Ace Versus Brendan Pt1

I could literally feel the tension and excitment in the air as I stepped out into the arena, Brendan standing across from me while everyone cheered at our presence.

"AND HERE WE ARE FOR OUR FINAL SEMIFINAL MATCH!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! ITS ACE VERSUS BRENDAN TO DETERMINE WHO WILL GO ON TO FACE CALEM IN THE FINAL ROUND OF THE FIRST EVER INTER-LEAGUE TOURNAMENT!"

I smiled as the referees hyped us and this battle up, knowing we were getting close to the end of the tournament. Plus I myself was getting fairly excited, this was going to be my first time battling a protagonist after all!

Speaking of said protagonist, Brendan had a look as if his entire future was going to be decided by this match. And I was pretty sure I understood why as he repeatedly glanced behind me, where the girls were standing in their cheerleading outfits to cheer me on.

Too bad for him.

As we were given the signal to send out our first pokemon, I could see Brendan debating on which one he wanted to choose. Let's make it a bit easier on him, shall we?

"I choose you, Mightyena!"

"AND ACE IF GOING WITH MIGHTYENA TO START WITH!"

I could feel the surprise of the crowd around me as they saw the pokemon I chose, which was notably.....underwhelming compared to their expectations I think. Wait until they get to see why.

Brendan meanwhile seemed relieved from my choice as his hand went for one of his pokeballs automatically, his choice also seemingly made.

"Set the pace for us, Medicham!"

"Medicham~!"

I cocked a brow at the psychic/fighting type pokemon, as it was one that I had also had my mind on for a while.

"BEGIN!"

'Sucker Punch.' I mentally commanded Mightyena, who barked in response before he shot forward like a furry bullet at his opponent.

"Take care of it's speed with Low Sweep, Medicham!" Brendan hurriedly ordered.

"Medi~!"

Medicham crouched low and swung it's leg out at Mightyena as he was about to attack, but my pupper was able to jump and avoid the attack due to his training with Lucario and Weaville. As a result, he delivered the Sucker Punch with the full force of his body weight behind him as he came down on the pokemon.

"Force Palm!" Brendan cried out.

"Cham~!"

Before Mightyena could make some distance between them, Medicham swiftly recovered and planted it's palm against his body, sending him flying back from the force of the fighting type move.

"And a good hit from Medicham." Professor Oak said from above, to which I looked up at him pointedly as if to ask which side he was on.

"Mightyena is too fast and skilled at close quarter combat, so keep it at a distance with Aura Sphere!" Brendan ordered next, drawing my attention back to the battle.

'Counter with Shadow Ball.' I told him.

"Might!" Mightyena barked as he opened his jaw, and formed a sphere made of ghost type energy that shot out to hit the sphere of fighting type energy Medicham shot at it.

"It can't block numerous attacks with Shadow Ball! Rapid fire Aura Sphere!"

"Medi~!"

'Charge in.'

"Might!"

Dirt flew into the air as Mightyena shot at Medicham, his figure bluring slightly from how fast he was moving as several Aura Spheres honed in on him. With my aura sense and our psychic link though, I was able to direct him on how to avoid the Aura Spheres.

'Now Crunch!'

"BAR!"

Fangs bared, Mightyena latched onto Medicham and bit down with his full force.

"Medicham!" The other pokemon cried out in pain.

"Use Counter!" Brendan commanded.

"Cham!"

Medicham quickly rebounded as it hit Mightyena with more than twice the force he had bitten it with, sending him flying to the side of the arena even as he landed gracefully on his feet.

"Its amazing that Mightyena looks no worse for the wear after taking TWO hits from Medicham." Iris said in observation.

I smirked at the comment since it was only to be expected that my Mightyena would be sturdier than others of his kind. After all, he and Houndoom regularly trained with Lucario, so they were used to taking fighting type moves stronger than almost anything Medicham could put out.

And from the look on his face, Brendan seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Medicham, let's do it!" He declared suddenly, holding up a glove with a Keystone embedded into the back of it.

"Oh?" I uttered while putting my full attention onto Medicham.

Mightyena and I watched as it was enveloped in a multicolored sphere of light, before the sphere shattered to reveal it's new appearance. Now Medicham looked as if it had a turban on it's head, a sash wrapped around it's waist, and four strips of cloth that flowed in the air around it. Oh yeah, AND it's aura was significantly stronger.

"Nice~!" I exclaimed at the sight, wanting my own Medicham even more now. But that would have to wait until I travel to Hoenn or Sinnoh.

"Medicham, use Force Palm!" Brendan commanded, and Medicham obeyed as it shot at Mightyena at much faster speeds than before.

'Move!'

"!!!"

