The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 47: 186-188

The New Normal – 9-9 – Wrath of a Tyrant

My match against Shin turned out to be easily scheduled. I had given my public acceptance to Shin's 'invitation' practically right after his TV interview was over, and suddenly I had a call barely two hours later saying that my match was scheduled for the next afternoon.

Apparently the League officials who were in charge of organising the Indigo Conference were especially interested in having a 'impromptu show match between the previous two finalists'. They thought that it would give the public something to focus on during the less interesting Open Qualifiers, and of course they were enticed by the sweet ad revenue.

I didn't mind. That just meant that I could fight Shin early.

However, one of the advantages of Shin's obscurity was that I did not know what to expect from his team. From what I remembered from our previous fight all that time ago, I didn't think he was that strong of a trainer. He was a Steel specialist, but I didn't think his level of strength could rise above that of a typical Gym Leader.

But he had a year to train up, and a lot could change over a year. I knew that very well.

Yet at this moment, none of that mattered to me. Shin had thoroughly pissed me off going after my sister like that. From what Klee reported to me, he had gone out of his way to ensure that her Pokémon 'stayed down' – refusing to hold back whatsoever in his deliberate act of cruelty. It would take almost a full week for them to recover, and even longer to make a full one.

That could not go unanswered.

I didn't care at all about whatever preparations Shin had made for this battle. Tyrant and I were fully in sync – we would overcome and crush every pathetic little obstacle that he dared try against us.

A League official then told me that the match was about to begin, and requested for me to make my way into the arena. Grasping that last strand of thought in my heart, I stood up from the bench that I had been sitting on and headed to the battlefield.

Rage tempered my heart and resolve, but it did not dictate my actions.

Despite the extremely short notice, a huge crowd had gathered here to see us fight. I could feel the excitement in the air; as the audience must have been expecting a cool match to take place. They expected an even fight between old rivals, where the underdog that was Shin would show off his newfound training and do his best to fight an uphill battle against me.

But if they expected that kind of narrative, then they were about to be sorely disappointed. I would not settle for anything less than a humiliation. I even considered revealing all that Shin had done to the public, but that would also involve dragging Whitney into the spotlight. I did not want that.

Another roar of the crowd drew my attention, and I turned to see Shin making his way into the arena, smiling and waving to the crowd as he did so. However, as soon as he turned away from the crowd, he gave me a look of utter, burning hatred. As if he wished to set me alight with his very eyes.

But it was more than that. The way that his teeth gnashed; the way his fists tightened and his eyes glared – there was a twisted obsessiveness in it. It was like my destruction had become his very life goal; the reason for his existence. Whatever was the kind man that I had once fought against was gone, replaced by this envious thing that stood against me.

I should have felt pity for him, but I didn't. He hurt my sister. That was enough.

There were no greetings or words between us. No friendly banter. No, this was a grudge match between two people who hated the other, who looked to destroy the other's reputation so thoroughly and utterly. The public just hadn't realised that yet.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THIS WONDEROUS SHOWMATCH BETWEEN OUR TWO FINALISTS FROM LAST YEAR'S INDIGO CONFERENCE! THEY HAVE GENEROUSLY GATHERED HERE TODAY IN A FRIENDLY MATCH TO SHOW HOW HIGH YOU COULD RISE IN THE INDIGO CONFERENCE! AND THE LEVEL OF STRENGTH THAT WE HOPE TO SEE FROM ALL OF YOU ONE DAY!" The crowd roared out with cheers and shouts, completely unaware that this was as far from a 'friendly' match as could be.

"THIS WILL BE A 6v6 MATCH BETWEEN THE TWO TRAINERS, WITH THREE SWITCHES ALLOWED!"

"SO TRAINERS – ARE YOU READY!?!"

I just gave off a quick nod as I grasped Tyrant's Premier Ball in my hand. I could feel his ball vibrating in my hands, just waiting to release all of his pent-up anger.

And I was going to let him.

He would be the unbeatable arm of my retribution; the personification of all my rage and anger. Shin was in for a bad time.

"RELEASE!"

"GO! Breloom!"

"Tyrant."

"SLAKINGGG!!" Tyrant roared out as he exploded forth from his Premier Ball, stampeding across the battlefield as he locked his rage-filled eyes onto his target, kicking up a small cloud of dust and rocks as he went. The battle lust that was radiating off him was palpable, and the air seemed to grow thick with tension from Tyrant's sheer presence alone.

There was no need for any instructions. He only had one objective – to smash, crush, and dominate all in his path. Tyrant was to bring the full might of his tyrannical strength into annihilating Shin's Pokémon, until he could roar and stamp over their fallen forms as the absolute victor. We would accept nothing less.

"Mach Punch, Breloom!"

But though he looked momentarily surprised at my choice of Pokémon, Shin did not back down, showing no sign of fear as he sent his Breloom to meet Tyrant head on. Breloom rushed forwards, charging into Tyrant with determination in its eyes and with a fist glowing white as it prepared to smash a powerful supereffective attack right into Tyrant.

The confidence in Breloom's eyes was clear and distinct, and it was unaffected by the heavy waves of pressure from Tyrant's battle lust. Breloom must have thought that it could win in a close-range fight against Tyrant.

But then Breloom's fist was caught in Tyrant's hand. Surprised at its attack failing, Breloom immediately tried pulling its arm out of Tyrant's grasp, but his grip on it was iron-tight. A sinister grin broke out on Tyrant's face, and the confidence quickly fled from Breloom's face – replaced with visible fear.

In a last ditch effort to break free, Breloom lashed out with its free arm and tried punching Tyrant in the face with a Drain Punch, hoping to stumble Tyrant for long enough to free itself. But Tyrant simply shielded his head with Psychic energy, tanking the punch with ease.

Then Tyrant grinned. It was not a pleasant one.

Breloom tried desperately to pull back, but it was far too late. Forcefully pulling the Grass type into him, Tyrant bashed their heads together with a savage Zen Headbutt, causing Breloom's head to snap backwards. As Breloom stumbled backwards, dazed and disoriented, Tyrant kicked out Breloom's legs from beneath it and brutally smashed his knee right into the falling Breloom's face.

"KING!!" Not giving Breloom a single second of recovery, Tyrant let out an rage-filled roar as he lifted the smaller Breloom by its arm, dangling it in the air for a moment, before using both arms to cruelly slam it into the ground with such force that the ground shattered below them and burying Breloom's head deep into the dirt.

Breloom's pained gasp was muffled by the gravel and dirt that it was forced to eat.

Trapped and pinned in the hole that it suddenly found itself stuck in, Breloom attempted to release a small cloud of paralytic spores around itself in hopes of paralysing Tyrant. Unfortunately for the Grass type, all it managed to do was have a wave of searing flames blasted its way, torching the Breloom as the hole it was buried in was turned into a searing furnace.

The paralytic spores were all casually incinerated by the fire, as if they were nothing more than a mere afterthought.

Breloom let out a pained wail as the fire spread and scorched its body, and it struggled desperately to pull itself out of the hole. But Tyrant merely grinned at the attempt, and stomped his feet down as he unleashed a rippling Earthquake that sent powerful tremors to tear through the exposed Breloom. At the same time, Tyrant sent out another torrent of flames from his maw, mercilessly scorching the helpless and flailing Breloom as the Grass type was slowly burnt alive.

The once confident and determined Breloom was gone, and only the faint smell of roasted mushrooms remained.

