The team, sharing their breakfast together before the final challenge, eyed each other nervously. “Feel like elaborating a bit, big guy?” Ginette inquired while stuffing more scrambled eggs into her mouth.
“I think it might still be there,” Chad corrected with a mouthful of potatoes. “Based on the news reports, I believe people may have noticed Dragonite acting as a trainer without a human.”
“Oh,” Lucielle’s eyes lit up, seemingly having figured out the issue. “You are worried the League may use it as justification against you?”
“Got it in one.” Chad complimented with a crumb-decorated smile. “They’re already cautious of what I can do, I have a feeling Dragonite’s actions may have tipped the scales against me.”
“Nothing to it other than to just win today and crush the conference,” Alexandre supplied, aiming a seared sausage at Chad with a bite taken from the end.
“The same way every other trainer does?” Chad suggested with a half-hearted shrug. “Honestly, Wulfric is remarkably kind from what I’ve read. As long as we impress him, the badge is as good as ours.”
“If need be, I can relocate this match to Olympia’s gym,” Rousseau offered telepathically, grinning from ear to ear as several strips of bacon hung from his chewing mouth.
“You must be Chad,” a large man asked, his neon blue puffy snowcoat hanging like a cape from his shoulders, revealing a big belly contained by a white t-shirt and a pair of thick black pants. A pair of thick, muscular arms are crossed before his chest, with a head of stylized white hair trailing down to an impressive white beard seemingly stylized like an Abomasnow’s. “I hope you can forgive my break with tradition, but as a trailblazer yourself I felt it was worth trying something new.”
He offered a thick mitt of a hand for a shake, as Chad returned the offered physical greeting, opting to remain silent. “Frostbite caught your tongue?” Rousseau jested, elbowing the fire type. “Not every day one gets to speak with a gym leader.”
“I doubt many pokemon ever do, but having you translate would be no different than having the Narrator act on my behalf.” He responded, as Wulfric seemed to wait, glancing at the psychic every so often.
Rousseau fiddled with his mustache, nodding in agreement. “I see. Lad, while your stance is admirable, do keep in mind that you help no one by simply refusing a free treat on the grounds that others were not made the same offer.” Providing a final pat on the back to the challenger, the Alakazam led both Calem and Serena towards the audience entrance.
Left alone in the lobby, the gym leader and challenger size each other up before heading for the other doorway. “Just one reminder before we head inside; most human trainers who unlock Mega Evolution can only handle the shift once per day, barely for a few minutes. While I would enjoy facing you at full power, it would be a unique advantage if you were able to use your two stones.”
Chad, eyeing his pauldron, nodded in agreement. “Reasonable, unfortunate for us, but reasonable.”
The final door to their battlefield slid open, as Chad immediately shivered from the drastic shift to the cold air blasting him. The gym was practically an ice box, just as cold inside as it was outside. Around the room, dozens of ice blocks forcibly kept the temperature down, while several had been carved into ice sculptures as functional decoration.
As the two entered, the audience cheered, excited for the match that was about to be underway. “My eight badge challengers always draw a crowd. Paltry compared to the conference, but lucky for you they aren’t here to see me win. Every single person up there wants to see a triumph; earning eight badges is rare, more so in your first season.”
Wulfric keeps walking, heading for his position on the far side of the field. “I will be the final glacier between you and the conference; can you overcome the last obstacle?” He shouts, prompting another round of cheers from the crowd as Chad takes up his position in the challenger’s box, his signature white scarf gently floating about in the arctic winds.
Wearing white coveralls with several highlights of bright reflective orange, the referee steps up to the side of the field, releasing a Jynx beside them. “Today’s match is the Eighth Badge challenge, issued by Chad of Vaniville Town to our own Gym Leader Wulfric of Snowbelle City! This will be a four on four challenge, with two limitations. Both trainers will be unable to switch their pokemon, and the challenger will be limited to a single Mega Evolution!”
