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If the previous parts of the battle between Bruno and Blaine had been something that Joey had just about managed to follow with some help from Michelle, then the showdown between Machamp and Arcanine was the part where he got lost again.
Not necessarily because the tactics were that complex, but simply because everything was happening too quickly and brutally for him to even follow along.
A quick look at Michelle showed that her pupils were flickering all over the battleground at a rapid pace and that a defeated expression was slowly starting to settle on her face.
Joey didn't want to disturb her, so he simply contented himself with being confused by the battle without asking any questions.
Extreme Speed was a move coveted by many, mastered by few. There were only a few species even capable of learning it in the first place, which was especially impressive considering that, in reality, movesets weren't as rigid as they had been in the games.
First, you had to belong to a species that was already incredibly fast and enduring on its own, such as, for Kanto, Arcanine or Dragonite. Then you had to progress through the ranks of Tackle and Quick Attack before eventually evolving the former with an ever-increasing mastery of normal-type energy circulation and strengthening.
That was the condensed version; getting to the move was, of course, much more difficult. It took years to even catch a whiff of it. The pinnacle of movement-based abilities that weren't teleport.
The move was so powerful that even Blaine, a fire-type master, used it first instead of any fire-type move, his Arcanine blinking out of existence the moment its trainer barked the order.
And Machamp? A Pokémon that couldn't learn Extreme Speed? A Pokémon that was much slower than an Arcanine, regardless of any moveset?
Machamp just caught the Arcanine with its four arms, two for each side of the head and two for its torso.
The fighting-type slid backwards across the battleground from the impact, but the move had been neutralised. Joey thought he saw a glint of orange in its eyes.
Arcanine suddenly erupted in flames, causing the Machamp to punch it away from itself before the fire-type fully exploded in blue flames. Then, while on fire, Extreme Speed was initiated again.
Against Charizard, Machamp had proven its raw force, blocking its cataclysmic Overheat with punches alone; against Arcanine, it showed off its subtlety.
Arcanine zipped around the arena, trying to get a good angle on the Machamp with a mouth full of blue fire. It wasn't even zipping, really; it was disappearing and reappearing at random intervals. Machamp, meanwhile, eyes glinting orange, simply turned its body to follow along, never dropping its guard.
Arcanine continued repositioning itself, while Machamp kept turning. A game of patience and manoeuvres. Joey was sure Arcanine was leading the Machamp around with its initiative, seeking to put it into a specific position before it pounced. But for the life of him, he couldn't tell what that position was.
The game continued for a few more seconds before Arcanine pounced again, finally finding a good angle. Perhaps it was a bit counterintuitive to try and fight a fighting-type up close, but Bruno had already shown that Machamp didn't care much for ranged attacks.
Arcanine reappeared behind Machamp just as the big grey Pokémon stomped a foot on the ground. A large slab or rock suddenly sprang up in between him and the fire dog.
But it seemed like that had been exactly what Blaine had been waiting for.
"Break it!" he shouted, and Arcanine raised its big head forward to break the stone slab into countless shards. The Pokémon accompanied the shards with a ball of fire, which ignited them.
Machamp, for his part, simply snorted and punched out two of its arms, the force being enough to reduce the incoming flaming rubble to dust and sparks. Then it pumped its arms in an attempt to bulk up.
Arcanine saw its chance and sprang forward with Extreme Speed again, fangs glowing blue.
But the Bulk Up had been a bluff, and Machamp easily abandoned the gesture to once again catch the Arcanine with its four arms, which suddenly sparkled with electricity. Arcanine couldn't retaliate; one of the arms was clamping its jaw shut.
That whole thing had only taken a second as well. Moves flowed into each other seamlessly, and the battle had started maybe ten seconds ago. But, now Arcanine was caught and electrocuted. Machamp, singed from the close contact but wanting to take advantage of the situation, opened its mouth, bright orange light particles gathering in front of it at a rapid pace.
"Pin down the enemy and Hyper Beam, a classic," Joey muttered. The Hyper Beam exploded into the Arcanine as Machamp let go.
If he hadn't been looking for it, if he hadn't seen a similar move in one of the tapes before, Joey would have missed it.