Shin withdrew his Breloom with an angry look on his face. He didn't give his fallen Breloom any acknowledgement as he simply sent out his next Pokémon, the impatience evident in his eyes.

"Do better, Skarmory!"

Skarmory let out a triumphant squawk as it took to the air, thinking that it could use its ability to fly to stay out of Tyrant's range and wear down Tyrant from range.

But Skarmory was quickly disabused of that notion when an ear-shattering lance of thunder came hurling down from the skies above, impaling the Skarmory with a spear of pure lightning like an arrow seeking its prey.

Or a hunter hitting his mark.

Skarmory let out a pained cry as it fell slightly out of the air. But that was enough as the massive frame of Tyrant came leaping out of the crater, jumping so high into the air that he managed to grab onto Skarmory's wings. Showing no remorse or hesitation, Tyrant then pulled down on Skarmory, using his full weight to forcefully drag Skarmory into the ground.

"Iron Defense, Skarmory!"

Accepting the inevitable, Shin started to have Skarmory set up for the likely brawl that was about to happen on the ground. He must have thought that Skarmory's impressive defenses would give it some leeway against Tyrant.

But that was a mistake.

"ENCORE!"

Just before the two Pokémon hit the ground, a small aura of white energy came out from Tyrant, engulfing the buffing Skarmory. Skarmory's eyes seem to tighten just as the two Pokémon came crashing into the ground, with Tyrant deliberately positioning himself on top of the Skarmory so that he had the Steel type pinned beneath him as they crashed into the ground.

"Break free of the Encore and Whirlwind and Swords Dance! Set yourself up!"

But despite its trainers instructions, Skarmory's body seemed to be moving on its' own as it continued to set up with Iron Defenses. Still pinned underneath Tyrant's massive frame, it was little more than a sitting Psyduck as a torrent of flames began charging up in Tyrant's mouth.

And for the second time this battle, another one of Shin's Pokémon found itself painfully incinerated by a torrent of Tyrant's flames. The scorching flames flooded over Skarmory's steely exterior, blackening the once pristine frame into a smouldering black.

Then, in act of surprising brutality, Tyrant suddenly cut off his flames as his arms whipped forwards; grabbing hold of Skarmory's face like a vice with both hands. Before Skarmory could even realise what Tyrant was doing, his hands began to heat up as flames gathered within them. Then a painful searing sound could be heard as Tyrant began to scorch Skarmory's face with his flaming hands.

Locked into the Encore as it was, Skarmory was helpless aside from screeching out in terrified pain as its head was locked in the flaming prison of Tyrant's arms. As Tyrant crushed his hands together harder and harder, the wails and screams of Skarmory became louder and louder. With its entire head now alight with flames, its eyes were begging for mercy; begging for Tyrant to release his grasp on it.

Yet Tyrant would give none. And he watched with vicious eyes as Skarmory's pained screeching turned hoarse from exhaustion, before being silenced all together as it succumbed to the flames.

With a dismissive snort, Tyrant released his hold on the Steel type, letting Skarmory's unconscious frame fall limply to the ground.

The crowd fell silent at that unexpected display of brutality. There would be no permanent damage, but to knock out a Pokémon like that – it was never seen in a 'friendly' match. I could almost hear the confusion running through their heads; this was not how two friends would be acting towards each other.

In the meanwhile, I merely stared at Shin while holding back the urge to scoff. THIS was what he decided to bring out against me? Did he think he could win with a Skarmory that was not even as strong as Walker's? It had barely improved since our first battle together, so did he think that he could use Skarmory the same way that he used it against Smough in our first battle together?

Because for someone who looks so obsessed with me, he must not have done his research. From the way that he had approached this fight, it was as if he had prepared to fight me as I was – all the way back in last year's Indigo Conference. I had caught the brief flash of surprise that Shin failed to restrain when his Skarmory was struck by the Thunderbolt, as if he was unaware of Tyrant's surprisingly powerful Special Attack.

The very fact that I could choose to fight differently, or had grown stronger, seemed to not have entered his mind at all.

And now the indecision was plain and visible on his face. He must have come into this battle with a plan, but that plan had very clearly shattered apart right now as he had already lost two Pokémon without hardly even causing a scratch onto Tyrant.

But that uncertainty quickly transformed into anger, and he practically hurled his next Pokémon into battle.

"BEAT HIM! POLIWRATH!"

Ah. There it was. The first of my targets.

I could see how it was able to beat Whitney's Pokémon. Its' eyes brimmed with confidence, and each step it took underlined the sheer bulk of muscles that hid behind every muscle of this Poliwrath. Its strength was certainly formidable.

And yet it was still dwarfed by my Tyrant. It might have seemed strong to a layman, but to me, it looked like nothing more than another prey waiting to be crushed by Tyrant's unstoppable strength.

"Belly Drum, Poliwrath!" Shin tried, but I didn't even need to say anything before an immediate Taunt came out from Tyrant, instantly shutting down the attempt. Despite having brought down two Pokémon already, Tyrant wasn't even winded as he pounced on to his next target, ready to repeat the pummelling once more.

Poliwrath took a step back, narrowly avoiding the leaping swipe from Tyrant as it retaliated by throwing a powerful punch that impacted Tyrant's face. Tyrant stumbled back as the strike landed critically, and Poliwrath stepped in, delivering what should have been a devastating Close Combat straight into Tyrant's core. Each punch caused ripples to vibrate through Tyrant's stomach as Poliwrath struck with its full might, driving each fist as hard as it could into Tyrant.

Yet, in its enthusiasm to do as much as damage as it could, Poliwrath failed to realize that Tyrant had taken on a slightly orange glow as he prepared a Counter. It failed to realize that the damage that it was dealing was actually being absorbed and stored. It failed to realize that its Close Combat was doing little more than eliciting a small grunt of pain from Tyrant.

Because, compared to Bruno's Machamp, Poliwrath's attacks were hardly more effective than a Tackle from a Magikarp. Tyrant had withstood true strength, not whatever this half-assed attempt was.

And with a bloodthirsty grin, Tyrant turned all of that stored power and threw it into a singular Thunder Punch. The attack radiated with so much raw energy and electricity that the air crackled and blurred around it, as if the air itself was trying to dodge out of the way of the attack.

Yet there would be no escape.

Poliwrath's eyes widened as it witnessed the spectre of doom coming its way, and it immediately tried to backpedal and throw up a last second Protect shield to save itself from the damage.

But Tyrant did not care. With his eyes blazing with pent-up battle lust, the hastily-formed Protect shield shattered instantly as the fully powered Thunder Punch shot cleanly through it and came crashing into Poliwrath's face, burying itself within its cheeks.

Then, a deafening BANG exploded across the arena as Poliwrath rocketed backwards like a bullet. The ground shook slightly from the sheer force of impact.

Poliwrath shot limply through the sky before smashing painfully as into the psychic barriers with such force that it nearly cracked the barriers themselves. Two huge cracks ran spread out through the ground in a 'V' shape from the impact point, and the limp Poliwrath slowly slid off the Psychic barriers unceremoniously; as if it was a Bug that had just been smashed into a wall.

Poliwrath's body crumbled to the floor, still twitching and spazzing randomly from the enormous amount of electrocuting currents surging through it.

One punch - and it was down.

"GET UP!" Shin shouted, his mouth almost frothing with anger. "You were supposed to BEAT his Normal types! Not lose to them!"