There was a pause, as the crowd discussed what the conditions implied, while some had a knowing grin in amusement. “Further, as a special condition, the challenger will only be allowed to have a single pokemon in the challenger’s box at a time.” The ref continued, causing Chad to grimace.
“Shit. OK, we’ll have to go with the rotating door plan then.” With a flash of light, Ginette appeared beside him, donning the belt-sash with a nod. “You know the order, just be sure to send them out when you take the field.” A confirmatory nod later, Chad vanished inside his ball on the belt. The shuffle caused a few more whispers through the crowd, debating what was going on.
“Wulfric, are you ready?” The ref called, as the psychic barrier began to rise. The gym leader, palming a pokeball, nodded. “Challenger, are you ready?” Ginette plucked an ultra ball off the belt, holding it up to signify her own affirmation. “The match will start on the count of three. One, two, three, begin!”
"A Little Faster" by There for Tomorrow
If this sounds familiar to you, it's because it used to be popular with AMV makers back in the Bleach era.
Spotify:
Youtube:
As Lucielle materialized, across the field a giant quadrupedal iceberg let loose a roar of challenge. She used the opening few seconds to charge up a mass of silver light in her chest spike, before swinging both arms downward in a cross motion and unleashing the beam shot at her opponent. The steel energy crashed into the glacier, throwing up a cloud of white powder as the giant barely grunted in response.
“Set the stage!” Wulfric shouted, as the winds picked up with small snowflakes joining the freezing gusts. Lucielle didn’t wait to find out what else was in store, strafing her foe as her muscles surged and grew with an application of brown Ki.
“Be careful about getting close; we’ve seen what he can do in melee!” Ginette reminded her teammate, as Lucielle continued to fire off silver beams at her foe, probing their defenses. Each blast shook loose another burst of white powder which caught in the winds and seemed to chase her around the field.
When the powder cleared, the audience watched as the damage literally healed itself, the ice reforming in real-time. Meanwhile, the jackal seemed to be slowing down, as pockets of frost began to cling to her fur. “Sorry Lucario, Korrina was very clear; she wanted to see how strong you’ve gotten.” Wulfric apologized, pointing to a camera in the corner of the building. “So you’re gonna need to dig a little deeper if you want to win this.”
“Oh cette salope, forget range! Turn that guy into a new sculpture!” Ginette shouted, as Lucielle applied another coating of Ki and flexed to break the steadily-growing cover of ice. With a sharp flash, her steel tonfa took shape before the canine vanished with a loud ‘boom’, reappearing above the flat-topped ice pokemon.
Said flat surface immediately grew a hide of ice spikes, launching them one by one at the falling attacker as she swung her batons to shatter or deflect each oncoming attack. The series of crunches, crashes, and cracks accelerated with the closing distance until Lucielle was within striking distance. Before she could make contact, the entire field of spikes launched at once, the mass and force blasting her away to land against the ceiling of the barrier.
The now-flat surface began to regrow the spikes, forcing her to change tactics and leap to the side as the sequential projectiles tracked her through the air until she fell below Avalugg’s firing trajectory. “No blindspots huh,” she vocalized, summoning a soft pink orb in her paw before shoving it in her navel, her body seemingly recovering near-instantly.
“At this level, the only blindspots are the ones your opponent creates,” Avalugg responded, his voice like ancient grinding stones and gravel. Around his feet, the ground began to freeze with a growing coat of slick ice. “For example, you focus so intently on striking me that you fail to recognize my true role as the first of four.”
Lucielle searched the field, taking note of the piles of snow accumulating around the periphery, of the patches of smooth ice beginning to conquer the field. “I see, your goal was never to beat me, just to set up for your teammates.” She smiled, twirling her tonfa before locking them in place and lowering her stance. “That’s great, I was planning to take my girl ice skating when we won anyway.”
She vanished with another ‘boom’, appearing beside the giant’s rear right leg as a resounding ‘thwack’ announced her presence; a giant fissure appearing in the ice pokemon’s natural armor. The two proceeded to play a game, where Lucielle attempted to out-damage her foe’s healing, while Avalugg attempted to either land his own attacks or force her retreat.
