[ Hearthome city, Sinnoh ]

The entire arena seemed flooded with flashlights all around. The grand arena boasted of a Bermuda-grass pitch, covering an area of two thousand square feet, with a gallery holding a housing capacity of two thousand, and by the looks of it, the place was overwhelmed with spectators, who had, despite not getting seats, chosen to stand against the archways if only to get a chance to spectate the grand event that was to be this oncoming match. The final and last attempt at beating the current Sinnoh Champion off her champion status.

"All right, battle fans. It's the time!" The MC yelled over the megaphone, his voice almost hoarse with the constant commentary over the last few days. "The battle we have all been waiting for is finally here. On the red end, we have the defending Champion Cynthia, who shall be defending her status as Sinnoh Champion. Will she be able to maintain her hold? Or will Lucian, Psychic Master, and Elite Four, claim the throne for himself?"

Cynthia stood in her impeccable black robes, staring calmly at the figure of Lucian, the new winner amongst the Elite Four, and the competing trainers over the series of events that had happened over the last months, and finally was in, to challenge the Champion herself. Should Lucian be able to defeat her, her Champion status would be provoked, and she would remain as an Elite-level trainer. However, if she managed to defend it against Lucian and his team of psychics, her position as Champion would be solidified for a year, and more importantly, the Elite Four and the Ace Squad would rightfully accept her as their new leader.

And between her and that outcome, was a single match. A three-on-three battle, between herself and Lucian.

And I will shut all mouths, and prove myself.

She cast a casual glance at the top tier of the gallery. Even from this distance, she could see several of the Elite from other regions standing beyond the glass wall, staring into the battleground beneath them. She knew for a fact that Lance and Steven from Kanto, Wallace, the Champion of Hoenn, Lorelei—Kanto Elite Four, and Diantha, the Champion of Kalos were present there, to name a few. All of them were standing there, some with ulterior motives in mind, some for support, and some like Steven, for pure entertainment.

"And the challenger, Lucian of the Elite Four, will be choosing first." The MC announced. "This will be a three-on-three battle, with no carry-overs, no substitutions."

Lucian, a crimson-haired man, with matching sunglasses, wearing flamboyant robes and a half-arrogant grin on his face, lifted his first ultra ball- before holding it up in Cynthia's direction. "Bronzong, I choose you."

Why am I not surprised? Cynthia mentally drawled. That Bronzong, in question, was Lucian's signature pokémon, much akin to how Garchomp was for herself. For ninety percent of his formal battles, Lucian always allowed Bronzong to deal with his opponents. The steel/psychic type, was his sweeper, his front-line assault, a pokémon powerful enough to deal overwhelming damage to most opponents down the line. It was indeed, a rare occasion, when Bronzong took significant damage, or worse, had fainted mid-battle, only to be substituted with the next in line.

If not for his battle against Flint, I'd have thought Bronzong was his most powerful.

"Are you ready to truly face the wrath of an Elite four, girl?" Lucian taunted.

Cynthia rolled her eyes. The psychic master had forgotten that to become a Champion in the first place, one had to defeat all of the Elite four, and then the reigning Champion. Then again, that was over four months ago, and Lucian would probably have some new aces up his sleeve.

She lifted her Pokeball. "I choose you, Garchomp!"

With an earth-shattering roar, Garchomp slammed his feet onto the ground, materializing out of the ultra ball he was kept in.

"And Cynthia has chosen her Garchomp to battle against Lucian and his Bronzong. Who will win?" The MC continued.

"Bronzong has a dual advantage against your Garchomp. Is this your magnanimity or have you already accepted defeat?"

Nah, I just decided that even when against the tide, my pokémon can wipe the floor with yours.

Cynthia thought but didn't say.

Lucian had been, not that she needed any reminding, one of the most vocal in opposition to her status as Champion after she had defeated the previous Champion. Ironic, considering that Lucian had been the Elite that she had defeated most soundly back during her working through the Elite circuit.

"Let the Battle begin!" The referee announced from his safe position. After all, only an idiot would prefer to stay in the middle of a battle waged between two monstrosities. And considering that the pokémon battling were both elite-level, 'monstrosity' was one way of defining them.

....

" Let the Battle begin!" The referee announced from his safe position. After all, only an idiot would prefer to stay in the middle of a battle waged between two monstrosities. And considering that the pokémon battling were both elite-level, 'monstrosity' was one way of defining them.

Lucian raised his right arm. "Flash Cannon!"

Bronzong raised itself upward, before revealing its hollow bottom, which seemed to get saturated with blinding, white light, before propelling the energy out as a concentrated, wide-area beam toward the dragon.

Cynthia's expressions didn't betray her inner thoughts. "Fly up and use a flamethrower."

Garchomp roared, before leaping off the ground, and sending out torrential flames toward Bronzong. The powerful Flash Cannon missed its target as it passed underneath towards the periphery.

Lucian smirked. "Relocate."

Bronzong let out a mechanical noise, as a bluish aura outlined the powerful steel-type attack, literally deviating it from its path, incrementing it to unbelievable speeds, as it shot towards the dragon. Meanwhile, Bronzong simply teleported from its location, avoiding the flamethrower attack by a significant distance.

Garchomp leaped to his right, and the flash cannon followed, making the dragon leap and fly all around the arena, with the powerful steel-type attack right behind him.

"Looks like Bronzong has Garchomp dancing to its tune." The MC went on.

Cynthia arched an eyebrow. It seemed like this relocation had locked the flash cannon attack on Garchomp. "Garchomp, show Bronzong what super speed is like."

And Garchomp vanished.

"And it looks like Garchomp has somehow teleported. Is that even possible?" The MC asked no one in particular.

Even the relocated attack had been too overwhelmed and had crashed

"Not possible," Lucian muttered under his breath. "So then where is it?"

Almost as if in answer to his question, several illusory versions of Garchomp appeared all around the arena, all of them surrounding Bronzong, the scythe-like protrusions on their arms glowing with draconic power.

Since the dragon. Lucian commanded. And relocate confuse ray. He mentally smirked. Bronzong was notoriously mechanical in their dealings. Just like a supercomputer, they followed every single command to the Tee and executed it without an error percentage of fewer than three places of decimal.

So obviously, Lucian was completely blown out of his mind, when he saw Bronzong form a powerful confuse ray attack, before dispersing it into twelve separate fragments, firing them successively.

Why did you do that?

Bronzong fired at the dragon, as master ordered. Came the mechanical voice in his mind.

What the-?

"Checkmate."

........