“Break free of the Encore and Whirlwind and Swords Dance! Set yourself up!”
But despite its trainers instructions, Skarmory’s body seemed to be moving on its’ own as it continued to set up with Iron Defenses. It was little more than a sitting Psyduck as a torrent of flames began charging up in Tyrant’s mouth.
And for the second time this battle, another one of Shin’s Pokémon found itself painfully incinerated by a torrent of Tyrant’s flames. The scorching flames flooded over Skarmory’s steely exterior, blackening the once pristine frame into a smouldering black.
Then, in act of surprising brutality, Tyrant suddenly cut off his flames as his arms whipped forwards; grabbing hold of Skarmory’s face like a vice with both hands. Before Skarmory could even realise what Tyrant was doing, his hands began to heat up as flames gathered within them. Then a painful searing sound could be heard as Tyrant began to scorch Skarmory’s face with his flaming hands.
Locked into the Encore as it was, Skarmory was helpless aside from screeching out in terrified pain as its head was locked in the flaming prison of Tyrant’s arms. As Tyrant crushed his hands together harder and harder, the wails and screams of Skarmory became louder and louder. With its entire head now alight with flames, its eyes were begging for mercy; begging for Tyrant to release his grasp on it.
Yet Tyrant would give none. And he watched with vicious eyes as Skarmory’s pained screeching turned hoarse from exhaustion, before being silenced all together as it succumbed to the flames.
With a dismissive snort, Tyrant released his hold on the Steel type, letting Skarmory’s unconscious frame fall limply to the ground.
The crowd fell silent at that unexpected display of brutality. There would be no permanent damage, but to knock out a Pokémon like that – it was never seen in a ‘friendly’ match. I could almost hear the confusion running through their heads; this was not how two friends would be acting towards each other.
In the meanwhile, I merely stared at Shin while holding back the urge to scoff. THIS was what he decided to bring out against me? Did he think he could win with a Skarmory that was not even as strong as Walker’s? It had barely improved since our first battle together, so did he think that he could use Skarmory the same way that he used it against Smough in our first battle together?
Because for someone who looks so obsessed with me, he must not have done his research. From the way that he had approached this fight, it was as if he had prepared to fight me as I was – all the way back in last year’s Indigo Conference. I had caught the brief flash of surprise that Shin failed to restrain when his Skarmory was struck by the Thunderbolt, as if he was unaware of Tyrant’s surprisingly powerful Special Attack.
The very fact that I could choose to fight differently, or had grown stronger, seemed to not have entered his mind at all.
And now the indecision was plain and visible on his face. He must have come into this battle with a plan, but that plan had very clearly shattered apart right now as he had already lost two Pokémon without hardly even causing a scratch onto Tyrant.
But that uncertainty quickly transformed into anger, and he practically hurled his next Pokémon into battle.
“BEAT HIM! POLIWRATH!”
Ah. There it was. The first of my targets.
I could see how it was able to beat Whitney’s Pokémon. It’s eyes brimmed with confidence, and each step it took underlined the sheer bulk of muscles that hid behind every muscle of this Poliwrath.
And yet it was still dwarfed by my Tyrant. It looked like nothing more than another prey waiting to be crushed by Tyrant’s unstoppable strength.
“Belly Drum, Poliwrath!” Shin tried, but I didn’t even need to say anything before an immediate Taunt came out from Tyrant, instantly shutting down the attempt. Despite having brought down two Pokémon already, Tyrant wasn’t even winded as he pounced on to his next target, ready to repeat the pummelling once more.
Poliwrath took a step back, narrowly avoiding the leaping swipe from Tyrant as it retaliated by throwing a powerful punch that impacted Tyrant’s face. Tyrant stumbled back as the strike landed critically, and Poliwrath stepped in, delivering what should have been a devastating Close Combat straight into Tyrant’s core. Each punch caused ripples to vibrate through Tyrant’s stomach as Poliwrath struck with its full might, driving each fist as hard as it could into Tyrant.
Yet, in its enthusiasm to do as much as damage as it could, Poliwrath failed to realize that Tyrant had taken on a slightly orange glow as he prepared a Counter. It failed to realize that the damage that it was dealing was actually being absorbed and stored. It failed to realize that its Close Combat was doing little more than eliciting a small grunt of pain from Tyrant.
