Riolu vs Steelix
For a moment there was dead silence as everyone tried to process what they just saw.
Everyone but Riolu and I as we stared at Brock passively.
Even without looking back I could feel the shock coming from the girls, with the sole exceptions of the professor and Daisy. They of course had watched me train Riolu for the last five years, and knew how strong he was.
For everyone else though it was a complete shock to see a little Riolu send a giant Rhyperior flying out of bounds, getting us an instant victory.
And now the two of us stood still, waiting for the shock to wear off and for the battle to continue. According to official League rules, the most Pokemon a trainer could use in a single battle was six, and Brock still had one left.
He was the first to get over his shock, recalling Rhyperior and readying himself for the final round.
"This is it Ace Ketchum. This is for all the marbles, so no holding back!" As he said that Brock pulled out the last Pokeball on his belt, and threw it out onto the arena.
"Go, Steelix!"
"STEEEEEEEEEEL!!!" Roared out a massive serpentine Pokemon, with a body that looked like it was made of pointed steel boulders. And when I say massive, I mean MASSIVE.
The damn thing was easily over forty feet long, making me and Riolu look TINY in comparison as it glared down at us. I glanced around it to look at Brock pointedly.
"An alpha? Really?"
Brock smirked in amusement as he said, "yep! Also my strongest, and first ever Pokemon! We'll show you the strength of the bonds we've developed ever since we met more than ten years ago!"
I scoffed silently at Brock's boast, as there was no doubt in my mind that mine and Riolu's bonds were even deeper than his and Steelix's. The fact that Riolu hatched for me, on top of my aura that allowed us to synchronize together, was more than enough testimony to the fact.
Rather than say it though, I closed my eyes as I synchronized my aura with Riolu's, and he did the same with me. And when we both opened our eyes a second later, our vision had doubled as I saw through his eyes, and he saw through mine.
Sight, hearing, smells, touch. All of our senses were shared with the other.
Our chests rose and fell simultaneously with our breathing.
As I rolled my shoulder to loosen it up, Riolu did the same. Riolu twisted his neck, and mine cracked.
"Ready?" The referee asked hesitantly.
"Begin!"
"Steelix, Slam!"
*BOOM!*
The massive Steelix whipped its heavy tail at us upon Brock's command, which we tanked by crossing our arms in front of us. Still, the force of the blow drove us backwards with our paws carving a trench in the solid earth below, until we finally came to a stop.
Counter.
*CRASH!*
We sent Steelix's tail flying with twice the power it had hit us with, knocking Steelix off balance as we then shot forward to take advantage of the brief opening.
Rock Smash!
Drain Punch!
Fire Punch!
Force Palm!
Low Kick!
We rained down attacks on Steelix as it reeled, taking advantage of every opening possible as we pummeled it.
Starting with a few Rock Smashes to lower its defense, we then delivered a variety of moves to try and weaken it as much as possible. Drain Punch to sap its energy and revitalize us, Fire Punch to try and inflict it with a burn, Force Palm to try and inflict paralysis, and finally a Low Kick to send it sprawling to the ground.
Only it didn't.
""Tch.""
We both clicked our tongues as Steelix remained upright, showing its ability to tank our attacks despite lowering its defense with Rock Smash. We couldn't even damage it enough to inflict it with paralysis or a burn.
"Our turn! Steelix, Double-Edge!"
"Stteeeeeeel!" Steelix roared as it rushed us without a single care for its own safety.
Swords Dance!
With a swift flowing movement, we quickly dodged out of the way of Steelix's reckless charge while also increasing our own strength.
Bulk Up!
Work Up!
Our strength, defense, and inner strength all increased as we watched Steelix recover from its attack. Normally moves like Double-Edge would harm the user along with the target, but Steelix must've had the Rock Head ability that prevented recoil.
Instead of focusing on that though, we focused on using this opening.
Rock Smash!
Screech!
Swords Dance!
Again! Again! Again!
