Chapter 18: The Final Battle
Both Alan and Steven walked into the Pokemon Centre to get their pokemons treated.
The next fight would be in ten minutes; there was no chance Eve could go back to full health so fast.
"So are you going to fight?" asked Steven as they handed their pokemons for treatment.
Alan did not respond and looked at Eve, exposed to a green light healing her injuries.
"She has already taken a lot of damage," said Steven as he looked at Eve before he turned towards his friend, "and you too have taken a backlash for that."
He looked at Alan, who was shaking right now; even though Alan pretended that nothing had happened, the damage taken by Eve was a lot more than before, and Alan, who was bonded with her, took a backlash from it as well.
He, too, had taken a backlash from his fight with Alan, but he did not have to fight in ten minutes and could quickly recover to normal before his battle with Sabrina.
Alan, on the other hand...
He now felt sorry and guilt for using the Meteor Mash.
As if sensing his friend's thoughts, Alan spoke in a calm voice, "if you had not done your best, I would not have considered you my friend anymore."
They both said nothing and sat down, waiting for the time to tick off.
"The two finalists, please come to the battlefield."
Before he knew it, the ten minutes were over, and it was time for the final battle of the tournament.
Alan stood up while his body was still trembling from the backlash. As soon as he was up, Eve landed on his shoulder and just like him, she looked weak, but her eyes still had a fighting spirit.
"This might not be a good idea," he said before walking towards the field.
[I know, right] said Eve, totally agreeing with her partner.
As they both reached the field, they saw the strongest person in their generation staring at them.
"You went above and beyond," said Cynthia as she looked at her friend, who was struggling to stand up, "you know you can always give up this fight. You are second place already; you have done better than anyone expected."
The referee, too, looked at Alan, waiting for the boy to give up.
"Alan Salvador."
Like any other match, he introduced himself, and Eve jumped down his shoulder before standing on the field.
"He is not giving up?" asked Gary as he looked at Alan and Eve, who were in no shape to fight, "tsk, overestimating his abilities."
"Why is he even trying?" on a different seat, Misty looked at Alan, who was about to fight the strongest person in this strongest while he was at his weakest.
"Sometimes it's not about if you win or lose, but about whether you want to give up or keep going," said the man who sat beside her with admiration for Alan, "and that boy chose to keep going."
"Will he be alright?" asked Devon as he looked at Alan; he was worried for this young man and Eevee, who had constantly won against opponents a lot stronger than them.
"He will be alright; Alan and Eve are a lot stronger than we may think them to be," said Alex as he gave a mysterious smile.
Devon looked at his new friend and gave a slight nod.
He had met many people in his life, strong and weak alike, he was also one of the strongest people there were, but he could not tell what his new friend was. Neither he appeared strong nor did he seem to be weak.
As if covered in a small veil that did not allow anyone to see through him, and every time he looked at the Pokeball hanging around his neck, he felt as if a beast was lurking inside it.
With a satisfied smile, Cynthia introduced herself, "Cynthia Sharon, and thank you for not letting me down."
"Go, Drake," she said while throwing the Pokeball from which her partner emerged.
"Gib-Gible."
Seeing that Alan had no plans of giving up, the referee gave the signal to start the fight.
"Begin."
Alan closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking at his opponents.
"Eve, use Tackle."
"Drake, counter it with Metal Claw."
As Eve started running towards Drake, her opponent charged his claws as they were soon enveloped in silver light.
As soon as they were close enough and Drake swung his claws at Eve, Alan gave a different command, "Eve, use Dig."
She immediately stopped the Tackle and used Dig before going underground.
"Drake use dig as well."
Drake did not wait a second before using Dig and followed after Eve.
"Eve, come out," said Alan as he saw Drake following her with his Dig.
The next moment Eve appeared above the surface before she started running around.
"Use Dig again," said Alan.
No one knew what he was doing, and this time, no one dared to underestimate him. Whenever they thought he would lose, he would use his out-of-the-box thinking to turn the tables. By now, all those present had understood that the boy was a talent who would grow up into a strong trainer.
For a few minutes, it was a chase between Eve and Gible while using Drake, and Cynthia could not hold it anymore.
"Drake, charge your Metal Claw and use it as soon as Eve pops out."
"Gib-gible," the pokemon nodded his head and charged his move, waiting for his opponent to show up.
Alan gave a small smile when he saw that, "Eve come out of his right."
Eve immediately popped out, and Drake, when he saw this ran towards her with his Metal Claw, but before he could even get there, she used Dig again to run away.
"What are you up to," asked Cynthia as she could not understand why he was wasting his time with Dig. Eve was already in low health, and this was just wasting her stamina.
"I have one shot at beating you, and I have to make it count," said Alan as he looked at the field that was now littered with holes before giving a small nod, "this should be enough."
"Eve, use Shadow Ball."
Eve popped out of one of the holes and fired off a Shadow Ball straight at Drake.
"Dodge it and use Draco Meteor," said Cynthia.
She knew what Alan was planning.
He had created enough holes so Eve could use them to hide and ambush Drake. Draco Meteor would make it so that half of these whole will be closed off when it fell.
Drake dodged the Shadow Ball and launched a Draco Meteor into the air; then, Cynthia saw the sly smile on Alan's face.
"This makes it easier," he said before he gave a different order, "Eve, use Iron Tail on the ground."
As soon as he said that, Cynthia thought about how he had used Iron Tail against Leaf to throw rocks at Bulbasaur.
"Drake use Metal Claw to destroy every rock that they sent your way."