Under the blinding, deadly laser, out of the mouth of Arcanine and out of sight of the Machamp, a liquid blob of poison travelled.
And as Arcanine was slammed backwards by the beam which carried it all the way into the psychic dome protecting the audience, where it exploded in a massive burst of light into a spherical orb of destruction, Joey's eyes were zeroed in on Machamp and saw the exact moment that the purple blob of poison struck its torso.
Machamp grimaced but was forced to recover while Arcanine fell to the ground after the explosion dissipated. Then the grey Pokémon grimaced and brought a burning hand to brush away the poison, before spasming wildly.
"Rest," Blaine ordered loudly at his ace, which prompted the Pokémon to not rise, but to remain lying there with its scorched and ruffled fur. Its massive chest rose gently up and down.
"Earthquake," Bruno ordered simply after Machamp had recovered.
"Sleep Talk," Blaine quickly responded and just as Machamp smashed its leg on the ground to cause what would have without the barriers been an arena smashing Earthquake, Arcanine suddenly jumped up, looking much too energetic than a Hyper Beam victim should have been looking, even if its eyes were closed, and sped away towards Machamp in another Extreme Speed.
The sleeping dog was seemingly committing to the same strategy it had been using earlier, putting into question how much of Sleep Talk was simply a repetition of the commands executed most recently while awake.
Extreme Speed into the air saved it from the Earthquake, destroying the battlefield, and Machamp had to dodge as it winced from the poison just in time to miss the opportunity to retaliate.
"Was the whole Extreme Speed strategy meant to get off a Toxic, knowing that Rest would heal up what was lost in the exchange?" Joey asked himself before shaking his head. "What kind of try-hard teaches their Arcanine Toxic anyway?"
"Blaine, apparently," Erika suddenly spoke up with a worried expression. "But now that Machamp is weakened by the poison, can it defend itself from an Overheat like it did before?" she asked. "Sunny Day is still up."
"That's a good question. Arcanine is probably more powerful than Charizard as well. Maybe Machamp really is one Overheat away from getting charcoaled," Joey replied worriedly, another irrational flash of anger appearing within him once again. What exactly was Bruno doing? This fight was supposed to be easy!
"With Toxic eating away and Rest healing up Arcanine, Bruno is going to have to take a gamble," Erika said while worrying away at her lip.
"What sort of gamble?" Joey muttered as the battle returned to its state ten seconds ago, Arcanine zipping around with Extreme Speed and Machamp following where it was with the burning orange eyes of detect.
"Earthquake," Bruno suddenly ordered again.
Blaine immediately replied with another "Sleep Talk!"
"Why does he keep ordering Earthquake?" Joey asked with a furrowed brow.
"Sleep Talk is like a lottery; you can change the odds, but the result will always be random unless the wheel is faulty. There is one move that, if Arcanine uses it during Earthquake, might spell its doom."
"So what, Bruno is gambling on a 1/20 chance?" Joey complained. "What an idiot."
That was when, suddenly, at the next iteration of Earthquake from Bruno and Sleep Talk from Blaine, Arcanine suddenly turned downwards and started digging like an excitable puppy.
"You of all people shouldn't complain about gambling," Michelle grumbled as Arcanine buried itself in the ground just as Machamp unleashed another Earthquake.
But Joey wasn't listening anymore. He was on his knees, hands extended to the sky. "Blessed be thy name, Arceus!" he shouted.
The camera zoomed in on Blaine's face, who was shaking his head. One could almost read his lips as he cursed quietly.
'Bloody game of chance,' was what he seemed to be saying. The Earthquake ended, and Arcanine came stumbling out of the ground with swirls in its eyes and fully awake.
Only the fact that it had rested meant it was still conscious. Getting hit by a Hyper Beam and then an Earthquake was no joke.
"I'm surprised it's still standing," Joey muttered with respect in his voice as Blaine ordered his next move.
"Overheat!" the man shouted while the Sunny Day started dissipating. It was the last chance to make anything out of it.
Arcanine opened its mouth, blue flames flickering within, before exploding into a tsunami of blue flame that covered the entire battlefield.
Machamp looked apprehensive and somewhat suffering from the effects of the poison, so instead of taking the fire head on, it bent down on its knees, used its large hands as shovels and quickly dug itself into the ground.