Unfortunately for Shin, just yelling at his Pokémon wasn't enough for Poliwrath to suddenly recover from its injuries. And talking was not a free action, and Tyrant punished this by sending a remorseless barrage of Thunderbolts to come crashing down from above. Poliwrath's entire body actually shook as even more electricity forcefully surged through it.

It was beyond obvious that Poliwrath was no match for my starter. And how could it be? When Tyrant was able to go toe-to-toe with Bruno's Machamp and win handedly. What could a hastily trained Poliwrath – because that was what it was – do against Tyrant? Except to lose?

It was merely strong enough to be a bully to weaker trainers. But against true strength, it was little more than a blue and white punching bag. A stress toy for Tyrant.

However, despite how outmatched Poliwrath was compared to Tyrant, Shin was utterly stubborn in his refusal to withdraw Poliwrath, his ravings growing even louder as he insisted that Poliwrath could fight on. Even if every available evidence pointed to the contrary, but I figured that reason had long since left him.

That was absolutely fine with me. "Bulk Up, Tyrant." I ordered.

After all, I was in no rush to finish off Poliwrath. And so I was going to force Shin into making a decision. Was he going to stick by his stubbornness allowing my Tyrant to buff himself and become even stronger, or was he about to acknowledge how outclassed he was and withdraw Poliwrath from the field? There were no good options for him; no matter what he chose he would only end up looking weak.

Exactly what I hoped for.

While I wasn't a person who usually found joy at the suffering of others, I admit that I found myself holding back a grin as I watched Shin become wracked with indecision. His every expression of anguish was another morsel of revenge that I took on my sister's behalf.

Eventually, Poliwrath made the decision for Shin as it succumbed to its injuries, falling unconsciously entirely – having accomplished little to nothing and was utterly humiliated with a single strike. Leaving Shin with only 3 Pokémon remaining.

That was one target down.

At this point, the crowd had long stopped cheering. They had realized that this was NOT a friendly match between 'rivals'. This was personal. And what they were witnessing now was a stomp not seen since Oak stomped the Blackthorns in with a Fairy type as Tyrant continued to pummel and dominate each and every one of Shin's Pokémon.

The audience might not have known WHY such animosity existed between us two, but by the way they were reacting, they didn't care. Now, all they cared about was to see if Tyrant could complete the sweep.

Yet Shin didn't seem to recognise how bad of a situation he was in. No, he was still staring at me with a look of burning hatred as he sent out his next Pokémon.

"Bannett! As we planned!"

A malicious cackle reverberated across the battlefield as the haunting spectre of Shin's Bannett took to the field. However, that cackle was cut off as Tyrant responded with an earth-shaking roar as he immediately charged into Bannett with a fist glowing with shadowy energies.

"Shadow Sneak to dodge!"

Bannett retreated into the shadows just in time before Tyrant smashed into its previous position, breaking a hole into the ground as his attack missed. Realizing his target had just escaped him, Tyrant let out a growl as he slammed his fists again into the ground in a rage – firing off a devastating Earthquake that sent powerful tremors into the ground and sent cracks tearing through the battlefield.

For Bannett, there was nowhere to hide.

The Earthquake forced Bannett out of the safety of the shadows as it levitated into the air. Wisps of flames gathered around Bannett as it prepared to Burn Tyrant with a Will-O-Wisp.

But as soon as Bannett reappeared, Tyrant had already ripped out large chunks of rocks off the ground and hurled them like a catapult towards Bannett's position. Copying Bruno's Machamp, Tyrant then used a spare chunk of rock as an makeshift shield as he rushed towards Bannett, ignoring the Will-O-Wisp as the small wisps of flames dissipated harmlessly on his rock shield.

"Icy Wind, Bannett! Slow it down!"

"Flamethrower, Tyrant! Keep going!"

A stream of flames came out of Tyrant's mouth, scorching the air around him and providing him with a layer of warmth to protect against the Icy Winds. Realizing its attacks were ineffective, and that Tyrant was rapidly closing the distance, Bannett dove to the ground as it prepared to disappear into the shadows once again.

Tyrant swung his massive fists, trying to strike Bannett with what should have been a devastating Sucker Punch, but Bannett let out a mocking cackle as it simply sank into the shadows once again, avoiding the attack completely.

Tyrant growled, and prepared to unleash yet another Earthquake to flush out the annoying Bannett. But this time, Bannett rapidly appeared a short distance away from Tyrant with a malicious smile on its face.

"CURSE! NOW!"

"TAUNT!"

A ghostly and unnerving aura seemed to form around Bannett, but before the aura could plunge inside Bannett, a swift burst of Dark type energy shot out of Tyrant.

I exhaled a quick sigh of relief as I watched Bannett's eyes slowly filled with rage, its attempt to Curse Tyrant long forgotten as it brandished its shadowy claws threateningly. Shin was shouting at Bannett to "stick to the plan", but Bannett was lost to its rage.

I sent an inward thought of thanks to Karen for having helped to train up my Pokémon's use of Taunt.

Thus, instead of retreating, Bannett stood firm and unleashed a powerful Dark Pulse that formed a circle of Darkness around itself. But Tyrant breached the ring of darkness with terrifying ease as he surrounded himself with the bright and distinct aura of Fairy energy, before pouncing onto the stationary Bannett and sending it crashing into the ground with a savage Play Rough.

Tyrant's arms latched around the smaller Bannett, and Bannett looked like a mere doll being flung around in Tyrant's strong and meaty arms. But Bannett wasn't even able to recognize the danger it was in as the rage continued to cloud its eyes, and it continually tried to slash and swipe at Tyrant with its shadowy claws and bursts of darkness, not even realizing that Tyrant was immune to most of the damage.

Nor the fact that Tyrant's grip around it was growing ever tighter.

Then suddenly, with Bannett completely trapped in his grip, Tyrant allowed a cloud of pure Darkness to form in his hands. Bannett let out a suffocated gasp as it choked on the dark energies, but it was already far too late to escape.

The aura of darkness seeped into the Bannett, causing a wail of pain as the energies ravaged through its ghostly form. The grin that Tyrant shot Bannett was almost cruel as he crushed Bannett with his hands.

The effects of the Taunt were broken through as desperation and pure panic set in. Bannett struggled, Bannett raged, Bannett shrieked as it tried everything that it could to break free from Tyrant's hold as the Dark energy ripped through its health. The feared and cackling Ghost type meant to induce fear in others was long gone, and what remained of that once frightening Pokémon was reduced to this fearful and crying mess of a Ghost desperately trying to get away from the exorcist that was Tyrant.

But no matter what it tried, its' fate was already sealed as Bannett's health was slowly squeezed away in Tyrant's iron grip.

And like a puppet that just had its strings cut, Bannett suddenly collapsed limply in Tyrant's arms, choked out and suffocated by the engulfing aura of Dark energy. With a dismissive scoff, Tyrant tossed away Bannett's unconscious body as if it was nothing more than an unwanted doll.

There was nothing more humiliating than that.

Shin fell silent, his eyes wide with disbelief as if he wasn't able to process the scene in front of him. I decided now was finally time to speak up.

"Four down. Two to go." I said aloud, before deliberately tilting my head as if pretending to be curious, "And I thought you were a Steel specialist? So why is it that 3 out of the 4 Pokémon I've fought so far all been types that are 'supposed' to be strong against Normal types?"

