The Redwood Saga Chapter 88 - The Tournament of Champions, Finals

The Tournant of Champions, Finals

Professor Banyan's Lab, Ten to Twenty Years Ago - Indius Region

The young Chimchar opened his eyes to another day in the Pokémon Lab of Professor Banyan. Unlike many Professors, she was elderly and respected enough to have a surplus of starter Pokémon to hand out to Trainers, and the Indius League famously made sure pretty much any aspiring Trainer who wanted a starter got one, provided they then journeyed through the Indius Region. Foreigners who just ca for a starter and left were frowned upon, though in most cases, the Professor was able to negotiate a trade for a species she wanted to study, or that Indius could benefit from having more of, in the wild.

This surplus, bred by the Professor's own team of starter lines gathered from her years as a successful, and world-traveling Trainer, ant that the young Pokémon got to decide when they wanted to leave, and who they wanted to leave with. Sotis, two chose the sa Trainer, and said Trainer quietly left with an extra starter Pokémon. This Chimchar had a habit of stealing, like many of its wild kin on the streets of Naya Delhi, but this Chimchar was a little different. He had a code of honor, always returning what he stole, which was usually a Trainer Card. He'd then bring it to one of the lab's aides, who would bring up the win to loss ratio said Trainer had during their Trainer Exam to acquire the card in the first place. Unlike, say, Unova, Indius gave their aspiring rookies a middle evolution of a random starter line, and let them loose on a course worth of opponents. This tended to make said middle evolutions evolve, if their human was able to win. A few potential Trainers had numbers high enough for the Chimchar to want to et them, but none had chosen or clicked with him.

Young Pokémon didn't really have a sense of ti, but even Chimchar knew he'd been at the lab a lot longer than was normal, but Professor Banyan always told him that was fine. He'd find his Trainer eventually. In the anti, he'd taken an interest in the ancient myths the Professor studied, not of the Legendary Pokémon of Indius, but rather the legends that had existed in this land since before Pokémon ever showed up on the Earth. 'Far Ancient' history as she called it, fascinated her and nothing was more fascinating than the stories her ancestors had preserved. Often, she had marveled at how many of those stories had co to life with the advent of Pokémon based society, so many that she believed it could not be coincidental, though that theory of hers wasn't exactly mainstream, or accepted.

Chimchar, for his part, had one myth in particular that had caught his eye. He'd been too little to rember or notice, but the Professor had actually been the one to 'accidentally' leave a copy of Journey to the West lying around near him, and every single day since, the young Chimchar had been obsessed with learning about Sun Wukong. Once he'd been old enough to understand he would one day beco an Infernape, he had beco singularly focused on finding a Trainer that could get him to the heights of Sun Wukong, and beyond. Professor Banyan had also promised, with a sly wink, that if he and his human trained hard enough, they might eventually face the legend himself. Chimchar had taken that to an that he existed, though in reality he knew it was probably just an Infernape who'd risen high enough to be bestowed with such a legendary na; he wanted to be able to battle such a figure, and win, regardless.

Thus, his reduction to thievery, and 'cheating' as his fellow starters called it, to find a human good enough for his standards. Today Chimchar was reading, or more accurately, looking at the pictures of a battle between the Monkey King, and a strange, mysterious figure who'd appeared on his westward journey. Chimchar's brow furrowed, the more he read. This mysterious figure was unlike the Monkey King's other opponents, in that by all appearances, he was just a basic human…with one extraordinary ability: everything he punched, went down in a single hit. With almost no exceptions.

Sun Wukong being who he was though, had essentially infinite lives, and at the price of a small but growing headache, he revived to test the stranger's powers again and again. The stranger was dressed as a monk of Eous, in yellow robes, covered by a white cape. His fists and feet were wrapped in red bandages, he was entirely bald and had a serious look in his determined blue eyes. He and Sun Wukong clashed repeatedly, but over ti, eventually Wukong's headache made him too angry and unfocused to win.

Before he could see how the story ended, the young Chimchar was whistled for by the Professor herself. He set the book down and joined her. "Look, young one. That…is Sikandar Jiyoshi. I believe he will help you reach the heights you seek…and you in turn shall make him into what this land requires most. Go. See his card for yourself."