"Again?" Joey sweatdropped.
"Earthquake," Blaine shouted, having somehow seen the move despite it being hidden behind Arcanine's wall of fire. Arcanine shut its mouth and jumped up a bit for added effect before smashing both its forward paws on the ground, causing the same shaking that had been haunting the battlefield since it had first rested.
To Machamp, it probably felt a bit like the world was crashing down overhead, but that didn't prevent the fighting-type from somehow emerge underneath the Arcanine on the other side of the field, apparently digging through the shaking to unveil its four arms which grasped each one of Arcanine's limbs.
"Blaze yourself," Blaine shouted as Machamp brutally pulled down the Arcanine to smash it against the ground.
The fire-type lit up like a bundle of illegal fireworks and exploded. But that didn't prevent a bleeding and cracked Machamp from emerging from underground and pummelling it into submission. The burns it simply accepted as a casualty of war.
Every time Arcanine tried to get away with Extreme Speed, Machamp pulled violently at its limbs and re-engaged in the physical beatdown while Arcanine desperately spewed fire all around it.
"They're both going to the emergency room after," Joey decided as he watched the brutal showdown. There had been tactics, there had been finesse, but perhaps it was fated for a martial arts master to always revert to physically slamming their opponents into the ground and pummeling the ever living shit out of them while a live flamethrower burned away at their skin.
"That sounds wrong," Joey muttered just as Arcanine suddenly went limp from a particularly brutal punch to its head. Machamp, barely recognisable from the burn marks on its body and the soot clinging to every other part of its skin, raised all four arms over its defeated opponent before suddenly locking up, a hand going to its chest, before collapsing forward.
"A double knockout, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer screeched. "You don't see that every day. Two Pokémon at the absolute pinnacle of their species outpummeling and outsmarting each other faster than the eye can see! An almost egalitarian end to the first half of the battle! Three Pokémon down for Blaine, two for Bruno! I'll see you all in a few minutes."
Nurse Joey and Chansey rushed onto the field to take care of the collapsed aces, of which Arcanine was slowly and shakily getting back on its feet. It wobbled around but seemed to still be aware enough not to snap when a cream-coloured Chansey urged it away.
Machamp, for its part, was out of it and had to be carried off on a stretcher by a pair of Chansey and Blissey. Its four arms hung limply at the side as Nurse Joy injected it with antivenom on the go.
"That Arcanine might have a concussion," Joey decided with a shake of the head. "But Machamp is out for the count. Internal damage from Toxic that was allowed to build up is no joke."
"Blaine got screwed," Michelle analysed. "Considering that Arcanine probably knows around 15 moves, getting Dig in that particular instance was incredibly unlucky. Even something like Flamethrower would have been better because at least then it wouldn't have been hit while underground."
"Bruno pulled that one out of his ass," Joey agreed. "But hey, no matter which one of them loses, they don't look like they'll have much gas in the tank for tomorrow?"
Michelle shook her head. "They would have never planned it like that if that was a possibility. No, they have different healthcare here at the Plateau, and they'll all be fighting fit by tomorrow, if not a bit mentally fatigued. For high-level battles such as this, only the best Blissey and Chansey treat the competitors. Assisted by healing aids that don't consider price a relevancy, only effectiveness, they'll probably be walking around within the hour."
"What are they going to do?" Joey snorted. "Dunk them into a vat of Full Restore?" he asked.
Medicine in the Pokémon world existed on different tiers. A potion was enough for scratches and bruises. A super potion became necessary for lacerations and tears. A hyper potion was rarely ever utilised unless the Pokémon in question was in a really critical condition, as the economic cost of the juice was worth more than just speeding up recovery. Full Restore? That shit was magic. Literal magic.
Michelle thus naturally shook her head, but not for the reason Joey had thought. "Ditto cell grafting, Full Restore vat, Floral Healing by Bellosom, Heal Pulse by a Chansey who's mastered it to perfection, and Arceus knows what else. No Elite Four would be willing to throw their Pokémon into the minefield that is a high-level battle if they weren't assured that literally the best care was given after. The spectacle still draws more money than the expenditure of the aftercare."