"Could it be that you tried to build a new team specifically built to counter me? Abandoning your Steel types in the process?" I pondered for the benefit of the crowd. "How long did it take you to build up this plan to defeat me?"

I shot him a smug smirk, "Because...what's the score again? Oh yeah, it's 4-0. Looks like your plan is going great!" The sarcasm in my tone would have made Agatha proud.

My words turned Shin's face into an impressive shade of red, "You shut your mouth, you fucking thief! I'm NOT about to lose again! NOT to a thief like you!" He shouted back, his face a dangerous shade of red as rage filled his very body. "Once I bring down that stupid! FUCKING! SLAKING! THEN I'LL WIN!!"

I shrugged nonchalantly, intentionally riling him up even further, "...But you won't."

"Or did you forget how you lost the first time?" I taunted, "Come, bring out your Steel types. We both know you aren't winning this, so let's just get this over with."

His face twisted even further, and he literally hurled his Pokéball my way as if trying to strike me with it. I wished I could have had a closer look at Shin's face at the moment, because I was willing to bet that a vein was about to burst in his head.

A massive Steelix came towering out, landing on the arena with an audible thump. Its' tail swept across the broken ground of the arena, tearing up a small trench through it as it did so. For the first time since the start of the match, Shin's Pokémon actually managed to dwarf my Tyrant. The giant Steel type glared down, trying to intimidate Tyrant as it raised itself to its full height.

But Tyrant's only response was to roar out and start rushing towards the giant Steelix. Far from being intimidated, Tyrant only saw this as a challenge. After all, the bigger they were – the harder they fell.

"STONE EDGE! DESTROY THAT SLAKING!"

"Bring it down, Tyrant."

Large chunks or rocks were torn out from the arena as the battlefield shattered even further. A storm of rocks hovered threateningly in the air like a halo around Steelix before they all shot towards Tyrant in a storm of stone.

And yet, Tyrant was barely slowed down as he simply destroyed the incoming stones with his fist or just tanked through them, hardly even looking bothered as the rain of rocks crashed into him.

Tyrant had sparred against Vordt many, many times in our training sessions – there was no way he was going to go down to something like this. Because as big and as intimidating as Steelix might look, its geokinesis was paltry compared to the likes of Vordt.

Realizing the rocks weren't working, Shin tried a different tactic, "IRON TAIL!"

Steelix's roar vibrated through the air as its gigantic tail tore up a huge trench in the ground as it came swinging around in a powerful hammering blow. But Tyrant did not dodge. Instead he simply grunted and raised both arms, letting himself be slammed by the Iron Tail.

However, instead of being thrown aside like a ragdoll, Tyrant had latched onto Steelix's tail, refusing to let go as he allowed himself to be swung around.

"SMASH IT INTO THE GROUND!"

Steelix's tail slammed into the ground, burying itself into the floor of the arena as it dug out another trench and caused cracks to spread out like rapidly from the point of impact.

Tyrant let out a pained grunt from the blow, but his arms were still wrapped firmly around Steelix's tail. Steelix looked shocked at Tyrant's persistence, but Tyrant made use of that opportunity to dig his heels into the ground, splitting his legs apart for more balance as he began to heave.

And in a jaw-dropping demonstration of his unstoppable strength, Tyrant began LIFTING Steelix into the air.

"...SLA....KINGGGG!!!" He grunted out, his face twisted into one of heavy exertion. The muscles in his arms were bulging and growing as sweat dropped down his face. His teeth were gritted and the ground around him began to crack at the full combined weight of both Pokémon.

But he was doing it.

The crowd all gasped as they watched Steelix slowly rise further and further into the air – I could hear the surprised disbelief in their voice.

After all, Steelix were well known for its incredible size and weight. It was practically the embodiment of a Pokémon that was all about raw strength. And Slaking were known for their laziness and aloofness, never able to reach their full potential because of their inherent attitudes.

But Tyrant was different. He was not your typical lazy Slaking. He had thrown himself into training, and he THRIVED off battle. Tyrant was MY starter – the role model for the rest of my team to follow. And he was not a Pokémon to let something as arbitrary as 'limits' stop him from doing the impossible.

I had asked him to grant me victory. And it would take Arceus themselves to stop him from achieving it.

Steelix tried to fight back, throwing up rocks towards Tyrant in hopes of distracting him enough for him to lose concentration and to drop Steelix. But Tyrant remained unfazed, letting the rocks crash against his body as he released a determined grunt, pushing his strength even further as he lifted the panicking and confused Steelix higher and higher into the air, until the Steelix literally became suspended in the air by its tail.

In that brief moment, Steelix's face filled with fear as it realized what was about to happen next.

"SLAKINGGGG!!!!!" Tyrant unleashed a powerful and echoing roar as he THREW the enormous Steel type over his shoulder and into the psychic barriers, hurling the Steel type through the air like a boulder.

The full weight of the Steel type was too much for the already damaged barriers to handle, and Steelix came crashing THROUGH them face-first, falling just out bounds of the arena.

Dazed and disoriented, Steelix was unable to react as Tyrant violently pounced on top of its fallen body and brutally smashed its head into the ground with a ferocious Mega Kick. Tyrant became a whirlwind of violence as he ruthlessly pounded into the Steel type again and again, raining blow after blow as if he was determined to bury the Steel type deeper and deeper into the ground.

His legs stomped, his fists bashed, and each hammering blow from Tyrant ensured that Steelix remained disoriented and unable to recover.

And then, with a final roar, Tyrant unleashed a torrent of flames into the hole that he had created for Steelix, turning it into a coffin of scorching flames that burned through Steelix's health. The flood of supereffective flames had Steelix screeching and struggling, trying to force itself free from its fiery tomb.

Just like with Bannett, Tyrant mercilessly grabbed onto the struggling Steelix's sides with both arms – trapping the Steel snake in his iron grip and stopped it from digging itself free. Despite Steelix's best efforts and substantial strength, Tyrant had dug his feet into the ground and REFUSED to be moved. Refused to let go. Refused to allow Steelix the opportunity to escape.

And the result was inevitable, as Steelix succumbed to the fiery flames, trapped in a hole dug out with its own body.

Tyrant had, literally, dug its grave.

The crowd exploded into cheers and applause at this victory; at what they had just saw. Never before had a Steelix been lifted into the like that from pure strength alone. It had never been attempted, because who would try to lift a Steelix into the air while in the middle of a battle anyways?

Until today.

I shot Tyrant a smile that was radiating with pride. He could have defeated Steelix with his plethora of Special Attacks. It would have been easier for him, considering Steelix's paltry Special Defenses.

Yet by doing it this way, he had followed through on my intentions and delivered Shin a more crushing defeat. I had no doubt that Tyrant's victory over Steelix would be published – and everyone would know that it was Shin's Steelix that was defeated in this manner.

I glanced over at Shin, and I finally saw the reality of the situation set in on him. The irrational and pure hatred that he had for me was still there, still smouldering behind his eyes, but there was the very obvious look of despair and hopelessness that had settled in as he realized how bad of a situation he was in.

He had come into this expecting to defeat me and revive his name and reputation, avenging his defeat against me during last year's finals. But now he had recklessly charged into this battle with a half-baked plan that crumbled near instantly, and now he was 5-0 against me. And Tyrant was still ready and waiting to battle.

Never before had there been a match against the Elite Four where a challenger had lost 6-0. There had been plenty of 6-1's, but not 6-0's. This was going to be another first in my book.