Over and over we worked to lower Steelix's defense while increasing our strength, desperate to get it where we could finally get an attack through.
"Rock Throw!" Brock suddenly ordered.
Steelix answered by grabbing one of the nearby boulders in its mouth, and hurtling it at us with a force that rivaled Rhyperior earlier.
Brick Break!
Our paw glowed with fighting type energy that could smash apart even barriers, before we brought it down on the Boulder to chop it in half. As either half of the Boulder flew by us though, we were surprised to see Steelix right behind it to deliver another Double-Edge. One we couldn't dodge.
*BOOM!*
We were blasted backwards with even more force than the Slam from earlier, crashing through another Boulder behind us before being driven into the ground.
It took every bit of strength and skill we possessed to regain our footing even as we were being dragged through the earth. But once we did so, we were able to deliver our counterattack.
Counter!
*BOOM!*
Steelix this time was sent reeling, as twice the amount power it had used was sent back at it. And with its defense being lowered as much as we could earlier, it had taken quite a bit of damage from that.
Fire Combat!
Not letting this chance go to waste, we shot forward with our fists alight in flames, before we delivered a devastating barrage of punches and kicks to Steelix's body.
The move was a combination of Close Combat and Fire Punch, but it was also a double edged sword since we were so focused on attacking that we would be left unable to defend ourselves.
*Boom!*
And that was exactly what happened as Steelix sneakily delivered another Slam with its tail, sending us flying away. The move however wasn't anywhere near as strong as before, so with a flip we were able to return to our feet.
A smirk formed on our lips as we looked to Steelix, and saw that it was breathing deeply while a good portion of its body was glowing from the heat of the flames in our last attack. We were finally getting through its defense.
Brock meanwhile was frowning at how the battle was going, before he surprised everyone by suddenly stating,
"Turn the cameras off."
We looked to him in confusion at the command, not understanding why he wouldn't want to broadcast our battle.
"Uh, Brock-?"
"Just do it." Brock ordered the man who tried to speak, cutting him off as the man reluctantly turned off his camera.
One by one the rest of the cameras that were filming us turned off, and once they all were Brock declared in a stern voice,
"What happens next is to be kept an absolute secret. Understood?"
Though confused, we all nodded in agreement with what Brock said.
Nodding in affirmation, Brock then raised his hand to grab something hidden under his shirt, which I could see a chain hanging around his neck that it must've been attached to.
"Steelix, LETS DO IT!"
"STEEEEEEEEEL!"
With a roar Steelix's body suddenly began to emit light, light that reminded me of an evolution. But... That was impossible!
Steelix was the evolved form of Onix, and was the final form so it was unable to evolve further.....right?
But apparently that wasn't correct.
Instead Steelix glowed with a light unlike anything I had ever seen before, condensing into a sphere around it that then shattered to reveal something unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Not only had Steelix grown even LARGER than it already was, but it now had several crystalline points protruding from its body, while its head had grown even larger with wing-like points on either side, and numerous chunks of metal floated around it like it had its own gravity.
"What....is that???" I questioned out loud, as both my and Riolu's eyes went wide.
"THAT, is a mega evolution." I heard the professor say behind me. "Be careful Ace. Mega evolution means that Steelix's stats have all shot up, like a normal evolution, and it could have entirely different abilities now."
Our expressions hardened as we looked upon the second phase of our opponent, before we smirked confidently.
"Well, I guess we aught to take this seriously as well, partner."
"Ri!"
We could feel every eye turn to us in alarm at the revelation, while we just grabbed our gi, and threw it off to reveal all of the weights that had been restricting our movements, along with the macho brace we were wearing.
First to go was the brace, as it was restricting our movements without the extra weight.
Seeing this, Steelix charged at us to keep us from unburdening ourselves further. But, now unburdened with the brace, our movement had already gotten a huge boost as we leapt out of the way.
As we did so we smoothly slipped one of the numerous weights on our body off, and imbued it with dark type energy as we chucked it at Steelix.