The slug-fest continued, with the living glacier landing occasional hits as the jackal’s fur became covered in frost. But everything came to a halt when a resounding ‘crack’ sung through the air, with Avalugg collapsing to his belly, with both combatants looking worse for wear. “It’s over,” Lucielle declared, while the ice pokemon glared at her in defiance.
Her opponent unwilling to admit defeat, she swung for a final blow– only for the attack to be blocked by a shield of white. He grinned, as an icicle leapt from nearby to impact her arm, drawing forth a shout of pain and rage as she swung her other tonfa around the barrier and struck him unconscious. Unsteady on her feet, she stepped back, examining her limp left arm before losing balance and collapsing to one knee. She conjured another pink energy ball, forcing it into her body, but the arm still hung limp.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The audience cheered, with several shoulds of ‘climb the wall’, mixed with a few calls for a sweep. “Do you want to keep going?” Ginette asked with concern, her girlfriend huffing as the two waited for Wulfric’s next pokemon. Lucielle seemed to be waiting as long as possible, before she made her response when the pokeball revealed a floating snowflake.
“Only until you can come up with a counter plan for this one. I sense this will not be a simple matchup,” she explained, standing back up and lifting her one good hand into a ready stance in time for the referee to signal for the battle to continue.
The crowd applauded in support, as it was apparent the jackal had given everything for her previous opponent, now burning her deepest reserves to give her team a better chance. She vanished with a crack, reappearing before the floating geometric pokemon with a ‘boom’ as her fist flew through and destroyed the illusion.
A gust of cold air swept over her right side, creating solid ice on her remaining good arm and right leg. The wind shifted, pulling the growing freeze across her body until Ginette signaled the withdrawal of her partner. Lucielle was unconscious on her feet when the red return beam hit.
Ginette clipped the ultra ball back on the belt, placing her team on the ground sans one pokeball as she strode onto the battlefield. Lobbing the pokeball over her shoulder, Alexandre took up the trainer position. Grabbing and reattaching his ball to the belt, the pink rabbit slid the loop over his shoulder, letting it dangle as he took in the scene. “Show us how it’s done,” he encouraged.
"ROCKSTAR" by TAK (and others)
Never played the game, but the song is an absolute bubbly banger and totally on brand for our lovable gremlin.
Spotify:
Youtube:
The ref had barely called for the match to resume when Ginette was already duplicating. Her clones began to dance in sync, the steady snowfall beginning to mix with ice cold rain. “Interesting choice, most trainers assume that water types are weak to ice. Ghost protocol,” Wulfric commanded, as visibility quickly dropped on the field. Meanwhile, the psychic barrier shifted, as the audience was presented with a view of the battle as if the ice and snow weren’t there.
Several images of Ginette were dancing about the field, while the real one appeared to be enjoying sliding across the icy surface. As she sped about the arena, leaving more images in her wake, she leapt into the air. One spin, two spins, three spins, before landing while facing backwards, raising a leg to balance parallel to the ice in an elegant pose. “A triple axel?!” A woman shouted from the front of the audience, seemingly caught off-guard.
Ginette, having regained her speed moving backwards, then proceeded to swing her lifted leg forward, launching her into the air for two spins before she landed on her previously-lifted foot, having swapped to have her now-free leg hang in the air behind her. “And that was a double Salchow!” The same woman remarked, inspiring the audience to clap in appreciation.
Before the referee could remind the challenger, the crowd watched as Wulfric’s Cryogonal blasted one of the clones with a freezing white energy beam. Then they cheered as the ice pokemon was struck dead-on by a boiling rush of water from the performing amphibian. The two then engaged in a game of tag, each firing off attacks into the darkness, neither able to land a hit.
“Ginette, do you mind?” Alexandre grumbled, his arms crossed in frustration. “Just use echo and wrap this up.”
