Two Sides of a Coin (2/2)

"Claudine, let's show off our true strength!"

'Oh no, you don't.'

Yoake and Claudine slowly intertwined as battle bond was about to curve the battle in their favor. The two's minds and souls are slowly getting linked. A feeling of power and strength slowly floods the two's blood as the Katsuragi signature that was passed down by generations of generations appears once more.

"Gengar, it's Mega evolution time! Stop them at all costs." Ren stated to her Pokemon. Gengar nodded as she takes out the Mega stone from her bag and quickly uses it as a means to stop Claudine and Yoake to use their stronger form.

As the battle rages, Rotom felt something odd. "Huh, I have an alert that there's another one that has Battle Bond."

"Huh, What?" This shocked Leaf as this was very strange for her.

"Wh-Who else has Battle Bond besides Yoake?" Leaf asked in curiosity. Rotom raises its thunder-like hands as there was no clear answer on who else has Battle Bond.

Ren tapped the Mega stone with her middle finger as her index and thumb were pressing it to ensure that it won't fall to the ground. As she releases the essence of Mega Evolution in the field, Gengar evolved to its Mega form, stronger and more violent than it was earlier. The Pokemon was standing with its knuckles lifting the body from the ground, Its bottom torso are attached to its ground, and there were spikes behind its body. It was a demon of nightmares.

"Claudine, use Psychic!" Yoake remarked as the two were now fully linked, all they need is a breathing space to start the transformation and Ren didn't waste any time quickly stopping them.

"Gengar, Shadow Ball!"

Gengar quickly attacked as it forms a luminous orb on its torso, throwing it to Claudine at a rapid phase. Claudine, just like earlier, dodges it by teleporting from side to side as she doesn't want the transformation to be interrupted. As she continues to dodge the rain of shadow balls being thrown at her, Gengar popped up in front of her and tries to attack her with his fist. She ducked her head as she avoids the ghost's fist. He tried to punch her once more but this time, he was targeting her legs. Claudine notices it and immediately dodges it by flipping backward.

"Woah, Claudine is getting impressive." Professor Oakido remarked.

"A power spike huh?" Karen muttered.

"Grrr, Gengar Shadow Ball once more!", "Claudine, it's now or never, Fairy Singularity."

With their thoughts far more focused on the battle, with their conscience slowly fades away as their minds are now tacked to finishing this clash between titans. The two are fully linked and are eager to finally transform to show their true strength. Scientists from the different sectors of the lab tuned in as the CCTVs catches it all. Claudine evolved to her Battle Bond form, a shining Knight.

"Huh, so you truly want this a fanatic rivalry. Win or lose, we will fight again in the 8th gym, like it or not, and that battle will decide who will compete in the league or not." Ren stated.

"What do you mean?" Yoake asked his rival.

"Didn't you know? They changed the mechanic of the 8th gym. They decided to make the 8th gym a final battle between rivals. 2 enters the gym and 1 leaves with the victor." Ren explained.

"So this battle is just a hype for our final battle then?"

"It may or it may not. Either our strategies and team-building change throughout tomorrow or not. But either way, there's only one person that can win and it will determine the fate of Pokemon, it has to be this way."

It was a delicate balance of power between two titans, Mega Evolution dominated many competitive battles outside of Kanto and Galar, it evolved to be the fining strategy of many trainers but its biggest weakness is that it monopolized the dominant meta throughout the decades it served. And now, two new mechanics are on a rise but both are only used by a selected people, the rising format of Gigantamax that is slowly creeping itself to the Kanto camp and this new form, Battle Bond. It was a power struggle, if Battle Bond succeeded in the championship, the world has to change as this new contender can change the landscape of the battles that is built upon for decades, both Gmaxing and Battle Bond can topple Mega Evolution as a dominant power in the metagame and this battle is enough to push Mega Evolution from the throne.

"Things are gonna get interesting huh?" Karen asked the professor as she smirks and waited for the battle to entertain her,

"Well then, let's dance," Yoake muttered as he closes his eyes and marks his word. He opened them once more as he wants to prove to himself that he can win. As he spoke his gesture to Ren, Claudine synchronously raises her sword and pointed it towards Gengar as her stance was clear, she wants this battle a victor.

Ren smirked as she sees the confidence that Yoake boasts upon.

"Brace yourself," Karen stated as she watches the battle reaches its climax.

"Gengar, Raining Doom!", "Claudine, Psycho Cut!"

With her sword and full strength, Claudine ran towards Gengar as she was about to smite the Pokemon after suffering in the early marks of the battle. With her sword and shield behind her body as she runs toward the ghost, she was ready to strike.