The Chimchar squinted at the human through the Professor's video cara. He seed far too casually dressed and had his hands in the pockets of his local Indius garnt. His attire was green with white and orange accents, a common trio of colors for fresh Trainers in this region, and especially in Naya Delhi. His black hair was brushed, but ssy, and had a slight curl to it. Instead of a hat or other Indius garnt, he had what looked like a floppy beanie on his head, also green, with white and orange highlights. His backpack was standard, and also green. Chimchar wasn't impressed, but he scurried off anyway, as Sikandar started wandering near the grass type starters the Professor handed out. He would not be usurped again.

Just as Sikandar was greeting one of the Grookey, another ape let out a screech, and Fla Charged between the pair. The Grookey was enraged and began cussing out the Chimchar as he thwacked his stick about wildly, but Sikandar's eyes were on the Chimchar who had, with a single move, forced him away from a rival starter and stolen his Trainer Card as well. The flas went out once Chimchar had his prize, and he glanced back at the human's eyes, as he felt sothing he hadn't before. A stirring in his chest he didn't quite understand. Prize in hand, Chimchar scurried back to the Professor, ignoring Sikandar's calls to stop and wait. Making sure the Grookey was unhard, Sikandar gave him a berry, and then ran after the Chimchar.

A series of lab aides with knowing sighs directed him to the top floor of the lab, at which point he ca face to face with an Infernape. He was an older male, but powerful, judging by how tall he was. In his hands were the Chimchar from before, hanging by the scruff of his neck fur, and Sikandar's Trainer Card in the other. He offered the card to the human, who took it gladly, and then the older ape bared his large fangs at the Chimchar. A warning, reprimand, and threat display all rolled into one action. This made Sikandar's brow furrow, but then, he heard the Professor from the floor below. "Now now, Hanuman. That's quite enough. Your son has finally chosen a Human, I believe."

The Infernape's intelligent eyes widened, and then looked at Sikandar, before shifting back to his son. "Inferrrnape?" He rumbled at the Chimchar.

"Char…Char, Chimchar." It replied with a hopeful shrug. Sikandar saw the hint of sadness in the Infernape's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a mix of pride, and forced indifference. He brusquely handed the Chimchar to Sikandar, who was as surprised as Chimchar by the action. With a single leap, Hanuman returned to the Professor's side. The elderly Professor looked up at them from the level below with a knowing smirk. "Now there's a good match if I ever saw one. What do you think, young Sikandar? He needs a na, I think."

The Chimchar looked up at the human, who looked down at him, and then held the young monkey up by his armpits. "Certainly not the biggest…but he'll do. You will be...Bandar." The unkind words were false, as indicated by the human's smirk, and the young Chimchar could sense what was in his heart. The sa thing that had stirred in his own being, since they'd locked eyes. He knew, and now so did the human, that they would be the greatest of partners.

Present Day, Wyndon Stadium - Galar Region

Champion Victor, of the Galar League, and Champion Sikandar, of the Indius League faced each other from across the Galarian pitch of Wyndon Stadium. Given a re day to rest and prepare to fight the undefeated Champion of Galar, who had now held that prestige longer than Leon had, as he was almost thirty, Sikandar had made a decent showing, so far. The first five rounds of their match had seen them trading Pokémon with almost every move, with Champion Victor holding a one round lead.

"If you're just joining us now folks, it has been an action-packed first half to a Battle that neither Champion can seem to get ahead in. We started off with Gyarados versus the amped up form of a Toxtricity from Champion Victor, with said Gyarados actually winning that contest after getting off enough Dragon Dances and ga Evolving like he did yesterday. A Smack Down and brutal Play Rough from Champion Victor's new Copperajah brought down Seiryu, and Champion Sikandar's Urshifu managed to strike through Rajah's defenses with pinpoint accuracy and Fighting Type Energy. Victor's Charizard suffered his first loss to an Urshifu and her Surging strikes, but his Gengar put in so serious work soon after, taking down both Bhaloo, and Sikandar's Dragapult. He almost took down Sikandar's Rillaboom too, before falling to exhaustion, and now this monster of a shiny Grimmsnarl, the aptly nad Grimm leads the Battle by one round after taking out Sikandar's starter in this tournant, and his newly revealed Magnezone. Grimm doesn't seem very tired after taking on two of Champion Sikandar's powerhouses."

