Battle after battle

"Ekans is unable to continue fighting, the winner is Charmander. Congratulations, trainer 187 Lukas Emerald, for advancing to the quarterfinals." 

Shaking his opponent's hand, Lukas gives a brief thanks before making his way to the medical tent provided by one of the Poke centers from Viridian City. 

It is already the 3rd day of the competition and with his most recent win Lukas advanced into the top 8, the 7 prior rounds were no problem for his Charmander at all, only in the last fight against an Ekans did Charmander finally receive damage. 

"Welcome trainer, how can I help you?" 

"Can you heal up my Charmander?" 

Handing over Charmanders Poke ball, Lukas takes a seat in the waiting area to think over the remaining contestants. From now on, the matches will be a 2v2 no substitution, so Lukas has to decide on his strategy for the last stretch of the competition. 

He can choose two ways to tackle the remaining fights. 

1. Continue to start Charmander and try to defeat both of the opposing Pokemon or at least defeat one and tire the remaining one out. 

2. Start off with Riolu and use Charmander to finish, should a Pokemon still be left standing. 

In the end, Lukas decided to let Charmander continue first. 

"Alright, let's get to it then." 

… 

The next day, Lukas, standing face to face with his quarterfinal opponent couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. 

"Who would have guessed that we'd have our rematch so soon?" 

"Well it seems you're my fated rival, but this time I won't go easy on you, u got that?" 

Lukas can only shake his head, slowly getting used to Allen's personality. "For this quarterfinal both trainers will be allowed to use 2 Pokemon, switching Pokemon at any point will be considered that Pokemon forfeiting its right to continue, furthermore usage of any Items and other outside interference will lead to immediate disqualification." 

"Do you both understand?" "Yep/I understand" 

"Then ready.....GO" "GO Charmander/Krabby" 

_______________ 

Species: Krabby 

Gender: Male 

Age: 2+ 

Type: Water 

Rank: Iron(high) 

Abilities: Hyper Cutter 

Traits: Hard Shell(all def. +10%) 

Affinities: Water, Steel(very weak) 

_______________ 

"Charmander use Smoke Screen" "Krabby, Water Gun" 

Both trainers had already expected their opponent's Pokemon, Allen was sure Lukas would start off with Charmander since he thought it's his starter and strongest partner, Lukas was sure Allen would use the Krabby he showed during one of his last rounds in order to counter his Charmander. 

So not wasting any time, both Pokemon begin executing their trainer's orders. 

"Charmander, ignore his attack and make sure you hit." 

In exchange for landing his Water Gun, Krabby had his vision impaired by a Smoke Screen, to deal with the attack that will most likely follow Krabby then utilized Harden. 

As expected, Charmander made use of the opening, his Smoke Screen caused to shake off the remaining effects of Krabby's Water Gun and dash in his direction. 

Upon reaching him, Charmander used Dragon Tail, though to little effect because of Krabby's outstanding defense. 

"Catch his tail!" "Char!?!" 

Having his tail caught in between one of Krabby's pincers, Charmander got the order to retaliate with a close range Dragon Breath. 

Not wanting to be left behind, Krabby uses a close range Water Gun turning this into a battle of endurance. 

In the end it was Charmander who, for the first time in this tournament comes up short, ending his continued Dragon Breath shortly before losing consciousness. 

"Charmander is unable to continue, please send in your next Pokemon." said the referee while Lukas, after recalling Charmander into his Poke ball, whispered him some words of encouragement. 

"Alright, it's your turn, GO Riolu!" 

"Riooo" 

Riolu gives an exhilarated cry at finally seing some action before turning his attention towards his heavy breathing opponent. 

Despite winning his last fight, Krabby didn't look like he was doing well. 

After the referee gave the signal to continue, Riolu immediately activated Agility to boost his speed before closing the distance, dodging the last effort Water Gun Krabby send his way before finishing off his opponent with Brick Break. 

"Krabby is unable to continue, please send in your next Pokemon." 

Allen having no other option sends in his Sandshrew that rose to (high)Iron-Rank over the course of the competition. 

The fight starts off with Riolu again using Agility to further boost his speed before he proceeded to run laps around Sandshrew. 

Sandshrew on the other hand tried various move to hit and/or slow down Riolu to no avail. 

Evading another Sand Attack, Lukas decides to end this fight and orders Riolu to close in using Quick Attack. Following up on the successful attack, Riolu uses Iron Tail and an immediate Brick Break thereafter, causing Sandshrew to roll over the field, not able to get up again. 

"Sandshrew is unable to continue fighting, the winner is Riolu. Congratulations, trainer 187 Lukas Emerald, for advancing to the semifinals." 

Thanking both the Ref and Allen, Lukas made his way back to the medical tent getting ready for his last fight before the finals. 

… 

Knowing his fellow semi-finalists Pokemon Lukas decided to change his stategy. 

Since his opponent in the semifinal had two Pokemon that were weak to Riolu, a Geodude and Aron respectively, Lukas had no problem beating him, and though unnecessary still made his way to the med tent for a final checkup while wondering who his opponent in the final will be. 

"Hey, Lukas." 

Luckily for Lukas, he found the person who can answer his question on his way calling out to him. 

"Hey, Stan, how is it? did you win your match?" 

"No, our opponent was too strong, and we had a type disadvantage as well." 

That meant the last of the trio of cousins was eliminated as well, with Allen losing to Lukas in the quarters and Matt losing even earlier in the round of 16. 

"Ah, that sucks, can you tell me what Pokemon he used?" 

"Sure, he had a strong (high)Iron-Rank Elekid and Ponyta." 

Since most trainers have no idea the (peak)sub-rank exists, that means both Pokemon are likely at the (high)Iron-Rank, with one or two stats at peak. 

"Well, seems like you realy got unlucky with your match." 

Despite saying that Lukas was sure Stan would have lost regardless of whom he had to fight since his Spearow and Venonat would also be at a type disadvantage against Lukas opponent. 

"I won't stop you any longer, good luck in the final." 

"Thanks." 

… 

1 hour later, the final officially started off after the referee went over the rules one last time. 

Ponyta and Charmander were the first to be sent into battle, with the former kicking the fight off with a Quick Attack that landed despite Charmanders attempts to evade and retaliate using Dragon Breath.

Using its proximity, Ponyta continues with a Stomp but loses the clash against Charmanders Dragon Tail.

Now with a bit of breathing room, Charmander uses Growl to lower Ponytas strength, followed by another Dragon Tail. 

*clash* 

*boom* 

*clash* 

Minutes go by with both Pokemon entangled in a close range brawl but despite having its strength lowered Ponyta still slowly but surely got the edge in the confrontation. 

*Boom* 

Five minutes into the battle, Ponytas Stomp and Charmanders Dragon Tail collided in the most powerful clash yet, pushing both Pokemon backwards. 

"Charmander, can you continue?" 

"ch..char.." *thud* 

While trying to give a thumbs up, Charmander suddenly fell forward. 

"Charmander is unable to continue, please send in your next Pokemon." 

"Don't mind it, Charmander, you did a good job." 

Recalling Charmander, Lukas releases Riolu, his last chance to win the tournament. 

Unsurprisingly, it took Riolu only one Quick Attack+Brick Break combo to beat Ponyta and begin the last fight of the competition. 

After his opponent released his second Pokemon Elekid, Lukas did his habitual observation, thinking nothing of it after seeing nothing special about Ponyta, but this time Lukas was surprised.