As she was about to slice the Shadow Pokemon, it quickly disperse and dodges it, reappearing once more as it throws Shadow Balls into the sky. She tries to hit Gengar once more but Gengar dodges it. It was a back and forth on who will hit each other first. But it didn't take long for Gengar to unleash the raining doom from the sky and began another bombardment on Claudine. Instead of trying to find an exit for her safety, she decided to unleash the Psycho cut to the bombardment.

With every pouring orb falling towards Claudine, she swings her sword, slicing the orbs in half and making them obsolete. She slices each orb from left to right, trying to protect herself from the bombardment until she notices things are becoming slower, the orb that was about to hurl towards her becomes slower than its usual rate.

"What the…" Claudine said as she notices time is slowly becoming slower. She looks around and saw everything in slow-motion. She was baffled by this.

"Is this a new power that I got?" Claudine remarked. It didn't take long as Claudine noticed the time is slowly going back to its regular speed, she began slicing the remaining orb towards her by jumping and swinging her sword as she leaped toward her target.

"Claudine, now!" Yoake shouted as Claudine was at the same level as Gengar, with their bodies pointing towards each other, and the only thing left was who to attack first. Gengar was too shocked and Claudine seized the opportunity as she swings her sword and began slicing Gengar.

"GRrr, Gengar, use Focus Blast!"

Gengar responded by forming a glow in its torso and quickly releases a powerful blast, knocking off Claudine to a relatively safe distance. She teleported herself to the safety of the ground and continues the battle.

'Focus Blast didn't miss?' Karen stated.

"Good, now do another Raining Doom!", "Don't let him do another raining doom, stop him!"

Claudine nodded as she ran towards Gengar at full speed. Gengar quickly formed and began dropping Shadow Balls from the sky once more as an act of stopping Claudine from reaching him. But it wasn't enough as Claudine took a massive leap and headed towards Gengar just like earlier. She was about to swing her sword but a loose Shadow Ball hits her and making her fell to the ground once more. As she was about to stand up from her fallen position, the hoard of shadow ball began looming towards her, she stands and began swinging her sword once more to give her some clearance in areas that she can used to find a space that would allow her to attack Gengar.

As she continues to swing her sword, an opening finally gave her an opportunity, She leaped to that open space and charged towards Gengar once more. The two are above once more and Claudine attacked Gengar. Slicing and Dicing the Shadow Pokemon as she releases her frustration to the Pokemon, it was brutal to be saw this happening.

"Gengar, get out of there!" Ren cried as she sees her Pokemon being sliced in the sky. Karen prepares her Pokeball as she sees how things slowly becoming out of hand. Yoake realized what was going on and quickly tells Claudine to stop.

"Claudine, stop!" Yoake commanded his Pokemon but she wasn't listening. Leaf and Karen was about to intervene the battle but Gengar fell to the ground after one last swing from Claudine's sword.

"Okay, that's fine Claudine, We won, no need to-." Yoake assured the Pokemon they won but she wasn't buying at as she attacked Gengar once more. Karen readies her Pokeball and calls out her Pokemon to stop Claudine.

"Claudine! Stop!" Both Yoake and Ren cried as they want to stop the two. Ren dashed towards Gengar as she doesn't want to see her friend being repeatedly hurt. As she was about to lunges herself towards, a sword blocked Claudine's sword. Everyone looked at the sword and slowly alleviate their eyes towards to the thing that holds the sword, it was the final evolve form of a Kalos starter….

"A Greninja?" Yoake muttered as he sees the Pokemon interrupt their battle.

"You two stop." A strong feminine voice echoed through the arena. They all turned around and saw none other than the Pokemon champion herself interrupt the battle as she can see things would go downhill after this

"Karen?" Professor Oakido was shocked to see the immense strength Greninja portrayed as he spars Claudine's blade.

Claudine felt a familiar strength being radiated from Greninja, she was weirded out by this but she slowly realize that something was off from Greninja, a sense of equal perhaps?

"Alright, Claudine. Stop." Yoake said as the power of battle bond slowly crippled away from Claudine's grace. She went back to her usual self, without the powers of Battle Bond, she was weak. Gengar devolved backed to its original form as the battle was over, it was clear that Yoake won.

"Here Gengar, you might need this," Yoake said as he threw a potion at Gengar. The Pokemon grabbed it and sprayed itself as the wounds from the sword slowly heals.

After that, it was decided that they must know the secrets of battle bond and there was only one way to find it, the Katsuragi residence.