"Some of those punches looked like they could cave in the skull of a Rhydon," Erika muttered in awkward agreement while Joey simply shook his head.
"Crazy," he sighed. "But I understand. Nobody would be willing to let their Pokémon suffer fourth-degree burns for a battle if there wasn't a healing squad like that waiting in the wings."
Michelle nodded. "Exactly, and especially in such a televised event, nothing can be allowed to go wrong. This is why there are hardly ever any deaths at the conference or battling in general. We battle too much as a culture to not have the best healthcare."
"How many Pokémon die in battles?" Joey suddenly asked curiously.
Erika and Michelle looked at each other blankly.
"I've never heard of a death in an officially sanctioned battle, actually," Michelle eventually said. "Only in the wilds, during rampages maybe."
"My dad told me a story about a boy whose Bellsprout was incinerated by a Charizard when I was a young girl. I'm pretty sure he was just trying to scare me," she said with a queasy face.
Joey shook his head. "Regardless, I think I need a breather from that battle." He put a hand up to his still wildly beating heart. "I think I almost had a heart attack," he admitted.
"I can't believe it's only halfway done," Erika muttered, putting up a kimono sleeve and chewing at the hem.
"What's even left?" Joey asked.
"Well, Bruno has Hitmonchan, two more Onix, I don't know what his sixth is. Blaine still has Rapidash and I'm pretty sure a Magcargo and a Typhlosion," Michelle posited as the present expert on both Elite Four members.
"Shouldn't have Blaine tried to pull out Magcargo earlier? It would do way worse against the Onix than fighting types, no?" Joey asked. "Don't they burn at such a hot temperature that they're impossible to touch?"
Michelle shrugged. "Not all members of an Elite Fours team are made equal. I know for a fact that Blaine's Arcanine, Charizard and Magmar are his strongest three, whereas the rest of his Pokémon are a bit lacklustre."
"Does Bruno have an inherent advantage then?" Joey asked curiously as the trio stood up to start heading to the lounge area to decompress a bit. The battle had been intense so far, and everybody was jittery.
"I've never seen Bruno actually use those Onix!" Erika suddenly realised. "So we don't know how strong they are."
"Probably strong enough," Joey said dismissively. "I doubt anyone is bringing less than their best into this."
"It's hard to say if that is the case," a raspy male voice suddenly said from behind the trio as they exited their private box and entered the corridor.
Joey was the only one not to startle, merely turning his head to look at the Fuchsia gym leader. Michelle, meanwhile, flinched, while Erika jumped at least a few inches into the air.
"What makes you say that?" Joey asked.
Koga hummed as he followed them down the grey corridor. "Blaine has been wanting to retire for a while, but Kanto's Elite Four are perennially understaffed. Now that Lance has ascended, making them at least the Elite Four rather than just the Elite Three, he might see it as an opportunity to leave."
"I don't think that's a reason to throw the match," Michelle said distastefully, receiving a blank look from the gym leader.
"No, indeed… But battling requires heart, and if yours isn't in it, then you'll soon find yourself losing what you should have won," he said cryptically.
Joey remembered how in the first Pokémon games, it had been the player's rival who'd taken the spot of the champion. The Elite Four had been, at the time, Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, Lance, in that order. Did that mean that before Blue came to conquer the plateau, there had only been an Elite Three and Lance as a champion? Or was it that there had been an Elite Four member below Lorelei before Blue came, but that person had been pushed out? He shook his head, and they reached the lounge.
There had also been this thing with Blaine helping on the research to create Mewtwo; he wondered how much work being an Elite Four member took and if it was possible to do the job while also breaking the celestial barrier to clone a god.
"Agatha's also old. Do you think she wants to retire as well?" He asked as they entered a large, long room with many windows instead of a glass wall.
Koga scoffed. "That old ghost will retire the day she finally steps foot in the grave-"
"Gossiping about dear old me?" an old voice suddenly said from the side, causing Joey and Koga to woodenly turn their heads to the right, where the purple-dress-wearing crone had suddenly emerged from the shadows.