Mightyena barely managed to move out of the way in time as Medicham delivered it's attack, which still knocked him off balance just by the shockwave the Force Palm produced.

"Holy shit..." I uttered at the display of strength, before my expression twisted into what I thought was an evil smile.

'It's strong.' I mentaly told Mightyena. 'Let's show them that its not enough!'

"Might!" Mightyena barked in agreement.

"Medicham, use Aura Sphere!" Brendan commanded, and Medicham produced an Aura Sphere larger and more powerful than any other it had used yet. And then it sent the Aura Sphere flying at Mightyena.

*BOOM!*

The Aura Sphere exloded in midair before it could reach Mightyena, seemingly out of nowhere as Mightyena and I smirked.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" The referee exclaimed, before they showed a small band-like item on the monitor that was laying in the middle of the arena.

"Is that a Power Anklet?" Professor Oak asked incredulously, while Iris was just gaping despite being broadcasted live.

"You bet your ass it is~!" I declared, drawing all attention towards Mightyena and I. "Mightyena! Use Double Team!"

"Might!" Mightyena barked, his figure blurring as he began to move even faster to create enough illusionary copies to completely surround Medicham.

"Medicham, use your sixth sense to figure out which is the real one!" Brendan commanded.

"Medi-"

*CRASH!*

Before Medicham could even try to focus, something hit it from behind with enough force to make it stumble.

"Mightyena, use Fling again!" I commanded, and ANOTHER band hit Medicham from a completely different spot.

"Wait a second?! I thought Mightyena already threw it's Power Anklet?!" Brendan exclaimed.

"He did. That was his SECOND Power Anklet, followed by one of his Power Bracers."

"'One of'?!"

"Yep. Use Fling again."

*CRASH!*

For the third time Mega-Medicham was hit by an attack that it couldn't sense coming, and Mightyena's speed increased even more as the number of illusionary copies surrounding it multiplied.

"N-no way!" Brendan uttered, before his expression became serious. "Medicham, use Vacuum wave with both hands!"

"Medi-CHAM!"

Swiping it's hands on either side, Medicham created two shockwaves that tore through the arena and hit Mightyena due to their wide range.

'Recover and go in for a Thunder Fang.' I told him mentally once more.

"Might!"

Mightyena barked as he shot in with more speed than ever before, juking Medicham out despite it's sixth sense and opening his maw to display his lethal fangs that crackled with electricity.

"CHAM!"

Medicham cried out as Mightyena latched his fangs onto it, pumping thousands of bolts of electricity into it's body to stun it.

"Now finish it with a Take Down." I ordered, and Mightyena slammed his body into Medicham with his full unbridled strength.

*CRASH!*

The two hit the ground, HARD, with Mightyena on top of Medicham to put all of his weight on top of it. He may not have the added weight from the bands, but with his strength being unimpeded he was able to hit it at his full strength. And his physical abilities were where Mightyena excelled without the additional typing and special moves that my other pokemon had.

And when Mightyena got up off of Medicham, we saw it laying there without moving in the slightest.

"MEDICHAM IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

Brendan was gaping at his unconscious Medicham while Mightyena trotted back to my side after collecting his discarded bands, a smirk noticeable on his face.

"You were excellent." I told him, making his aura spike in pride from the praise.

I then looked back out over the arena as Brendan recalled his Medicham, and grabbed the ball belonging to the next pokemon I planned to use.

"Its your turn, Magnezone!"

"Zooooooooone!"

Magnezone buzzed as it appeared in the arena, rotating it's magnets and letting off some electricity in a manner similar to flexing. And on the other side, I could see Brendan smiling.

"Let's do this, Camerupt!" He called while sending out his next pokemon, an orange camel with two humps of rock on it's back.

"Naturally." I muttered, not at all surprised that Brendan chose a ground type pokemon. Not only would it be immune to Magnezone's electric type attacks, but any ground type moves that hit Magnezone would be hyper effective thanks to it's dual electric/steel typing, along with it's fire type moves. IF they hit.

"Camerupt, start with Eruption!"

"CAMERUPT!"

With a roar, the camel-like pokemon shot numerous blobs of molten magma from the humps on it's back, aiming them all at Magnezone where it was flying in the air.

'Mirror Coat.'

At my command, Magnezone began to glow with a shimmering light without moving to dodge the incoming magma blobs.

"ZONE!" Magnzone buzzed as it was hit by the magma, dealing significant damge to it. But then the Mirror Coat took effect.

"CamERUPT!"

Brendan's pokemon cried out as it was inflicted with DOUBLE the damage Magnezone took, making it recoil.

'Now go with Tri-Attack!'

"Zone!"

Buzzing in reply, Magnezone channeled the three elements needed for this attack, fire, electric, and ice, before shooting them at Camerupt simultaneously.

