CH99 (329), Final Global Competition Day (3)

Ryujin/Gyarados and Dragapult momentarily glared at each other before they acted. Dragapult used Quick Attack to increase its speed, and Ryujin matched its speed with his Aqua Jet.

Dragapult's claw glowed due to Dragon Claw, and Ryujin's head had a metallic glint due to Iron Head. The two momentum-boosted Pokemon clashed once more, this time claw against head, and they were roughly evenly matched once more, with Dragapult's arm being flung back and it retreating a step or two, while Ryujin's head was flung back.

Without wasting a second they clashed once more. Ryujin swatted his tail at Dragapult while using Aqua Tail, who used Dragon Claw to block it. They clashed like that a few times until Dragapult suddenly used Phantom Force, letting Ryujin's tail harmlessly pass through it.

Ryujin reflexively tried to block the attack with Protect, but it simply passed through the shield before Dragapult slammed its ghost energy-laden claw into him.

Ryujin endured the pain and fired a Dragon Pulse in retaliation, which Dragapult dodged. However, Ryujin managed to stop it from following up on its attack and forced it to retreat a bit, so that was okay. He swiftly used Torment to prevent Dragapult from spamming Phantom Force and dodged the Dragonbreath that it fired at him.

Dragapult rushed at Ryujin while using Dragon Rush, and he threw a Whirpool at it to slow down its charge, before following up with a Thunder which it could not dodge due to being surrounded by water.

Its Phantom Force was still in "cool-down mode", so it was forced to use Protect to block the Thunder. It managed to block it, but Protect's shield broke in the process, and he had no way to dodge the Ice Beam that arrived at that moment.

Dragapult tried to stop it with a Flamethrower, but the Ice Beam arrived before it could release the flames in its mouth. It released a roar of pain, spewing out the flames it had in its mouth in a half-baked Flamethrower. Dragapult managed to aim the fire at the ongoing Ice Beam, and succeeded in stemming it for a moment, which it used to dodge.

Still, it was pissed and fired Shadow Balls at Ryujin while rushing at him. Ryujin blocked the Shadow Balls with his Dark Pulse, before using Surf to stop Dragapult's rush. Sadly that proved to be a failure since Dragapult actually used Phantom Force to phase through the Surf.

That way it made it in front of Ryujin and began attacking him with a powerful Outrage. Ryujin tried to block the attacks using Dragon Hammer and Aqua Tail, but it still suffered damage and was forced back after each attack, right until he failed to block the last attack and was flung backward by the force of the hit.

Thankfully Dragapult ran out of steam with that attack and the Outrage ended, causing it to fall into a brief period of confusion, which allowed Ryujin to fight through the pain, and "stand" up from the group to regain his ready position after his involuntary flight.

Unfortunately, he was unable to take advantage of Dragapult's confusion since it regained control less than a second after he did. They both sent a Thunderbolt at the other at the same time, and the moves clashed in the air starting another move struggle.

Dragapult had a slight advantage, but instead of pressing further, it kept the struggle going and slowly approached Ryujin. It then abruptly switched to Phantom Force after pressing Ryujin's Thunderbolt back a bit, phasing through his attack.

However, instead of attacking him directly, it flew to his side. It then fired a Hyper Beam at Ryujin while it was flying at high speed, but still managed to accurately aim at Ryujin despite the latter's attempt at dodging, showing that it managed to Lock On(to) him during their last exchange, or shortly before then.

Seeing how he could not dodge the Hyper Beam, Ryujin had no chance other than to block it. He used Hydro Pump to delay it before using Protect to block it for a moment, after which he used Aqua Jet to dodge out of its path.

Dragapult moved its head and swiped the Hyper Beam towards Ryujin, who kept his Aqua Jet going to run away until Dragapult ran out of steam and could no longer keep up the Hyper Beam.

Still, he was a bit too far away to make good use of its immobilized state to attack it, so I had him use those precious 3 seconds to use a second Dragon Dance before starting a Blizzard after moving a bit closer to Dragapult.

Dragapult regained its mobility after the Blizzard arrived, but it chose to tank it and charged at Ryujin with a Dragon Rush while enduring the pain. Ryujin was forced to stop using, or rather keeping up the Blizzard, to block Dragapult who made it to him.

Ryujin's Aqua Tail managed to obstruct Dragapult's Dragon Rush long enough for him to completely ward it off with his follow-up Dragon Hammer that he used with his head.

Dragapult fired Dragon Darts at Ryujin at point blank, and he tanked it while firing an Ice Beam at it in retaliation. They kept trading energy and physical attacks one after the other with each one of them successfully hitting their foe on more than one occasion.

Their fight had gone on for more than 20 minutes at this point, and it was to date the longest battle any of my Pokemon had participated in. Both Pokemon had suffered a lot of damage, and both had exhausted a lot of their energy and stamina during their struggle against each other.

Everyone was watching them with bathed breaths, and most probably thought that they were head to head right now, but I knew that was not the case.

While Ryujin was only hurt slightly worse than Dragapult, his energy and stamina reserves were close to empty, but I could see that that was not the case for Dragapult. Ryujin had put up a great fight, but he came up a bit short simply because the other party was at a higher stage.