"I don't know if anything can stop this Grimmsnarl, Ty!" Gabby shouted excitedly. She, like most of Galar and the world, was rooting for Victor to win. People assud the Unbeatable Champion would not be brought down by a man from Indius. This confidence, naturally, had also co with no small amount of racism, following his win against Isabella, which had apparently triggered quite a few bigoted keyboard warriors on Chatter. To his credit though, Victor had shut that pile of Muk down as soon as he heard about it, and now the aforentioned racists had been doxed and shunned by Victor's fan base, while the rest had to stew in bigoted impotence, lest they face the sa consequences for spewing abject hatred. Over ninety percent of companies in Galar had adopted a zero-tolerance policy for racism and bigotry at Leon's suggestion, and modern Rotom Phones did have the capabilities for facial recognition. There were already reports of the doxed people losing their jobs over their words on a social dia site, but then, they did have the option to not be racist trash, so Sikandar had no pity for them.

Sikandar had a feeling the racism would start again regardless of the outco though, as it always did, and instead he focused on bringing this battle into the second half, which promised to be much more interesting, as it was between five of their older partners. By unspoken agreent, he and Victor had used their newer five first. Now he just had to make them equal. Grimm might not have looked tired, but Kuranku and Vidyut had damaged him. "Arjun!" Sikandar shouted, making his choice, and casually tossing his ball. His massive tallic elephant side eyed him, silently asking for the battle count. "He's taken two of your brothers down." Sikandar said, smirking darkly as he gave the white and pink Grimmsnarl a look similar to the one he'd had since being called out. "Crush him."

Arjun trumpeted loud enough to vibrate the air, and then High Horsepowered his way towards his target, surprising Grimm with how fast he moved. Victor, as always, was cool under fire. "Fighting Moves, Grimm! Use your hair and try not to get close!" Grimm nodded, shooting hair from both of his arms in wacky, waving strands. So sank into the ground a ways away, while the others stretched further, striking Arjun.

Arjun was like a tank though, a tank surrounded by ground typed energy. He didn't even flinch from the attack, and Victor's eyes widened as he saw how little damage Arjun took, on Wyndon's screens responsible for asuring the combatants HP. Grimm dodged three more tis, and didn't manage to strike through the ground typed aura shield again. Too late did Victor realize Arjun was speeding up, too. As he ca within trunk range again faster than Grimm expected, the white Grimmsnarl's mouth opened in surprise, as Arjun's steel energy covered trunk absolutely, and literally, rolled him. Grimm went soaring into the air, only to co crashing down hard, as his hair from one of his arms was still shoved into the ground. He'd actually survived the hit, but the force from being yanked back to the field by his entrenched hair finished him off. Victor recalled him, with a single nod. For his part, he'd been expecting this. To trade off with Sikandar in the first five rounds. That would change now, however.

The crowd was silent as Leon called the faint, and then it exploded in cheers as Arjun trumpeted his dominance and started rhythmically stomping the field, which had been made as good as new since yesterday's battle. None of the battlers thus far had broken it either, as like Sikandar, Victor preferred attack moves. He dealt as much damage as he could, as fast as he could, and his Pokémon had adapted to that mindset as well. That strategy wouldn't work so well on Sikandar's first teammates, though.

Seeing the massive tallic elephant and recognizing that this was one of Sikandar's regularly used partners, Victor made his choice. "Saitama! You're up!" The crowd exploded in cheers of 'One Puuuuunch!' as the dark fighter appeared and didn't so much as glance at them. His expression was serious, his heavily muscled bear body was perfectly still, ready to spring into action. "Alright, now Focus Punch!" The Urshifu didn't nod, but simply crouched lower, his right fist curling up next to his abdon, as it began shining with the light of bright orange fighting energy.

"Get in there, Arjun!" Sikandar shouted urgently, "Play Rough! And don't hold back!" Once more his tal elephant charged through the ground to increase his speed, while the orange light increased. Then, his trunk began glowing with fairy energy, and Arjun hamred Saitama repeatedly, only to both his and Sikandar's surprise, the Urshifu did not lose focus, it only tightened more, and his fist shone brighter. Five powerful hits struck the Urshifu with his quadruple weakness, but his focus might as well have been steel, as he didn't budge an inch, only raising his free arm to help weather each massive blow. He certainly looked damaged, but before Sikandar could order Arjun away, Saitama struck.