He had one shot of reclaiming ANY inch of pride that he still had left. One chance to not become the utter humiliation that he would be if he lost 6-0.

Unfortunately for him, the image of my sister crying was still burnt into my head. And I still had yet to have my pound of flesh.

His Scizor finally came out. THIS was the Pokémon that had so mercilessly brutalised my sister's weaker Pokémon. This was the instigator of my sister's sadness.

So there was only one way this fight could have gone.

Scizor was a fast Pokémon. Faster than most. And it commonly relied on this speed to strike with powerful hit and run attacks to bring down its opponent.

However, Tyrant had already smashed this Steel-Bug into the ground once before, all the way back at the finals of last year's Indigo Conference. And this time would be no different.

The final match hardly even lasted a minute. Despite having already gone through 5 of Shin's Pokémon, Tyrant's battle lust had only grown to even greater heights. Scizor was literally a Bug to him. So instead of trying to chase down the evasive Bug type, Tyrant merely sat still, buffing up with Bulk Ups and practically taunting the Scizor to hit him.

Scizor tried desperately. Giving its all and repeatedly pummelling him with powerful Bullet Punches that would have brought down a lesser foe.

But I had been training Tyrant with the goal of bringing down Lance's Emperor. In comparison to that magnificent Dragonite, Scizor was nothing. Tyrant was just used to fighting opponents on a completely different level and scale to Scizor. So Scizor's attacks simply brushed off Tyrant – his buffed defenses repeatedly proving to be too much for Scizor to break through.

Tyrant only needed Scizor to make one mistake, one moment of a lapse of concentration, one instance where it failed to evade Tyrant's counterattack, for the match to be over. And that opportunity came soon enough, as Scizor overcommitted to a Bullet Punch and left itself wide open to a singular Fire Punch that hammered into its side.

But before Scizor could get punted aside, a second swing of Tyrant's massive fists came coming around from the other side, squashing the poor Bug under his flaming hammer of a fist.

Then Tyrant clutched down HARD on Scizor's neck, choking the Bug type as it was lifted into the air – its weakness displayed to the world for all to see.

And everyone watched as Tyrant mercilessly choked out Shin's starter, before Scizor was SLAMMED down straight onto Tyrant's knee. An audible and brutal CRACK could be heard as Tyrant shattered Scizor's back, completely ripping through its wings.

That was payback for the brutality he showed against Whitney.

To finish it all off, Tyrant ferociously bashed Scizor straight down into the ground, disposing of its body like it was nothing to him.

All that was left of Shin's starter was a smouldering, almost unrecognisable figure that lied broken and defeated on the ground. I thought it was a very suitable representation of what Shin's reputation would be after this 6-0 victory.

Burnt, broken, and in tatters.

The announcer's words were just icing on the cake, "...AND THIS MATCH COMES TO A HISTORIC END AS ELITE JOHN HAS UTTERLY DOMINATED HIS OPPONENT, WINNING A NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN 6-0 VICTORY AGAINST HIS OPPONENT, SHIN! I DON'T THINK THIS WAS A VERY FRIENDLY MATCH FOLKS, BUT I THINK WE ALL LOVED SEEING IT REGARDLESS! I'M SURE THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MATCHES FOR THE AGES! CERTAINLY ONE TO BE REMEMBERED!"

Opposite me, Shin finally collapsed to the ground. His face was twisted with despair as tears streamed down his face. Maybe some would have taken pity on him at this very moment. But all I did was let out a sigh of relief.

I hope you're seeing this Whitney. You needn't be tormented by him any longer.

The New Normal – 9-10 – INTERLUDE – Pokenet Reactions

[THE INDIGO CONFERENCE FINALLY BEGINS! ARE YOU READY FOR THE OPEN QUALIFIERS?!] By the Indigo Post

[Symbol of the League Logo] [Picture of all the current Indigo Elite Four, with Champion Lance in the middle]

Ladies and Gentlemen! Trainers of all ages! It is this time of the year as the Indigo Conference has finally begun once again! It's time for trainers from all over Indigo to gather and show off their strength and abilities! This is the opportunity for you to show off all that you have learnt when achieving your 8 Gym Badges! Maybe it will be YOU who can become the next member of the Elite Four!

For a quick reminder of the format of the Indigo Conference, check out this graphic below!

[Graphic containing the whole format of the Indigo Conference. Starting with the Open Qualifiers, to the Preliminary Rounds (Top 256), to the Finals (Top 32)]

We managed to snag a few interviews from a few Gym Leaders to see what they had to say about this year's conference.

The New Gym Leader of Olivine, Jasmine, said this: "The Indigo Conference is a fantastic opportunity for all trainers to participate in. Even if you don't win, you'll fighting on a stage that will be seen by the entirety of Indigo, and even more from Hoenn and Sinnoh! So don't be discouraged! I didn't win the Indigo Conference either, but I still made it far enough to be recognized for my efforts! So do your best! I'm wishing all of you the best of luck!"

Similar statements were made from Gym Leader Samson, of Saffron City: "I'm sure there are many people looking at those the news have labelled as the 'hopefuls' for winning the entire Conference with some degree of envy. But don't lose heart! We've seen it time and time again where one person or another was labelled as the 'favourite' to win the whole Conference, only to lose out to a sudden surprise competitor in the end. John was a great example of this! And it could be YOU! So never give up! And do your best!"

With the Open Qualifiers opening up tomorrow, this writer wishes all of the competitors good luck! Hope to see you in the Preliminary Rounds!

Have you signed up? Or do you have a favourite to win? Are you excited for this year's Conference? Let us know in the comments!

Comments

FutureAce

WOOOOO!!! I just got past Giovanni so I'm definitely looking forward to signing up tomorrow! Maybe this year will be my chance to win!

Good luck to everyone participating! BUT watch out! I'm coming for that victory!

FearTheRat

Wonder who's going to win the whole thing this year!? I have some candidates in my mind, and I'm really excited to see this year's Conference. Last year's was a blast, hope this one's even better!

GeneralistGeneral

Really hoping we see some cool trainers this year! Last year was the year of type specialists, but I hope that with the discovery of Fairy types, we'll see less of these single type trainers! Excited anyways!

GroundedForLife

Nah! I wish we see some more Ground type representation! We've seen the Ice types, and the Dragons, and the Normal types, but where are the Ground types!!!

WiggleThatTuff

I know it's a bit early to be expecting a high-level Fairy specialist, but I can't wait! I hope this year's Indigo Conference really shows off the potential of the Fairy type and encourages more people to use it! Go Fairy types!

DragonPower

I hope this year's Indigo Conference really shows off the lack of potential of the Fairy type and discourages people from using it! Go Dragon types!

========

?[WHO ARE THIS YEAR'S HOPEFUL TRAINERS FOR THE INDIGO CONFERENCE? WHO DO WE EXPECT TO WIN IT ALL!?] By BattleCast

As our long time readers would know, we here at BattleCast have a tradition. Every time the Indigo Conference rolls around, we do our best to research potential candidates to identify those we believe have the best chance of winning the whole Conference.

Last year, our bets were on Shin. And though we were ultimately incorrect, with now Elite John cleaning through the whole of last year's Conference, he still made it into the finals.