"Camerupt!" The pokemon declared defiantly, tanking the fire from the attack, and being completely immune to the electric portion of it, but neither of those was what I was after. Instead, what I wanted was for the ice type of the attack to hit Camerupt to help cool it's body.

Camerupt and Numel were pokemon that had magma flowing inside of them, but when that magma cools in rain and such, they become negatively effected.

"Camer...."

As I hoped, Camerupt was slowed as the magma in it's body was cooled by the ice, but the window that gave us was small.

"Reheat yourself and attack with Lava Plume!" Brendan commanded.

"CAMERUPT!"

The Camerupt reared up on it's hind legs before slamming it's front legs down on the ground, summoning several powerful pillars of scarlet flames that spread in every direction.

'Mirror Coat again.' I mentally ordered Magnezone, feeling sour about it intentially taking the attack, but knowing that it was necessary. At the very least, I would never order it or ANY of my pokemon to use a move like Self Destruct or Explosion.

Again, Magnezone was engulfed in the attack as it shimmered with the power of Mirror Coat, inflicting twice the damage it took onto Camerupt.

"RUUUUUUUUUPT!"

"Camerupt?!"

"Are you ok Magnezone?"

"Zone!" It buzzed as the flames died down.

"Good! Now finish this with Flash Cannon!"

"ZOOOOOOONE!"

With a deafening buzz, Magnezone used the magnets at it's sides to focus and condense it's steel type energy into a sphere, before releasing it at Camerupt.

"Camerupt, use Flamethrower!"

"Camerupt!"

I could tell Camerupt was on it's last legs after taking two Mirror Coats from Magnezone, but that didn't stop it from putting it's all in this last attack as it tried to defend itself from the Flash Cannon.

"Follow it with another Tri-Attack!" I commanded Magnezone, who quickly complied while Camerupt with busy with the Flash Cannon.

And while it shrugged off the flames and electricity once more, the ice hitting Camerupt in the face was enough to distract it so that it's Flamethrower faltered, allowing the Flash Cannon to hit it.

"Camer....upt."

*Crash.*

The Camerupt crash down to the ground after taking the two attacks, and stayed there without moving.

"CAMERUPT IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee declared, signaling the defeat of Brendan's second pokemon.

"You did well Magnezone." I said while recalling it to it's pokeball for some rest. Even if it did so while using Mirror Coat, it still took both of Camerupt's powerful fire type attacks.

On the other side I also saw Brendan recall his Camerupt, his expression conflicted from his dual losses.

"You're up next!" I declared while grabbing my next pokeball to start the thrid round. "Go, Floatzel!"

"FLOAT!" Floatzel declared as he appeared in the arena, flexing his arms and spinning his dual tails.

Meanwhile, on the other side Brednan frowned as he went to grab a pokeball, but he appeared uncertain. I didn't blame him though, since he tried to use type advantages twice and lost twice.

"Shiftry, let's do it!" He declared eventually, picking his grass type that would have a natural advantage against Floatzel.

"Floatzel Float." Floatzel sneered at his opponent.

"Shiftry!" The leafy pokemon declared indignantly.

"Shiftry, start with Sunny Day!" Brendan ordered.

"Shift!"

Shiftry quickly answered Brendan's command by producing a ball of fire type energy that immitated the sun, increasing the temperature of the arena while also notably boosting Shiftry's aura.

"Chlorophyll, huh?" I muttered out loud, before smirking. "It might be a fair fight then. Floatzel, start with a Water Gun."

"Floatzel!"

"Shiftry, dodge it and use Leaf Blade!" Brendan ordered.

"Shift!"

Moving as a blur with it's increased speed from Chlorophyll, Shiftry managed to avoid the Water Gun as it instead soaked the ground, and shot at Floatzel with intent in it's eyes while it's leafy hands began to glow.

'Meet it with Aqua Jet.' I mentally commanded Floatzel.

"Foooooooat!" Floatzel cried as it coated itself in water and shot forward, clashing with Shiftry's attack head on.

*CRASH!*

Water met leaves in a clash that sent the former splashing everywhere, soaking more of the ground while Shiftry itself remained dry.

'Hydro Pump!'

"FLOAT!"

Floatzel expelled a massive torrent of water this time directly at Shiftry from point blank range, actually getting it wet this time, but doing minimal damage due to it's resistance to water.

"Shiftry, use Leaf Tornado!"

"Shift!"

At his trainer's command, Shiftry summoned a poweful cyclone of leaves that surrounded Floatzel to deal devestating damage to him.

'Its time Floatzel, jump up and spin while using Ice Beam!' I mentally commanded him, deciding to put our plan into action.