Fling!
*CRASH!*
Steelix was sent reeling from weight and power behind the item we threw at it, which also made it mad since it was still hurting from the beating we gave it earlier.
"Steelix, Earthquake!"
Steeeeeel!"
With a roar Steelix began to thrash the ground in such a way that it began to shake and quake, making everyone unsteady on our feet as we tried to keep our balance.
In the arena though, we were forced to deal with the numerous fissures and spires that formed under our feet, impacting us on all sides before we decided to get away from the ground.
Leaping into the air, we peeled off the rest of our weights before zeroing in on Steelix.
Fling!
Fling!
Fling!
Fling!
We chucked them all at Steelix in rapid succession without giving it a chance to think or retaliate, angering it even more as it glowered at us hatefully.
By this point our body was entirely unburdened by the weights and brace, allowing us to move unfettered and use our full strength against Steelix.
"Steelix! Use Sandstorm!" Brock hurriedly ordered.
Immediately a cloud of sand was kicked up that covered the entire arena, blocking our vision as it filled our fur, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Thankfully, something else was whipped up in the Sandstorm that slapped against our face. The gi we tossed away earlier.
Grabbing the cloth before it could be blown away, we wrapped it around around our nose and mouth to breathe without worry. As for our vision, even with our eyes closed we could pinpoint exactly where Steelix was with our aura.
Unfortunately, there was still a drawback to being unable to see.
*Crash!*
A large Boulder suddenly hit us, sending us flying back and to the ground before we righted ourselves once again.
That move....was stronger than before...
I could feel the approval from Riolu as he agreed with my observation. That was a pain, as we couldn't sense the majority of attacks through aura. Only those that used the user's body as they approached.
Pokemon with the ground/Rock/steel typing however were seemingly at home in a sandstorm, and could apparently tell what was going on within them.
So we were at the complete disadvantage.
Well then, let's take this fight to them then!
"Ri!"
Honing in on Steelix's aura, we shot forward like a bullet before it could send the next attack our way.
As we did so we could sense a part of Steelix rapidly approaching us, which we avoided by little more than a hair's breath before using it as a springboard to launch a new attack.
High Jump Kick!
With our own unbridled speed, combined with the momentum from our springboard, we sent a powerful knee up into Steelix's lower jaw.
"!!!"
The massive metal serpent was sent curling back from the blow, leaving it open as we rushed in.
Fire Combat!
With our paws ablaze, we rained a storm of blows up and down Steelix's upper body until it was glowing red from the heat.
"Smack Down!"
We could barely hear Brock's voice over the howling of the wind, before something hit us that made us fall to the ground.
"Bulldoze!"
With a roar, we could hear something charging at us that made the entire arena tremble, before we were blown over and trampled down into the dirt.
Thankfully we knew the move Dig, so it was easy to escape from where we were buried. However we had taken quite a bit of damage in that attack that left us battered, and exhausted as we shook the dirt and sand from our fur.
With our chest heaving, and entire body sore, we focused on where we knew Steelix to be. Despite its own evolution, we knew it had taken a significant amount of damage throughout the the battle.
Now it was just a matter of who'd fall first, it, or us.
Unfortunately for Steelix, we had absolutely no intention of admitting defeat.
Fire Combat!
"Iron Tail!"
Cross Chop!
"Rock Throw!"
High Jump Kick!
"Harden!"
Rock Smash!
"Flash Cannon!"
Vacuum Wave!
"Earth Power!"
Bulldoze!
"Sandstorm!"
Over and over we traded moves, neither one giving any ground as we fought until the point of collapsing. Each side giving as good as they got.
And then, finally....
Fire Combat!
*CRASH!*
After raining down another round of fiery blows upon Steelix, it was followed by a crash as something heavy came down onto the arena.
For a moment all any of us could hear was the howling of the Sandstorm, before it began to subside to show the result of the battle.
"S-Steelix is unable to battle! Riolu wins!"