"Ble-Ble," Drake nodded his head and got ready for the barrage of rocks.
As everyone was waiting for what would happen next, they heard a slight smirk.
"Heh."
It was none other than Alan.
*Bang*
The Iron tail struck the ground, but the rocks Drake expected never came. Instead, he saw his world turned upside down as the ground beneath his feet crumbled into pieces.
"H-how..." said Cynthia as she saw the field get destroyed by just an Iron Tail.
"Eve cannot use Dragon-type attacks, so I thank you for providing me with one," he said before he gave his last command.
Eve using Dig to make holes to weaken the ground, baiting Cynthia into using Draco meteor; everything was for just this one moment.
*BOOM*
The meteor crumbled into pieces as it now fell towards the battlefield.
"Eve, use psychic and direct them all towards Drake."
"No way."
As everyone heard what he was planning, many stood up from their seats in disbelief.
Eve jumped into the air, and her eyes turned purple as an intense burst of psychic power burst out of her before she subtly changed to the course of all the meteors that were falling.
She did not have enough energy to control those meteors, but she sure had enough to direct them all a little.
They were no longer scattered, but instead, they all went towards where Drake had collapsed into the ground.
Eve fell back on the ground beside Alan, exhausted, unable to move anymore.
This was Eve and Alan's last struggle and their only hope to win.
As all the meteors were about to crash into Drake, he heard Cynthia's calm voice.
"This is the closest anyone has ever come to beating me. If Eve and you were in full health, things might have taken a different turn, but for now."
"Let me show you the might of a Dragon-type pokemon."
"Drake, Innate skill: Dragon Pulse."
As soon as her voice fell, with a roar, a massive beam of Dragon energy was fired into the air, blasting off all the rocks that covered him along with destroying all the meteors that were coming his way.
Alan, who saw this, shook his head before falling to the ground.
"Dammit."
Everyone looked at the sudden turn of events; they would be lying if anyone said they were not surprised by the series of events in this match.
All the kids looked at the field, but their eyes were not on Cynthia but a boy lying on the floor with an Eevee.
They all had prejudice towards him when they knew he was not from a strong family. But he was also the one who had defeated all of them and came closest to beating the girl against whom they could not even last a few seconds.
Unknowingly, they clenched their fists, who knew what they were thinking.
"Eevee is unable to battle, the winner if Gible. The victory goes to Cynthia Sharon from Sinnoh Region."
As soon as he said those words, the whole stadium started clapping for the first time during the entire tournament.
It was both for the undefeated Cynthia Sharon and the underdog Alan Salvador.
Alan looked at Eve, who was lying beside him before he gave a small laugh, "that was fun; you really are the strongest Eevee in the world."
[But we lost...]
"No need to be sad; we will get them next time. We will come back stronger, and we will beat them at a stage bigger than this."
[I am tired]
"Sleep, and don't worry about anything else," he said before he rubbed Eve's head and called her back into the Pokeball.
As he talked to her, he saw a face pop up over his head.
"That was the best fight I ever had," said Cynthia with a small smile, "let me help you up."
She bent down and helped Alan stand up before taking him towards the small Pokemon Centre.
"I will beat you next time."
"I will wait for it."
"This hurts."
"The backlash you receive when your Blood Bond pokemon is injured this much is not to be underestimated. Especially when you took two of them back to back, but you will recover from it by tomorrow. You should also check your Pokedex."
As Cynthia said that Alan took out his Pokedex before he saw a small notification had appeared on the screen.
[Ding: Eve has broken through the small barrier and entered the Beginner (Mid) stage.]
[Eevee.
Type: Normal.
Level: 10
Stage: Beginner Stage (Mid)
Blood Bond: Alan Salvador
Ability: Anticipation (Hidden Ability)
Innate Skill: Psychic (Great Talent in psychic energy)
Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Sand Attack, Quick Attack.
IM: Bite (Regular)
TM: Protect, Shadow Ball, Rest, Agility, Work Up, Dig, Iron Tail]
"She levelled up," said Alan in excitement as they reached the small Pokemon Centre. He handed the staff Eve's pokeball while he was given a small bed on which he could rest on.
She had also learned a new move, Quick Attack.
"While we can level by fighting different pokemon, it is when we have to break these small barriers do we need to have tough battles. A pokemon's potential can help him level up fast but it is the challenges that makes a pokemon break through these small barriers," explained Cynthia as she sat beside him.
"So you mean that potential does not help with it?"
She shook her head, "no, we can consider this a way Arceus has balanced this world. While potential makes leveling easier, it does not help in barrier breaking."
"Enough of this for now, are you ready for the final prizes?"
"There is still one more fight left," said Alan as there was still a fight between Steven and Sabrina.
"I am giving up," a voice came from the side as Steven walked towards them, "hello Cynthia," he greeted her to which she just nodded her head as usual, "Beldum is not ready, he took more damage than I expected while all his energy is still drained from that Meteor Mash. And I am not crazy as you, I can barely handle the last backlash."
Alan nodded his head in understanding before they heard the voice of Zach once again.
"Participant Steven Stone has given up to fight for the third place, so, Sabrina Saffron wins by default."
"Please give a big round of applause for our young heroes who have done their best in this tournament."
*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*
"And with this."
"The New Gen Tournament, year 1740."
"Comes to an end."
*******************
Author's Note: I will either post as we scheduled, once a day or if I am too busy, I will drop a week's worth of chapters in a day. I am having a hard time in foreign country so it would be week's worth of chapters in one go I think.
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