With nary a sound, or maybe I just didn't hear him over the cyclone he was trapped within, Floatzel leapt up into the air while spinning in the opposite way the cyclone was spinning, firing Ice Beam as he did so.

The first thing that happened was the freezing of the leaves surrounding him, freeing Floatzel from being attacked by them, but then the Ice Beam hit the arena itself.

"WHAT'S THIS?!"

"THE ENTIRE ARENA ITSELF IS FREEZING OVER?!"

The referees exclaimed, giving voice to what was happening as a massive chunk of the arena was covered in a layer of ice, including the area around Shiftry's feet.

"I see..." Professor Oak uttered, apparently having caught on to my and Floatzel's plan. "Ace had Floatzel use numerous water type attacks since calling it out, despite the fact that Shiftry is resistant to them. However, in using them they covered a good portion of the arena in water, which they then froze to give them the advantage despite Shiftry's Sunny Day."

"Shiftry, hurry and use Leaf Blade to break free!" Brendan tried to quickly order, as now Shiftry was frozen where it stood.

"Shift!" It cried out, the leafy fans it had for hands glowing with grass type energy.

"Don't think we'll let you." I told him confidently.

"Floatzel, use Aqua Jet and Ice Beam while spinning!"

"FLOATZEL!"

Floatzel shot forward like a bullet at Shiftry at my command, turning himself into a lethal icy drill as he did so that struck Shiftry, HARD.

"SHIFTRY IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee announced, declaring the loss of Brendan's third pokemon, while I had yet to lose a single one of mine. And as if to add insult to injury, Floatzel began doing the disco to celebrate in the middle of the arena.

"That's enough Floatzel. Come on back." I called out to him, disrupting his dance and having him come back so I could give another of my pokemon a chance to battle.

"Floatzel float!" He declared happily while hurrying back to my side before resting next to Mightyena.

I then grabbed the next pokeball I planned to use, and tossed it out.

"Go, Tyrantrum!"

***

"Oh?" Lance uttered as he leaned forward in his seat with interest at the appearance of the ancient king.

"TYRAAAAAAAAAANT!"

"Interesting... I hope Ace has a proper handle on that thing." He said despite the smile on his face. He was a dragon fanatic after all.

"I'd say so." Piped up his cousin, Clair, drawing some of the attention in the VIP box to herself.

"Why do you say that?" Lance asked curiously.

"That thing evolved during my battle against him the other day. It then proceed to try and attack Ace afterwards, only for him to beat it up with his bare hands."

Her recounting of the battle between the two of them made several people in the VIP box mutter in interest as they looked forward to the coming match. Even more so as Brendan sent out his pick.

"OH!" Lance exclaimed in an even better mood, as Brendan sent out a powerful Salamence that proceed to take flight.

"This just took a turn." Said Hassel, the dragon type specialist from Paldea.

"Salamence, use Dragon Pulse!"

"SALLLLLL!"

With a roar, Salamence expelled a powerful shock wave from it's mouth at Tyrantrum below.

Then, without Ace giving it any verbal commands, they saw as Tyrantrum used the move Ancient Power to throw numerous large boulders up at it's opponent.

The two attacks collided in midair to create a powerful explosion, through which they saw Salamence dive down at Tyrantrum with it's claws extended to use Dragon Claw.

"Bad move." Clair said analytically as she watched the move. In her opinion, it was the better option for Salamence to stay in the air and attack Tyrantrum from afar, given the latter's lack of ranged moves.

But then something happened that took them all by surprise.

Tyrantrum met Salamence's Dragon Claw with it's own, creating a shockwave from the force of their impact as they entered a stalemate despite the momentum Salamence had behind it's own attack. But apparently that was only to set up what Brendan was really after.

The next thing they knew, Salamence broke off the stalemate, and swung around to slam it's tail into Tyrantrum while it glowed with draconic power.

"Dragon Tail!" Clair exclaimed, as they all realized what it actually was Brendan was doing.

Dragon Tail was a unique move that not only damaged the receiver, but also forced them to return to their pokeball even if they were still able to battle. After that, one of the trainer's other pokemon would be randomly sent out to continue the battle in their stead.

So it was possible that Brendan was hoping that by using Dragon Tail, he could use Salamence to defeat several of Ace's weaker pokemon instead of possibly being defeated by the well rested and full strength Tyrantrum. Especially those who had already battled.

Immediately Tyrantrum was returned to it's pokeball on Ace's belt, before a random one opened as another of his pokemon were sent out onto the battlefield.

However, the pokemon sent out was not Mightyena, Magnezone, or Floatzel. Nor was any other pokemon that anyone had been expecting. Instead...

"Who's that pokemon?!" Demanded professor Elm, giving voice to what all of them wanted to ask as they stared down at the tiny pink blob in the middle of the arena.