Because, compared to Bruno’s Machamp, Poliwrath’s attacks were hardly more effective than a Tackle from a Magikarp. Tyrant had withstood true strength, not whatever this half-assed attempt was.
And with a bloodthirsty grin, Tyrant turned all of that stored power and threw it into a singular Thunder Punch. The attack radiated with so much raw energy and electricity that the air crackled and blurred around it, as if the air itself was trying to dodge out of the way of the attack.
Yet there would be no escape.
Poliwrath’s eyes widened as it witnessed the spectre of doom coming its way, and it immediately tried to backpedal and throw up a last second Protect shield to save itself from the damage.
But Tyrant did not care. With his eyes blazing with pent-up battle lust, the hastily-formed Protect shield shattered instantly as the fully powered Thunder Punch shot cleanly through it and came crashing into Poliwrath’s face, burying itself within its cheeks.
Then, a deafening BANG exploded across the arena as Poliwrath rocketed backwards like a bullet. The ground shook slightly from the sheer force of impact.
Poliwrath shot limply through the sky before smashing painfully as into the psychic barriers with such force that it nearly cracked the barriers themselves. Two huge cracks ran spread out through the ground in a ‘V’ shape from the impact point, as a fainted Poliwrath slowly slid off the Psychic barriers unceremoniously; as if it was a Bug that had just been smashed into a wall.
Poliwrath’s body crumbled to the floor, still twitching and spazzing randomly from the enormous amount of electrocuting currents surging through it.
One punch - and it was down.
“GET UP!” Shin shouted, his mouth almost frothing with anger. “You were supposed to BEAT his Normal types! Not lose to them!”
Unfortunately for Shin, just yelling at his Pokémon wasn’t enough for Poliwrath to suddenly recover from its injuries. And talking was not a free action, and Tyrant punished this by sending a remorseless barrage of Thunderbolts to come crashing down from above. Poliwrath’s entire body actually shook as even more electricity forcefully surged through it.
It was beyond obvious that Poliwrath was no match for my starter. And how could it be? When Tyrant was able to go toe-to-toe with Bruno’s Machamp and win handedly. What could a hastily trained Poliwrath – because that was what it was – do against Tyrant? Except to lose?
It was merely strong enough to be a bully to weaker trainers. But against true strength, it was little more than a blue and white punching bag. A stress toy for Tyrant.
However, despite how outmatched Poliwrath was compared to Tyrant, Shin was utterly stubborn in his refusal to withdraw Poliwrath, his ravings growing even louder as he insisted that Poliwrath could fight on. Even if every available evidence pointed to the contrary, but I figured that reason had long since left him.
That was absolutely fine with me. “Bulk Up, Tyrant.” I ordered.
After all, I was in no rush to finish off Poliwrath. And so I was going to force Shin into making a decision. Was he going to stick by his stubbornness allowing my Tyrant to buff himself and become even stronger, or was he about to acknowledge how outclassed he was and withdraw Poliwrath from the field? There were no good options for him; no matter what he chose he would only end up looking weak.
Exactly what I hoped for.
While I wasn’t a person who usually found joy at the suffering of others, I admit that I found myself holding back a grin as I watched Shin become wracked with indecision. His every expression of anguish was another morsel of revenge that I took on my sister’s behalf.
Eventually, Poliwrath made the decision for Shin as it succumbed to its injuries, falling unconsciously entirely – and having accomplished little to nothing and was utterly humiliated with a single strike. That was one target down.
And leaving Shin with only 3 Pokémon remaining.
At this point, the crowd had long stopped cheering. They had realized that this was NOT a friendly match between ‘rivals’. This was personal. And what they were witnessing now was a stomp not seen since Oak stomped the Blackthorns in with a Fairy type as Tyrant continued to pummel and dominate each and every one of Shin’s Pokémon.
The audience might not have known WHY such animosity existed between us two, but they didn’t care. All they cared about was to see if Tyrant could complete the sweep.
But Shin seemed to not have realized how bad of a situation he was in right now as he shot me a look of burning hatred as he sent out his next Pokémon.
“Bannett! As we planned!”