But this year we have a new selection of trainers that we have studied and analysed – and while this is far from a conclusive list, only the best we were able to gather from the information we collected - we are very excited to see how these trainers progress:

[A graphics showing a big list of trainers, with over 2 dozen names, and including a list of known Pokémon that they have used]

First off, starting with the strongest candidate so far, it is Bruno with his Fighting types. No introductions are needed for this formidable trainer. Any avid fan of BattleCast would have already seen his incredible strength ever since his battle against John, despite his defeat. He is EASILY the best contender to win it all...if he was participating. Unfortunately, that is still unconfirmed, and all our attempts to contact him have failed.

Our next hopeful, and one we believe has a very strong chance of winning the entire Conference, is Karen. Those of who frequent the news would have seen her name pop up from time to time over the past year as Agatha's apprentice and temporary co-regent of Pewter City. She has a proven match history with her victory over Elite Sidney of Hoenn, and she is easily one of the most impressive candidates that we've had so far. We're VERY excited to see how far she can go.

However, we also have eyes on trainer Morty – who many would recognize is the current successor of the Ecruteak Gym. Coming from a long line of Ghost specialists, some are seeing HIM to be the more suitable successor to Agatha, as they both share the same type. Maybe we will end up replacing one Ghost specialist in the Elite Four with another?

But that's not all, as we still have...[Click here to continue reading]

Comments

TangelaThoughts

IF Bruno is participating in this Conference, then my money's on him. I honestly cannot believe a man like him isn't in already in the Elite Four. But that begs the question – if he's not competing this year, then what is he doing?

FearTheRat

Probably training in the mountains as usual. No offense intended, but the man is so dedicated to his training that he might have just forgotten that the Indigo Conference is even happening.

That's probably not what's happening, but I could imagine it.

PunchingBag

YEAH!!! BRUNO IS GOING TO DESTROY YOU ALL!! HE'S WON THE INDIGO CONFERENCE ONCE ALREADY, SO HE'LL WIN ANOTHER ONE NO PROBLEM! GET YOUR STUPID NON-FIGHTING TYPES OUT OF HERE!

FlyingHigh

...Wait a minute. Use of full capital letters. The bragging about Fighting types. The dismissal of any non-Fighting types.

I know who you are FightClub. You've just gone and rebranded! What happened to deleting your accounts?

PunchingBag

Like any good fighter, YOU CAN'T KEEP ME DOWN FOREVER! AND I'M BACK TO WATCH YOU ALL GET DESTROYED WHEN BRUNO CRUSHES YOU ALL!

FearTheRat

...I missed this guy, until I didn't.

BoyPhantom

Hey, this is Morty. I was surprised, but thankful to see the support that I've gotten for this year's Indigo Conference. Truthfully, I've never interacted with Agatha before, but I would be proud if I could inherit her place in the Elite Four.

DarkManager

@BoyPhantom This is Karen. Don't take this the wrong way, but I can assure you that meeting Agatha is no great pleasure. Trust me, I grew up with her.

BoyPhantom

Oh, hello! It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard the rumours, but surely they're overblown?

DarkManager

They're not.

=======

?[JOHN VS SHIN – A GRUDGE MATCH BETWEEN THE TWO FINALISTS?! A DOMINATING 6-0 STOMP BY ELITE JOHN!] by BattleCast

[Pictures of the match]

At BattleCast, we have spent years providing our readers with coverage on all different sorts of battles that take place in our lovely region. That means that over the course of our existence, we've bore witness to thousands of matches, all with different outcomes. We've seen grudge matches, friendly matches, rivalries and the like.

This was the first time we saw a grudge match that was SO overwhelmingly one-sided that it almost felt bad to watch.

So what happened to cause such a match? Unfortunately, we're not aware of that. Nor will we get into it. However, what we DO know is that John's Slaking ended up taking a perfect, never before seen, 6-0 victory against Shin.

For those who have forgotten his name, Shin was the finalist at last year's Indigo Conference, and was predicted to win the entire thing. That was until losing to John in the finals. He fell into obscurity then, but has recently helped to arrange a 'friendly match' between himself and John for the start of this year's Indigo Conference.

But Shin wouldn't be forgotten any longer. As in this definitely-not-friendly match, he was completely and utterly dominated by John's singular Slaking, who managed to take out all 6 of Shin's Pokémon without going down. In fact, it still wasn't close to fainting even after finishing off Shin's final Scizor.

This marks Shin to be the first trainer to directly challenge an Elite Four member, in an official capacity or not, and lose without managing to take down a single one of their Pokémon. It has NEVER been seen before; not when the loser was the one to issue the challenge.

This writer does not know whether to praise John's strength, or to question why Shin thought he had a chance of winning, as he confidently boasted about in his pre-match interview.

In fact, our analysts have all concluded that Shin was likely STRONGER in last year's finals match against John then he was at this fight. Shin had seemingly abandoned his plans to be a Steel specialist in favour of choosing Pokémon that were likely picked to be direct counters to John, and had brought in additional Fighting and Ghost types in a futile attempt to counter John's Normal types. However, due to a lack of training, or an overreliance on a plan, they heavily fell short of Shin's expectations.

It would not be inaccurate to say that they stood no chance against the calibre of John's Slaking.

One of the greater highlights of the match was John's Slaking utterly jaw-dropping display of strength as it managed to LIFT AN ENTIRE STEELIX INTO THE AIR! How INCREDIBLE Is that! How strong is that Slaking anyways to pull something like that off?!

[Picture of Steelix being lifted by Slaking]

This writer has no idea what Shin did to piss off John like that. But Arceus, he really made a bad decision challenging him like this. Who knew John had such a vengeful streak in him? But if anything, this has really opened our eyes once again about John's Slaking. Could it actually be a match for Lance's starter Dragonite?

Let us know in the comments!

Comments

SlugmaBalls

Woah! So I don't know what happened between these two, but that match was INSANE! I guess this is what happens when you challenge an Elite Four and are grossly unqualified to do so.

That wasn't a battle, that was a thrashing.

NotTooMuchWater

More like a spanking. What the fuck was that!? That match looked SO unfair. Man, John really came out of that looking really strong. And a little vengeful.

I'm so curious as to what Shin did. John doesn't come off as someone easily angered.

FutureAce

I think those who thought he was slipping must be rethinking their thoughts at the moment. There's no way that Slaking is 'slipping'. Shin really thought so, until Slaking slipped its way into a 6-0 victory HAHAHA!

I bet many future challengers are REALLY going to rethink their plans before they challenge an Elite Four member. Wow!

FearTheRat

Good on John for showing that the position of being an Elite Four is not just for show. The title actually MEANS something, and you shouldn't just challenge an Elite Four casually.

Shin got what he deserved for going into that battle cocky and unprepared.

ANormalFan

WOOO!!!! I always knew that John's Slaking had the potential to match up against Lance's starter Dragonite! Who says Normal types were weak anyways! ALL HAIL SLAKING! Absolute CHAMPION potential right there!

DetectivePikachu

Clearly, Shin is a paid actor here. Paid by John to lose the fight spectacularly to him to reinforce John's position in the Elite Four in this time of need.

Wake up people! Shin's in cahoots with John!

TangelaThoughts

...I highly doubt that the animosity between John and Shin were faked. The sheer vitriol that they were hurling at each other during the match was definitely NOT a performance. Nor could you fake the brutality of Slaking's beatdown on Shin's Pokémon.

Yes, the match was one-sided as I've ever seen, but does anyone KNOW why the two even came to blows over this?

AlluteNinja

I can guess what Shin's anger towards John stemmed from – he likely felt inadequate and forgotten due to his loss against John. He WAS the favourite to win, but he's since fallen into obscurity since his defeat, while John has been achieving success after success. Very understandable that he might be feeling envious.