The frog made a comically-exaggerated show of frustration, before conjuring a shadow ball in her hand. “Fiiine. Marco…” She trilled, holding the ball up as it exploded in a pulse of dark energy. A small protective shield protected the sentient snowflake from the pulse, and the follow-up blast of boiling water as she shouted “POLO!”
The childrens’ game turned battle tactic continued, as Ginette grew increasingly creative with her timings and angles, leaving Cryogonal constantly guessing where they would come from. The ice type, infuriated by the match, spun around with a glowing ice beam, freezing everything in its sight and clearing away the rain and hail to reveal a clear, icy battlefield decorated with statues of a certain frog in artistic poses. The clones shattered one by one, until the field was empty save for Cryogonal. It appeared confused, until a gigantic glowing water shuriken ripped up from the shadows, slicing clear through the ice pokemon.
Ginette arose from the shadows beneath the snowflake, catching the giant weapon as it fell back down. “Tu es déjà mort,” she declared, before repeatedly slicing through her opponent several more times. With a snap of her fingers, the floating ice type was on the ground unconscious while she did a small victory dance. “Did I look cool, Alex?!” The rhino gave her a solid thumbs up, prompting both her renewed excitement and the crowd’s approval.
“Seems like you’re still pretty fresh, that’s a surprise. But don’t get complacent!” Wulfric remarked with amusement, as his third choice resolved into the form of a large white bear. Ginette threw her massive shuriken across the field, fading into the shadows below her. Beartic angled herself slightly to the side to let the spinning weapon pass her, before turning around as a sequence of three grabs happened simultaneously. First, Ginette emerged from the shadows to catch her weapon. Second, Beartic’s left arm caught Ginette’s wrist just below the water star. Third, the ursine swept her right arm in a hook, pulling Ginette’s body close to her own.
Everyone froze, waiting to see what happened next. Well, everyone except Ginette, who buried her face in Beartic’s fur. “Mmm, so soft and fluffy, and warm…” She mumbled, as her opponent smiled in amusement.
“If you forfeit now, I’ll hold you just like this after the match–” She began to offer, interrupted as the frog shoved her free hand up and out of the hug, waving to signal the ref.
“Quit, forfeit, drop out!” She shouted, as the audience laughed at how easily she had thrown in the towel. She couldn’t help but grin as Alexandre leveled a death stare at her from the challenger box. “Sorry!” Her pleas fell on deaf ears as he returned the problematic frog, swapping her pokeball for another on the belt.
“You heard her boss, she said she’s sorry for making you do all the work, again.” He jested, tossing the pokeball into the frozen field. As Chad’s form resolved from the light, the audience went wild, as Claude, Calem, and Serena did their best to be heard over the others. Dorothy was practically her own cheering section, as if the vulpine had been waiting for him the whole time.
"UFO Lover" by (you guessed it) T. Stebbins
I had another song in mind for this, but the lyrics were a little too serious while this was meant to be more enjoyable and fun.
Spotify:
Youtube:
“We’ll punish her appropriately later,” Chad acknowledged while rolling his shoulders. Across the expanse, his opponent cracked her knuckles one fist at a time, visibly eager to begin. As the two titans walked towards each other, the fire type conjured and threw a miniature sun into the sky above, the heat forcing the Ginette-shaped statues to sweat.
“Not a fan of the cold?” Beartic inquired, throwing an exploratory swing with a right hook, slow enough for Chad to simply lean backwards to avoid it.
“Nobody seems to have noticed yet how lewd those statues are; I’m simply removing a potential infraction before the League decides to disqualify me.” His explanation was flat and simple, as he responded by strengthening his muscles with a shimmer of brown Ki. The ursine glances sideways at one such statue, freezing in place once she notices. Chad, seizing the opening, spins to swing his tail as a sweeper, but the strike doesn’t budge the planted stance of his foe a single millimeter.