A malicious cackle reverberated across the battlefield as the haunting spectre of Shin’s Bannett took to the field. However, that cackle was cut off as Tyrant responded with an earth-shaking roar as he immediately charged into Bannett with a fist glowing with shadowy energies.
“Shadow Sneak to dodge!”
Bannett retreated into the shadows just in time before Tyrant smashed into its previous position, breaking a hole into the ground as his attack missed. Realizing his target had just escaped him, Tyrant let out a growl as he slammed his fists again into the ground in a rage – firing off a devastating Earthquake that sent powerful tremors into the ground and shattered the battlefield.
For Bannett, there was nowhere to hide.
The Earthquake forced Bannett out of the safety of the shadows as it levitated into the air. Wisps of flames gathered around Bannett as it prepared to Burn Tyrant with a Will-O-Wisp.
But as soon as Bannett reappeared, Tyrant had already ripped out large chunks of rocks off the ground and hurled them like a catapult towards Bannett’s position. Copying Bruno’s Machamp, Tyrant then used a spare chunk of rock as an makeshift shield as he rushed towards Bannett, ignoring the Will-O-Wisp as the small wisps of flames dissipated harmlessly on his rock shield.
“Icy Wind, Bannett! Slow it down!”
“Flamethrower, Tyrant! Keep going!”
A stream of flames came out of Tyrant’s mouth, scorching the air around him and providing him with a layer of warmth to protect against the Icy Winds. Realizing its attacks were ineffective, and that Tyrant was rapidly closing the distance, Bannett dove to the ground as it prepared to disappear into the shadows once again.
Tyrant swung his massive fists, trying to strike Bannett with what should have been a devastating Sucker Punch, but Bannett let out a mocking cackle as it simply sank into the shadows once again, avoiding the attack completely.
Tyrant growled, and prepared to unleash yet another Earthquake to flush out the annoying Bannett. But this time, Bannett rapidly appeared a short distance away from Tyrant with a malicious smile on its face.
“CURSE! NOW!”
“TAUNT!”
A ghostly and unnerving aura seemed to form around Bannett, but before the aura could plunge inside Bannett, a swift burst of Dark type energy shot out of Tyrant.
I exhaled a quick sigh of relief as I watched Bannett’s eyes slowly filled with rage, its attempt to Curse Tyrant long forgotten as it brandished its shadowy claws threateningly. Shin was shouting at Bannett to “stick to the plan”, but Bannett was lost to its rage.
I sent an inward thought of thanks to Karen for having helped to train up my Pokémon’s use of Taunt.
Thus, instead of retreating, Bannett stood firm and unleashed a powerful Dark Pulse that formed a circle of Darkness around itself. But Tyrant breached the ring of darkness with terrifying ease as he surrounded himself with the bright and distinct aura of Fairy energy, before pouncing onto the stationary Bannett and sending it crashing into the ground with a savage Play Rough.
Tyrant’s arms latched around the smaller Bannett, and Bannett looked like a mere doll being flung around in Tyrant’s strong and meaty arms. But Bannett wasn’t even able to recognize the danger it was in as the rage clouded its eyes, and it continually tried to slash and swipe at Tyrant with its shadowy claws and bursts of darkness, not even realizing that Tyrant was immune to most of the damage.
Yet Tyrant was not in the mood for mercy. A suffocating amount of Dark type energy formed in his hand as clamped down tighter on his foe.
Bannett let out a suffocated gasp as Tyrant gradually choked out the trapped Ghost with a cloud of pure Darkness. The aura of darkness seeped into the Bannett, causing a wail of pain as the energies ravaged through its ghostly form. The grin that Tyrant shot Bannett was almost cruel as he crushed Bannett with his hands.
The effects of the Taunt were broken through as desperation and pure panic set in. Bannett struggled, Bannett raged, Bannett shrieked as it tried everything that it could to break free from Tyrant’s hold as the Dark energy ripped through its health. The feared and cackling Ghost type meant to induce fear in others was long gone, and what remained of that once frightening Pokémon was reduced to this fearful and crying mess of a Ghost desperately trying to get away from the exorcist that was Tyrant.
But no matter what it tried, its’ fate was already sealed as Bannett’s health was slowly squeezed away in Tyrant’s iron grip.