No idea why John's so angry at him though. Must be a big reason.

=========

?[CAN CYNTHIA BECOME THE NEXT CHAMPION OF SINNOH? WHAT WOULD HER POLICIES BE?!] By Sinnoh News

[Pictures of Cynthia's battle against Aaron]

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 2 weeks, you will have already known that we recently have had a new challenger looking to take the throne of Champion, ever since it has been left vacant by Champion Hayato's departure.

Yet Challenger Cynthia has really proven herself to be a legitimate contender to becoming the new Champion of Sinnoh, having already swept through both Elite Bertha and Elite Aaron with significant ease. And now as Cynthia prepares for her fight against Elite Flint, her prospects of actually becoming the new Champion grows by the day. We've already covered who she is in a previous article, but the next crucial question is: What would she do if she became Champion? And would she be able to hold her position for long?

The answer to the latter is quite simple. There is really no need to get into her strengths as a trainer, as her dominant performance against Elite Aaron and Bertha should have solidified that already. Assuming she continues her performance against Elite Flint and Lucian, it is highly doubtful that she would have any issues holding her position as Champion in the future.

However, to answer the first question, it must be noted that Cynthia, beyond her impressive scientific connections, seems to have built up significant political connections to the current Elite Four. After all, it is practically an open secret that Cynthia was 'chosen' by Lucian to become the next Champion, as there have been many documented instances where the two could be seen frequently conversing before her challenge.

Could Lucian have already seen Cynthia's potential and decided that she was the best for Sinnoh? If so, then this writer believes that this bodes well for the future of Sinnoh to have our Champion and Elite Four to have a mutual understanding with each other.

And regarding our analysts prediction on her political positions...[Click here to continue reading]

Comments

RuinsManiac

Really rooting for Cynthia! She's honestly a great scientist and administrator – very kind, helpful, and knowledgeable. Love to see that a scientist is making it big in the world of battling; we're normally looked down upon for focusing on 'less martial' pursuits.

Hope she wins it all!

ResearchMagnet

Hmph. The pursuit of martial strength over intellectual ones is a honest waste of time. If Cynthia was so talented as a scientist, she ought to have continue going down that route. The advancement of science is worth more than just petty glory.

What a waste.

LoveIsEterna

@ResearchMagnet That's so short-sighted. If Cynthia were to become Champion, then she could help advance the sciences far more by just implementing policies to encourage scientific research. I've looked into the news from the other regions, and it really looks like a scientific boom has been occurring in those regions.

Cynthia being Champion would be a great win for scientists everywhere!

GeneralistGeneral

I was stunned, then ecstatic, then screaming with joy when I saw that a GENERALIST was currently tearing through the Sinnoh Elite Four with an incredibly powerful and diverse team.

I mean look at her roster of Pokémon! Every single one of those Pokémon are incredibly powerful! Can't wait to see more from her.

GodBidoof

@GeneralistGeneral And Cynthia has yet to really show off her STARTER Garchomp in a battle. She's managed to sweep through Bertha and Aaron without it.

Sure, Flint and Lucian are considered to be the stronger members of the Elite Four, but the margin isn't that much bigger. I think we're really about to see a new Champion take the stage.

Gardevoir34

OMA! AND SHE'S A HOT BLONDE TOO! ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! We've had enough of cool male Champions. It's about time we got a hot female one!!

NotTooMuchWater

@Gardevoir34 What – Wallace not doing it for you? No offense to him, but he's more effeminate than most females that I know. No shame to him – dude's beautiful.

PianoLover

I really want to see how Cynthia would match up against the other Champions of other regions! Maybe something like that could be arranged in the future?!

========

?[GYM LEADER JASMINE DISCOVERS THE A NEW DIGLETT FORM? ANOTHER SUCCESS OF THE PIT TECHNIQUE! A-DIGLETT DISCOVERED!] By The Indigo Post

[Picture of the new A-Diglett]

After a short lull in the discoveries created by the PIT technique, it seems that another success has finally blossomed from our very own Gym Leader Jasmine, of Olivine City! She has discovered a new alternate form for Diglett, which is now a Ground/Steel type! Jasmine also anticipates that it should evolve into a new Dugtrio as well! Leave it to the Steel specialist to find out a new Steel Pokémon for us!

The new form for Diglett has been named A-Diglett by Jasmine, standing for "alternate-Diglett".

We managed to catch the Gym Leader in an interview, where she explained how she came with this discovery: "It was honestly something that was discovered by pure coincidence over several months. We had an area that we used to raise Steel Pokémon for the Gym, and it's a place that's full of metals to allow Steel types to thrive in there. One day, I brought in a Diglett that I had found abandoned by an ungrateful trainer, and allowed it to stay with the other Pokémon."

"But...as time passed, the Diglett became really attached to me and wanted to prove itself. So I trained it up in hopes of making it a Gym Pokémon to deal with the many Fire types that get brought in against my Gym. But one day it evolved and ended up mating with a Mawile that we had, which produced an egg. I raised it, as any good trainer should, but I left it in with all the other Steel eggs in the Steel habitat."

"It took me awhile to realize it, but the egg was sporting some silvery lines after some time. At that point, I recognized what was happening, and started taking notes to document what was happening. At the end, the new form of Diglett hatched out, and I'm very pleased to welcome it into my team."

Jasmine was asked if she had any intentions to continue seeking new Steel types after this discovery, but Jasmine said that she did not see herself pursuing the route of science. She stated she was satisfied enough with this one discovery, but her heart lied with the Gym.

This writer hopes we see more discoveries being created from the PIT technique! Especially with all this extra funding to the sciences, surely more successes can be found soon!

Comments

FutureAce

Accident or not – I'm happy to see another success come out of the PIT Technique. New Pokémon are always appreciated. Although I'm really unsure if a Steel/Ground Diglett or Dugtrio is going to be strong.

Their standard forms were never very strong Pokémon. I doubt this would be much different.

GeneralistGeneral

Well, Steel types are known to be more defensive, so perhaps this is a more defensive version of the Dugtrio line? But again, Dugtrio were always considered to be fragile Pokémon, so I'm unsure how tanky a 'more defensive' version of it would even be.

It looks fabulous though.

GroundedForLife

Even amongst Ground specialists, Dugtrio have never been the most sought out. They make for good ambushers, but not much else. AND, we already have a Steel/Ground type in Steelix, which I'm confident is infinitely stronger than this A-Diglett.

It's a nice discovery, but I don't see it being too useful in battle. But maybe Jasmine or Giovanni could prove me wrong! I hope they do!

ResearchMagnet

...'Discovered by luck' is pathetic. There was no skill, no application of scientific observation. Just 'luck'. Disgusting.

But Jasmine's discovery of a new Pokémon still provides useful insights for finding other alternate forms. Maybe us REAL scientists can make something out of this.

FlyingHigh

Hey, who cares how she found it out. She admitted she wasn't a scientist anyways, so I don't know why you feel the need to degrade her.

And at least she found SOMETHING. What have you found? Besides your own feelings of inadequacy?

DragonPower

Where are all the new Dragon alternate forms at?! WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT FOCUSING ON THIS! Dragons are the best type, the STRONGEST type! Surely more people should be trying to find new Dragon forms?!

EDIT: No, I understand now. The superior power of Dragons means that only the worthy are able to find them. That's why they take more time. I will be patient, for greatness demands it.