“Huh,” is her only response, seemingly captivated by the melting ice. He uses the short reprieve to bulk up again, adding a pair of magenta wings on his ankles for good measure. “I’ll try to mention it to the boss; crop them out from the recordings.” Like a switch had been thrown, her eyes returned to her opponent, stance shifting from relaxed to battle-ready. “Odd choice, we anticipated the bird would’ve gone third.” She commented, as her ice-coated fist swung wide.
“He flat-out refused to participate in this one,” Chad admitted, spinning again to sling a gout of fire in a wide arc. The fire continued to cross the field, encircling the two combatants and raising the ambient temperature. “And my buddy back there,” he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder towards Alexandre, “despite his protests otherwise, would have a rough time here.”
Whether through quick reactions, or a simultaneous thought, both combatants exhaled their respective breath attacks, the fire and ice clashing with fury as water droplets and steam exited from the poles of the cloud. “You seem to be taking it easy; think I’ll fall over that easily?” She taunted, firing a white beam through the cloud to impact the ground in the distance.
“Just trying to pace myself; I do have to face two of you, effectively.” He responded, throwing a pair of flaming tooth-shaped daggers through the cloud; each dug into the bear’s chest and bicep with a hiss. The flaming knives were pulled out by the ursine, as she followed up by gathering a flurry of snow as an aura about her body.
“Unfortunate, but slow and sedate will not suffice.” Clouds began to encroach on the sun from all around, snow falling in a flurry under their guidance as the pillar of warm sunshine shrank down around the fire type. “This is your final badge; earn it!” She shouted, as the freezing winds whirled around the shrinking pillar of heat, squeezing it shut. From within the compressed heat, an unfathomable blast of pure fire erupted to mirror the cold cyclone, consuming the white bear entirely as the waste heat radiated outwards to vaporize the nearby ice and snow.
When both attacks faded, both combatants were revealed looking worse for wear; Chad panting with exhaustion, Beartic from the sudden surge in temperature as some of her fur tips had burnt black. The fire type, digging deep, began to charge up another blast when Beartic raised her hand, signaling her loss. “I stand corrected,” she called out, as Wulfric reached for a new pokeball while aiming hers for a return. “Show us what it means for you to go all out.”
As she vanished, in her place appeared Wulfric’s fourth and final pokemon, his revered Abomasnow. “Bring it home, Chad,” Alexandre encouraged, hefting the shining mega bracelet on his horn high in the air. Likewise, as Chad’s pauldron began to light up, so did the crowd’s energy reach a new high. Revealing his black and blue mega form, Chad seemed invigorated as he called forth his signature fire blade, firmly gripping the handle with both hands and raising the tip towards his opponent in a ready stance.
“Hmm,” the grass type seemed to smile. “You sure have gotten them fired up, haven’t you?”
“I figured it wouldn’t do for the final round to give you a chilly reception.” He responded in kind.
The snowfall from Beartic seemed to pick up the pace as the clouds receded, bathing both combatants in a sunny winter wonderland. “I hope you don’t mind the cold; unfiltered sunshine can be a little too hot to handle.” He jested, gathering a green ball of energy in his hands before swinging his arm to underhand-lob the orb like a bowling ball.
Chad, grinning like a madman, lined up his blade and evenly cut the attack in half with spot-on timing. “Not at all! Your consideration really melts my heart.” He retorted, a pair of blue fiery wings sprouting from his back as he leapt forward in a charge, sword swinging through the air as Abomasnow sidesteps the head-on assault.
“Hah, what a spark this is! It’s been far too long since one of you youngsters really ignited my passion!” He boomed, as the ice type threw a collection of sharp leaves and icicles at his opponent, who promptly incinerated them with a blast of his fire breath.
“Just don’t freeze up on me, everyone’s expecting quite the snow!” Chad bit back, pursuing the jolly green (and white) giant around the field. One would launch projectiles while retreating, the other would use their flames to bypass and decimate the attack. Slowly, the spinning ring of fire surrounding them constricted, reducing the amount of free space the ice type could flee to.