And like a puppet that just had its strings cut, Bannett suddenly collapsed limply in Tyrant’s arms, choked out and suffocated by the engulfing aura of Dark energy. With a dismissive scoff, Tyrant tossed away Bannett’s unconscious body as if it was nothing more than an unwanted doll.
There was nothing more humiliating than that.
Shin fell silent, his eyes wide with disbelief as if he wasn’t able to process the scene in front of him. I decided now was finally time to speak up.
“Four down. Two to go.” I said aloud, before deliberately tilting my head as if pretending to be curious, “And I thought you were a Steel specialist? So why is it that 3 out of the 4 Pokémon I’ve fought so far all been types that are ‘supposed’ to be strong against Normal types?”
“Could it be that you tried to build a new team specifically built to counter me? Abandoning your Steel types in the process?” I pondered for the benefit of the crowd. “How long did it take you to build up this plan to defeat me?”
I shot him a smug smirk, “Because…what’s the score again? Oh yeah, it’s 4-0. Looks like your plan is going great!” The sarcasm in my tone would have made Agatha proud.
My words turned Shin’s face into an impressive shade of red, “You shut your mouth, you fucking thief! I’m NOT about to lose again! NOT to a thief like you!” He shouted back, his face a dangerous shade of red as rage filled his very body. “Once I bring down that stupid! FUCKING! SLAKING! THEN I’LL WIN!!”
I shrugged nonchalantly, intentionally riling him up even further, “…But you won’t.”
“Or did you forget how you lost the first time?” I taunted, “Come, bring out your Steel types. We both know you aren’t winning this, so let’s just get this over with.”
His face twisted even further, and he literally hurled his Pokéball my way as if trying to strike me with it. I wished I could have had a closer look at Shin’s face at the moment, because he sounded like a vein was about to burst in his head.
A massive Steelix came towering out, landing on the arena with an audible thump. Its’ tail swept across the broken ground of the arena, tearing up a small trench through it as it did so. For the first time since the start of the match, Shin’s Pokémon actually managed to dwarf my Tyrant. The giant Steel type glared down, trying to intimidate Tyrant as it raised itself to its full height.
But Tyrant’s only response was to roar out and start rushing towards the giant Steelix. Far from being intimidated, Tyrant only saw this as a challenge. After all, the bigger they were – the harder they fell.
“STONE EDGE! DESTROY THAT SLAKING!”
“Bring it down, Tyrant.”
Large chunks or rocks were torn out from the arena as the battlefield shattered even further. A storm of rocks hovered threateningly in the air like a halo around Steelix before they all shot towards Tyrant in a storm of stone.
And yet, Tyrant was barely slowed down as he simply destroyed the incoming stones with his fist or just tanked through them, hardly even looking bothered as the rain of rocks crashed into him.
Tyrant had sparred against Vordt many, many times in our training sessions – there was no way he was going to go down to something like this. Because as big and as intimidating as Steelix might look, its geokinesis was paltry compared to the likes of Vordt.
Realizing the rocks weren’t working, Shin tried a different tactic, “IRON TAIL!”
Steelix’s roar vibrated through the air as its gigantic tail tore up a huge trench in the ground as it came swinging around in a powerful hammering blow. But Tyrant did not dodge. Instead he simply grunted and raised both arms, letting himself be slammed by the Iron Tail.
However, instead of being thrown aside like a ragdoll, Tyrant had latched onto Steelix’s tail, refusing to let go as he allowed himself to be swung around.
“SMASH IT INTO THE GROUND!”
Steelix’s tail slammed into the ground, burying itself into the floor of the arena as it dug out a trench and caused cracks to spread out like rapidly from the point of impact.
Tyrant let out a pained grunt from the blow, but his arms were still wrapped firmly around Steelix’s tail. Steelix looked shocked at Tyrant’s persistence, but Tyrant made use of that opportunity to dig his heels into the ground, splitting his legs apart for more balance as he began to heave.
And in a display of jaw-dropping demonstration of his unstoppable strength, Tyrant began LIFTING Steelix into the air.
“…SLA….KINGGGG!!!” He grunted out, his face twisted into one of heavy exertion. The muscles in his arms were bulging and growing as sweat dropped down his face. His teeth were gritted and the ground around him began to crack at the full combined weight of both Pokémon.