WiggleThatTuff

@DragonPower Greatness demands that your Dragons get 3-0'd by a Clefable! HAHAHAHAH!

The New Normal – 9-10 – Interlude – Shin

"...CERTAINLY ONE TO BE REMEMBERED!" No matter what he tried, Shin could still hear the damning last words from the announcer echoing constantly in his head.

Those accursed words. The humiliation. The despair when he realized that everything he worked for was for nothing. Nothing at all. All that time and effort obsessing over how to defeat John, and he couldn't even make it past the starting line.

He could already hear the mockery that was pointed his way – to be the first ever trainer to lose 6-0 to an Elite Four member, who he had challenged. They laughed at him, wondering where had all that confidence gone, and why he thought he had a chance at defeating John in the first place.

But they never understood. He NEEDED to beat John. He NEEDED to reclaim what was lost to him. He NEEDED to knock John down a peg for having stolen his rightful position. Then he could throw it against those who doubted him and prove that he was MORE successful than they could ever be.

Yet...that goal seemed to be even further out of reach now.

On the wake of his humiliating defeat, he had tried reaching out to a few former contacts. He wasn't giving up on gaining back what he was owed, so he needed to come up with a different plan to defeat John. Clearly the plan of training up a completely new team that countered John's didn't work; he needed to try something else.

But, strangely enough, it seemed that no one wanted to business with him anymore. All of his former business contacts, those of whom used to be eager to shower him in favours for being the Johto hopeful...they all disappeared; refusing all communication with him. He even tried to meet some of them in person, only to be refused and shown the door.

It was like he had suddenly become persona-non-grata out of nowhere. And he didn't understand how it happened; yes, his defeat was humiliating, but surely that wasn't enough for everyone to flip on him like this? To abandon him and his goals?

After all, weren't they the ones that had been so enthusiastic about getting another Johto member into the Elite Four? So why would they give up on him when he was their best chance to do so – recent defeat or not?

It was when he reached out to a long-time business contact that he finally got some answers, "I don't know who you pissed off, Shin, but no one's going to sponsoring you or doing business with you at the moment. Not in Indigo."

"What? Why?!" Shin exclaimed confusedly.

His 'friend' shook his head, "I'm not high up enough to know, but the orders from above were very clear. Unless a business wants to make an enemy of someone REALLY important, they are not to engage with you in anyway whatsoever."

"But...But they can't do that!" Shin shouted, rising from his seat.

"It's already been done." His 'friend' said, "Look, Shin, I don't know what you did. But even now I'm taking a huge risk just talking to you. I only did this as a courtesy for what you helped me with before. I'm sorry, but you're on your own." And with that his 'friend' got up, leaving Shin to his thoughts once more.

He didn't know how long he spent just sitting there, his mind wracked with confusion and despair as he realized the hopelessness of the situation. Of COURSE John would have business allies to look out for him. Because there were ALWAYS going to be those that sucked up to those in power.

And it could have been HIM in that position, having powerful allies watching for his back. If only he had WON!

Gritting his teeth, Shin ended up walking around aimlessly, stewing in his hate. As if his legs were moving on their own, he found himself staring at the memorial that they built at Olivine, honouring John's successes against Team Rocket.

He rolled his eyes. There was nothing impressive about this. Any good trainer could have defended Olivine.

The 'Hero at Olivine', what a joke.

He was glad that it was the dead of night, and that the streets were empty of people. It meant that there was no one to see as he paced around in a mixture of anger and panic at what to do next.

It couldn't end here. IT COULD NOT!

"...Are you okay, sir?" A voice suddenly echoed through the silence of the night, and Shin's head whipped towards the voice, surprised and startled by it. A man stared back at him, a look of concern on his face.

"I'm not in the mood to talk." He growled out, "Don't you have somewhere else to be than to bother someone in the dead of the night?"

"Woah, no need to be hostile." The man raised his hands, "I just thought you needed some help. You looked like you needed someone to vent to. There's nothing more to it. If you want me to leave you to alone, then I shall."

Shin was taken aback by the sheer sincerity and concern in his voice, but his anger and frustration still won out, "You don't know who I am? And why I'm angry?"

The man tilted his oddly, "Should I? I'm sorry, I'm not someone that follows the news. Are you famous for something?"

'Yes, for losing a battle 6-0.' A part of his mind whispered treacherously in his head, but he quickly silenced that voice. Instead, his rage grew at the fact that this person didn't recognise him. HE was meant to be an ELITE FOUR! He deserved the fame that John had! No one would dare say to John that they didn't recognise him!

Unknown to his thoughts, the man continued in a calm tone, "You seem troubled by something. I don't really feel like heading to bed yet – so I'm happy to lend an ear."

The man took out a can out of his coat, "Actually, I meant to save this for later, but would you like something to drink? You look parched. And it's really the least I could do."

Shin hesitated, his pride warring with the friendliness that this man radiated. Eventually, he sighed and silently reached out and grabbed the drink; he could use the extra alcohol.

The man smiled, "Let's take a seat at that bench there." He pointed and sat down on the bench, extending a silent invitation to Shin. His rage settled slightly, and he reluctantly accepted.

"So, ready to air out your troubles?" The man asked softly as they sat, "Maybe it'll help you feel better."

"Has anyone told you that you're a nosy bastard?" Shin spat, casually opening his drink and taking a swig before wincing. That was some strong alcohol.

But the man just chuckled, "Yes, I've heard that quite a lot. But I like to listen and make friends with people. You could say that it's my job."

"Hmph. I could tell." He took another swig, "So what, you expect me to spit out my life story now?"

"Whatever you want to do." The man continued to smile serenely, "If you just want to have some silent company for the next few minutes, then I don't mind either. I'm here for you."

Perhaps it was the alcohol, or maybe it was just how friendly that this man was to him. But the floodgates finally broke for Shin, and the words came pouring out.

"You wouldn't understand." He hissed, "To have something stolen from you because of some lucky incident. To have a life of fame and fortune ripped away from you because some bastard got a lucky break. And then when you work hard, plan for every possibility, to make a perfect comeback to reclaim what was rightfully yours – all that shatters apart because of that same luck once again."

"WHY?! Why do I NOT deserve the fame?! When I've already put in all the hard work necessary to earn it?! And now I'm forced to wallow in this shit! I'm a GOOD trainer. I'm one of the best! I was to be the top of the world! All his achievements would have been MINE!"

Before he could stop himself, Shin had gripped the man's shoulders and was almost shouting at his face, "EVERYTHING! I LOST EVERYTHING TO HIM! I ALMOST HAD EVERYTHING! DO YOU GET THAT?!" His rage must have overcome him, because he began stuttering over his words, "DO YOU...YOU KNOW WHAT THAT'S...LIKE?! I...COULD HAVE BEEN...THE HERO! THE...GREATEST...GREAT..."

His vision suddenly turned blurry, and he collapsed back on the bench as the world began to spin around him. He tried to pull himself up, but his legs weren't responding, and his arms fell limply to his side.

He tried to call for help, but nothing came out of his mouth. His eyelids grew heavy, and his panic grew. What was happening?!

The last thing he saw was the calm smile of the man who had sat next to him, who reached for the drink that he just drank.

======

?As Shin fell unconscious, the man pulled out a phone.

"It's done." He said, "Relocating him now."

"Excellent." His boss responded, "Good job, Petrel. I don't want to hear from him ever again."