"Of course not," Joey started self-righteously. "Me and Koga," he said, turning around to get support from the gym leader. Then he froze. The gym leader was gone, so were Michelle and Erika. They were on the other side of the room, at the food bar, loading up on shrimp, caviar and little tomatoes cut into the famiscile of Jigglypuff.
"Loyal friends you have there," Agatha said cruelly before giving a wicked laugh. Two red eyes blinked in the shadow behind her.
Joey looked around for anyone to deflect this situation with, but everyone refused to meet his eyes. Lance was pretending to look at his phone and nodding seriously, King, his wife and his daughters were involved in a very deep conversation about how great water Pokémon were; Daisy snuck Joey a few furtive looks, but didn't approach.
"Apparently, they're not my friends," Joey said with a scoff, a hand going up to touch Misdreavus' necklace.
"Ghosts are often the only ones you can really trust," the old crone said while smiling with a wrinkled mouth. "They can get very passionate… for the good or bad." The Gengar in her shadow gave a dark cackle.
"That's certainly one way to look at the situation," Joey said blasely in a bored tone, eliciting a scrutinising look from the woman.
"So, do you think I'll retire anytime soon?" she asked.
Joey refocused his eyes and tilted his head. Agatha had been a fairly consistent member of the Elite Four in the games and Anime, so he shook his head. "I don't think you will anytime soon. It likely helps that arthritis or dementia will never be an issue despite the age," he replied.
He could feel it, the old woman's body… Joey cringed. That came out wrong. What he was referring to was the fact that Agatha was…
"So you can feel it. Not only action, but also perception. Playing with forces beyond your control?" Agatha asked and stepped back into a dark corner of the lounge. Joey followed, so they could have their conversation more privately.
"Even a human with no talent in the aura department will eventually change when exposed to one particular typing for too long, especially at the Elite Four level, or maybe even beyond that", Joey replied. "Pryce might be champion, but quite frankly, I doubt that's because he's the most qualified at the moment."
Agatha pursed her lips. "You talk a lot for someone who can't possibly know much."
"You talk much for someone who knows so much," Joey responded, drawing an exasperated laugh from the woman.
"It's been many decades since anyone has talked to me like that," she said fondly with a far-away look in her eyes, looking at the arena, which was currently being fixed up a bit by a pair of Rhydon.
"People fear what they do not understand, rather than what they should fear."
"And what should people be afraid of?" Agatha asked.
Joey smirked. "Fear, for it is the mind-killer."
"So you're not afraid of death, pain, suffering?" Agatha asked with a scoff.
The youngster shrugged. "It's a good quote."
"Never heard of it," the Elite Four member responded. She was starting to grow agitated, clenching and unclenching the two hands clasped on her walking stick.
Joey tilted his head, cracking his neck. That was the thing with manipulators, they came to you pretending they didn't do so because they wanted something, but because they were giving you the opportunity to express a want. Well, he was too old to play these games. He wanted nothing from Agatha, so if she wanted something from him, then he could just verbally spin her in circles until she left.
"Why do you think that Pryce is not champion material?" Agatha suddenly asked, shifting the topic back a bit.
"Because you are," was Joey's simple response. "I don't know why you didn't take the mantle after Oak retired. The battle you had for the position back then was close, too close for me to believe that Pryce of all people would be able to beat you fairly. Which meant you let him, no?"
"And why would I do that?" Agatha asked suspiciously.
"Oak quit the position because he was afraid of wielding the power of a Champion; he escaped into research, into the role of an advisor. You didn't take the position, letting others pass you by, always sticking like shit to a boot to the highest Elite Four position," Joey started at which Agatha's frown grew even more severe. "Perhaps you didn't want the position the person you've lost respect for held, or perhaps you still respect him and consider the last battle he had in his career as definite, setting in stone the positions it divided you two into."
"Who are you?" Agatha suddenly asked, her shadow growing darker. "Enough with the games, why do you know so much?"
"I'm Jonathan Joestar, youngster extraordinaire," Joey replied simply.
Agatha glare intensified. "Jonathan Joestar is the name of the corpse you're wearing like a badly fitted suit. I want to know the identity of the soul piloting the body."
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AN: Hope you liked the chapter! If you want to read ahead and vote in the upcoming Harry Evans interlude Poll, you can always support me on Patreon :P