The crowd all gasped as they realized what Tyrant was trying to do – I could hear the surprised disbelief in their voice.
After all, Steelix were well known for its incredible size and weight. It was practically the embodiment of a Pokémon that was all about raw strength. And Slaking were known for their laziness and aloofness, never able to reach their full potential because of their inherent attitudes.
But Tyrant was different. He was not your typical lazy Slaking. He had thrown himself into training, and he THRIVED off battle. Tyrant was MY starter – the role model for the rest of my team to follow. And he was not a Pokémon to let something as arbitrary as ‘limits’ stop him from doing the impossible.
I had asked him to grant me victory. And it would take Arceus themselves to stop him from achieving it.
Steelix tried to fight back, throwing up rocks towards Tyrant in hopes of distracting him enough for him to lose concentration and to drop Steelix. But Tyrant remained unfazed, letting the rocks crash against his body as he released a determined grunt, pushing his strength even further as he lifted the panicking and confused Steelix higher and higher into the air, until the Steelix literally became suspended in the air by its tail.
In that brief moment, Steelix’s face filled with fear as it realized what was about to happen next.
“SLAKINGGGG!!!!!” Tyrant unleashed a powerful and echoing roar as he THREW the enormous Steel type over his shoulder and into the psychic barriers, hurling the Steel type through the air like a boulder.
The full weight of the Steel type was too much for the already damaged barriers to handle, and Steelix came crashing THROUGH them face-first, falling just out bounds of the arena.
Dazed and disoriented, Steelix was unable to react as Tyrant violently pounced on top of its fallen body and brutally smashed its head into the ground with a ferocious Mega Kick. Tyrant became a whirlwind of violence as he ruthlessly pounded into the Steel type again and again, raining blow after blow as if he was determined to bury the Steel type deeper and deeper into the ground.
His legs stomped, his fists bashed, and each hammering blow from Tyrant ensured that Steelix remained disoriented and unable to recover.
And then, with a final roar, Tyrant unleashed a torrent of flames into the hole that he had created for Steelix, turning it into a coffin of scorching flames that burned through Steelix’s health. The flood of supereffective flames had Steelix screeching and struggling, trying to force itself free from its fiery tomb.
Just like with Bannett, Tyrant mercilessly grabbed onto the struggling Steelix’s sides with both arms – trapping the Steel snake in his iron grip and stopped it from digging itself free. Despite Steelix’s best efforts and substantial strength, Tyrant had dug his feet into the ground and REFUSED to be moved. Refused to let go. Refused to allow Steelix the opportunity to escape.
And the result was inevitable, as Steelix succumbed to the fiery flames, trapped in a hole dug out with its own body.
The crowd exploded into applause at this victory. Never before had a Steelix been lifted into the like that from pure strength alone. It had never been attempted, because who would try to lift a Steelix into the air while in the middle of a battle anyways?
Until today.
I shot Tyrant a smile that was radiating with pride. He could have defeated Steelix with his plethora of Special Attacks. It would have been easier for him, considering Steelix’s paltry Special Defenses.
Yet by doing it this way, he had followed through on my intentions and delivered Shin a more crushing defeat. I had no doubt that Tyrant’s victory over Steelix would be published – and everyone would know that it was Shin’s Steelix that was defeated in this manner.
I glanced over at Shin, and I finally saw the reality of the situation set in on him. The irrational and pure hatred that he had for me was still there, still smouldering behind his eyes, but there was the very obvious look of despair and hopelessness that had settled in as he realized how bad of a situation he was in.
He had come into this expecting to defeat me and revive his name and reputation, avenging his defeat against me during last year’s finals. But now he had recklessly charged into this battle with a half-baked plan that crumbled near instantly, and now he was 5-0 against me. And Tyrant was still ready and waiting to battle.
Never before had there been a match against the Elite Four where a challenger had lost 6-0. There had been plenty of 6-1’s, but not 6-0’s. This was going to be another first in my book.
He had one shot of reclaiming ANY inch of pride that he still had left. One chance to not become the utter humiliation that he would be if he lost 6-0.