Despite that, he had no intention to stop until he was down and he ignored everything, charging at Dragapult, while ignoring/tanking its latest Shadow Ball, and putting all of his remaining strength into a final Hydro Pump that managed to nail Dragapult.

Dragapult endured the attack and fired a Thunderbolt that rode the ongoing current straight at Ryujin, who ignored the pain and kept the Hydro Pump going through sheer will.

Unfortunately, he slumped down two seconds later and his Hydro Pump sputtered out since he was unable to continue fighting due to being unconscious. The referee declared Ryujin unable to battle and Dragapult the winner.

This was the first time one of my Pokemon had truly lost during the competition(s), and I was a bit frustrated despite knowing that Ryujin did an awesome job with that fight even if he came up a bit short in the end.

He had caused Dragapult so much damage and exhaustion, that I was sure that even Manami/Lapras would be able to finish it off despite still being hurt herself from her previous fight, so Hera or Mars could definitely take it down as well.

Nonetheless, that still left Allister's last Pokemon, and while I doubted that he had another pseudo legendary in his pocket, I could not guarantee it, or that it was not another gold stage Pokemon.

So the question/dilemma I was facing right now was if I was willing to risk losing on the off chance that Allister had another trump card hidden away when I could guarantee my absolute victory by simply using Horus/Xatu or Mothra/Butterfree.

In the end, I decided against taking any risk, no matter how small it was. While I believed in my Pokemon, and even thought that Hera and Manami could probably take out Allister's third Pokemon as well after beating Dragapult, even if it turned out to be another (low) gold stage Pokemon.

However, I was not willing to risk my chance to move on to the final in a stupid attempt to prove anything, if I could easily win the battle by using my power duo.

Having made that decision, I praised Ryujin for his stellar performance before recalling him. I put his ball away and I fished out my next one. Once the referee saw that I was ready, he asked Allister if he wanted to switch out his Dragapult, but he shook his head, so the referee told me to release my Pokemon.

I did as he said and Horus finally made his debut, and his appearance caused a commotion. Meanwhile, Horus analyzed the situation as soon as he appeared and concluded that he had to wait for the referee to give the starting signal, so he looked at me instead for some input on the situation.

"It took out Ryujin, so don't underestimate it, and don't hold back even if it's hurt," I simply said and he nodded.

That exchange took only two to three seconds and ended before the referee gave the starting signal. As soon as he did that, Horus released his aura, revealing that he was at the (high) gold stage, which made the crowd go wild. Allister stared at us in shock, while Dragapult looked vigilant but defiant, refusing to be intimidated by Horus's aura.

Yes, Horus had actually reached the (high) gold stage, and it was a pretty recent development as well, considering that it happened shortly before we arrived at the stadium during his morning training.

His Energy Density rose to C while he was training, which resulted in him reaching the (high) gold stage. I only managed to congratulate him through my control over Utopia since I had been unable to enter due to being busy with the competition and my family as well as friends.

Anyway, defiant stare or not, in the state it was, Dragapult stood no chance against Horus. The latter chose to go with the most efficient route and used Psychic to attack as well as immobilize it before finishing it off with an overcharged Shadow Ball.

The whole thing took less than 30 seconds, and that was if I was generous with the time. It was probably around 20 seconds truth to be told, but that could be attributed to the fact that Ryujin did a number on it before losing, so Horus's strength was not the only reason for the swift conclusion.

I saw Allister clench his teeth before looking a bit resigned when the referee declared Dragapult unable to battle. He released a calming breath before he recalled his out-cold dragon and put its ball away. He then pulled out his third and final Pokeball.

The referee asked me if I was planning to switch out my Xatu, but I shook my head since I saw no reason to call out Manami once more. I chose to leave the last battle to Horus as well and watched as Allister released his last Pokemon with a determined look.

What appeared on his field was his Cursola, and once the referee gave the starting signal, it used its first move. It became apparent that Cursola had not broken through before the battle since it was still at the (high) silver stage.

It tried to use Perish Song, but Horus dodged that by Teleporting out of its range. He then fired a Shadow Ball at it from above, forcing it to block the attack, which it barely managed to do using Mirror Coat. Still, Horus did not wait for the result of that exchange, but teleported behind Cursola and hit it with a Zen Headbutt, making it flinch.

He even followed that up with a charged Shadow Ball that slammed into it resulting in an energy explosion. Once the dust settled, everyone saw that Cursola was unconscious, so the referee declared it unable to battle and Xatu the winner, which made me the winner of the Pokemon battle.

The last fight lasted less than a minute, but the crowd still cheered for us. I thanked Horus before I recalled him, and I saw Allister doing the same with his Cursola. With this victory, I had made it to the finals and would be facing Dio for the championship.

Anyway, Allister and I met up in the middle of the field and I thanked him for the fight and he did the same. He actually asked me where I managed to find a ghost-type Xatu since he managed to feel Horus's ghost energy, and I told him that it was a lucky event that happened during his breakthrough to the gold stage.

He released a disappointed sigh at that since he had hoped to catch one for himself, but a lucky "mutation" was not something he could force. I asked him where he found his Dragapult, and he said it was a lucky encounter with a cheeky smile, and I had to laugh a bit. We parted after that and I made my way to my parents as well as friends.

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