The two continued to escalate as Chad’s blade clashed with a pair of icy stalagmites Abomasnow had ripped from the ground nearby, as steam hissed violently from where the two weapons crossed. “I always lava good battle, but are you worthy of victory?” He laughed as his white belly jiggled up and down.
Chad leapt back, switching his stance to hold the sword upright and on his right. “I may be biased, but I would argue yes.” He held the upright blade in front of him, as a mote of fire appeared at the tip. Swinging the blade in a complete circle, several other motes appeared arrayed around the arc, where upon completion Chad brought the blade backwards and up, holding it flat with the point aimed directly at Abomasnow directly in the center of the ring of tiny flames. “And I believe, frost-thing tomorrow morning, you’ll agree with me.”
The fire motes began to spin in their circle, inspiring Abomasnow to throw up a white shield in preparation. “First Dance, Sun’s Grace.” Chad declared ritualistically, waiting until they were spinning at a sufficient velocity to twist his sword from blade-down to blade-up, sending the spinning fire ring straight at his foe. The ring made impact with the shield, exploding violently with an obscuring cloud of thick black smoke, and a split-second later Chad appeared rushing through the other side with his blade outstretched.
When the smoke cleared, Abomasnow was still standing, now sporting a massive burnt strike across his front. With a smirk, he began to clap, inspiring the onlookers to do the same as the weather faded and the barrier began to come down. “Abomasnow has conceded the round. Challenger Chad wins!” The referee called, as the applause launched into whistles and cheering.
Chad immediately reverted to his normal form, looking back to find Alexandre on his hands and knees fighting to stay strong. Some choice words were offered from the rhino before he returned himself to his ball, the pokeball-laden belt falling to the ground and forcing the fire type to take a moment and re-don the iconic belt. “Thanks, you did great,” he whispered to his teammate before returning to shake Wulfric’s hand in the center of the field.
Wulfric, eclipsing Chad’s claw with his own meaty mitt, had other plans, holding the claw up high. “Everyone, today we celebrate not only the achievement of another trainer earning their eighth badge in their first season–” A round of cheer went up briefly before calming back down. “But today’s achievement was earned by Kalos’ first ever pokemon trainer!” More cheering, applause, and displays of support as Abomasnow flanked Chad to place his arm on the victor’s shoulder opposite Wulfric.
“Chad, with today’s victory you have earned my Iceberg Badge, a modest sum, and the ability to participate in the end-of-season conference, where the strongest trainers and teams from across Kalos will compete for prizes including the ability to challenge our esteemed Elite Four!” Modest applause continued, as Chad accepted the golden metal snowflake with a white mountain in the center.
Wulfric leaned in, covering his mouth as he whispered into Chad’s ear. “I also have a small surprise I would like to show you tomorrow morning. Be here by nine.” He leaned back and continued to smile, backing away as Chad was swarmed by the audience members brave enough, while Dorothy ‘gently’ suggested everyone other than Calem, Serena, Claude, and herself keep back at least a meter.
Narrator, are you doing OK buddy?
Oh?
I guess you could say it dealt ‘puns’ of damage.
…
Narrator?
…
Lighten up, it wasn’t even very punny.
Inferno
Stomp, Rock Tomb, Dragon Dance, Hone Claws, Rock Smash, Bulk Up, Detect, Protect, Dragon Tail, Ancient Power, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Crunch, Earthquake
Focus Energy, Double Kick, Dig, Venoshock, Sludge Bomb, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Bulldoze, Protect, Flamethrower, Stone Edge, Power-Up Punch, Bulk Up, Earth Power
Detect, Protect, Extreme Speed, Aura Sphere, Close Combat, Bulk Up, Power-Up Punch, Bone Rush, Metal Claw, ??, Flash Cannon, Heal Pulse
Detect, Protect, Swift, Shadow Sneak, Nasty Plot, Phantom Force, Leaf Storm, Synthesis, Leaf Blade, Shadow Ball, Magical Leaf, Confuse Ray, Hex