Unfortunately for him, the image of my sister crying was still burnt into my head. And I still had yet to have my pound of flesh.
His Scizor finally came out. THIS was the Pokémon that had so mercilessly brutalised my sister’s weaker Pokémon. This was the instigator of my sister’s sadness.
So there was only one way this fight could have gone.
Scizor was a fast Pokémon. Faster than most. And it commonly relied on this speed to strike with powerful hit and run attacks to bring down its opponent.
However, Tyrant had already smashed this Steel-Bug into the ground once before, all the way back at the finals of last year’s Indigo Conference. And this time would be no different.
The final match hardly even lasted a minute. Despite having already gone through 5 of Shin’s Pokémon, Tyrant’s battle lust had only grown to even greater heights. Scizor was literally a Bug to him. So instead of trying to chase down the evasive Bug type, Tyrant merely sat still, buffing up with Bulk Ups and practically taunting the Scizor to hit him.
Scizor tried desperately. Giving its all and repeatedly pummelling him with powerful Bullet Punches that would have brought down a lesser foe.
But I had been training Tyrant with the goal of bringing down Lance’s Emperor. In comparison to that magnificent Dragonite, Scizor was nothing. Tyrant was just used to fighting opponents on a completely different level and scale to Scizor. So Scizor’s attacks simply brushed off Tyrant – his buffed defenses repeatedly proving to be too much for Scizor to break through.
Tyrant only needed Scizor to make one mistake, one moment of a lapse of concentration, one instance where it failed to evade Tyrant’s counterattack, for the match to be over. And that opportunity came soon enough, as Scizor overcommitted to a Bullet Punch and left itself wide open to a singular Fire Punch that hammered into its side.
But before Scizor could get punted aside, a second swing of Tyrant’s massive fists came coming around from the other side, squashing the poor Bug under his flaming hammer of a fist.
Then Tyrant clutched down HARD on Scizor’s neck, choking the Bug type as it was lifted into the air – its weakness displayed to the world for all to see.
And everyone watched as Tyrant mercilessly choked out Shin’s starter, before Scizor was SLAMMED down straight onto Tyrant’s knee. An audible and brutal CRACK could be heard as Tyrant shattered Scizor’s back, completely ripping through its wings.
That was payback for the brutality he showed against Whitney.
To finish it all off, Tyrant ferociously bashed Scizor straight down into the ground, disposing of its body like it was nothing to him.
All that was left of Shin’s starter was a smouldering, almost unrecognisable figure that lied broken and defeated on the ground. I thought it was a very suitable representation of what Shin’s reputation would be after this 6-0 victory.
Burnt, broken, and in tatters.
The announcer’s words were just icing on the cake, “…AND THIS MATCH COMES TO A HISTORIC END AS ELITE JOHN HAS UTTERLY DOMINATED HIS OPPONENT, WINNING A NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN 6-0 VICTORY AGAINST HIS OPPONENT, SHIN! I DON’T THINK THIS WAS A VERY FRIENDLY MATCH FOLKS, BUT I THINK WE ALL LOVED SEEING IT REGARDLESS! I’M SURE THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MATCHES FOR THE AGES! CERTAINLY ONE TO BE REMEMBERED!”
Opposite me, Shin finally collapsed to the ground. His face was twisted with despair as tears streamed down his face. Maybe some would have taken pity on him at this very moment. But all I did was let out a sigh of relief.
I hope you’re seeing this Whitney. You needn’t be tormented by him any longer.
A.N. So I figured you all saw this coming, but I REALLY wanted to write a full and utter curbstomp by John against someone that wasn’t a grunt. I’ve always tried to write more balanced fights, but for once, I wanted to write a fight where one side completely dominated.
And this was it! Because John’s pissed, and he wasn’t going to let the guy who hurt Whitney get off easily. This fight needed plenty of revisions, so I hope you enjoyed it!
Comments
Keytars
I had a subscription for a couple of months, and then canceled it due to price differences in the regions. After which I waited about 6 weeks for the free chapters to catch up with what I had already read. And so, after reading this free chapter, I subscribed again... Thank you for your work!
Phyr
The only way this would be more satisfying is if you spent more time building up shin......but I don't personally like reading about an unlikable character, so this is a good middle ground.