The shockwave from the impact bood hard enough to make the energy barriers glow red, and despite his Alpha size, Arjun was sent hurtling at frankly ludicrous speeds across the entire field, and into the barriers behind Sikandar. Leon called the faint, and Sikandar did his best not to lose his cool as the steel defensive wall that was his Copperajah was taken out in a single hit. Saitama could, and would, do this to his entire team, if he wasn't stopped here. Leon had found that out that hard way, and Sikandar was wise enough to learn from his losses. For his part, Saitama was perfectly still again, waiting for his next command. Sikandar knew his Kingdra could weather maybe three of those punches, assuming they didn't crit, and Victor didn't just switch to the Urshifu's dark move instead. The other choice that could take that kind of hit was Bandar, and against a guaranteed dark typed crit, he was the smart pick, despite his comparatively glassy defenses.

"Bandar! Join ." Sikandar said, suddenly appearing a lot more serious. His Infernape instantly recognized Saitama for what he was; a devastatingly powerful sweeper that would roll their entire team, like he'd done to most of Leon's, years ago. Ti would only have made him stronger. As his Infernape appeared, he glanced back at his Trainer with a knowing look. He'd been watching from his ball and was surprised he was out so relatively early. "If we don't stop this here, we're done. You can probably take two of his punches at most."

Bandar, who had trained so hard the past ten days he'd finally reached the highest level one could, by human asurents anyway, turned to face the Urshifu, and nodded. Saitama was unreadable, but Victor was eager for victory. "Saitama! Take him out! Wicked Blow!

"Bandar!" Sikandar shouted concurrently, "Agility! Tis three!" The Infernape nodded, putting a closed fist into his open palm as he focused his mind, seized the power for the move, and then multiplied it, using three instances of Agility at once. It was one of the few moves he could do this with, but because it was Agility, it actually made him fast enough to pull it off. And once fully boosted, he could use a whole slew of other moves in rapid succession. "Dodge with Acrobatics!"

In a flash of movent that rivaled a base speed Infernape, Saitama struck, only to watch in mild surprise as Bandar gracefully cartwheeled out of the way, mocking him with a face as he did so. The response was just as rapid, another Wicked Blow, but Bandar dodged that too, shrieking and laughing as he did so. Saitama's right eye twitched as he watched, but otherwise he remained still.

Bandar jiggled his bouncy posterior, made more amusing by how sped up he was. The crowd started laughing and whooping in response. As Saitama moved to strike again, Victor called out, "Forget it, Saitama! Co back!" He recalled the Urshifu, and started Gigantamaxing, but Sikandar and Bandar had their own tricks.

"Bandar! Ti to ga Evolve!" Sikandar shouted, and the fiery monkey stopped his speed twerking, which the crowd was breaking into laughter over, and gave him a thumbs up, before leaping back in front of his Trainer. Sikandar raised a Fla Plate shard that Professor Banyan had sent to a colleague in Unova to have awakened and pointed it at Bandar.

In his ga Form, Bandar looked wiser, older, and had a fla on his tail now as well as his head. The tail fla expanded, turning into a massive fireball that the golden armored ape stood atop in a balanced one legged stance. He clasped his hands together like he was praying, smirking knowingly at Saitama as he grew and grew and grew. The two Champions shouted simultaneously, as they both tried to seize the initiative.

"One Blow!"

"Multitude of Monkeys!"

Victor's brow furrowed at Sikandar's order, only to then watch as the number of ga Infernape multiplied across the field. His frown faded then, as he realized it was just Double Team. Probably. Saitama could handle Double Team.

As Saitama's fist struck forward with that notorious dark orange wave of energy building around it, a hole of black energy appeared in front of his fist, and at the highest point over the field. Saitama's One Blow radiated from his portaled fist as it lood over the higher point of the battlefield, the waves of dark energy covered the entire battlefield at once from that angle. The number of Bandars decreased rapidly, as the sheer ridiculous power of One Blow made them poof into clouds of smoke. The kaiju sized Urshifu's brow furrowed, as it looked around the pitch, and found it completely empty.

Then, Sikandar's voice broke the silence. "Rising Dragon Fist!"

Rising up from the earth he'd tunneled into with Dig, Bandar flew like a burning star, propelled rapidly by his flas and his Agility enhanced psychic power with speed that rivaled a rocket. The entire stadium winced from the cracking sound that ca as the ga Infernape hamred Saitama's jaw with a punch of his own. The fact that his training had made his fists as hard as iron just further increased the damage.

Knowing the damage wouldn't faint Saitama, and seeing an opening, Victor countered. "Max Airstream!" Saitama's fist struck rapidly, despite its size, defying the laws of physics as Bandar saw it coming with his enhanced perception, yet even he was too slow to get out of the rapidly building hurricane's path. Saitama's fist finally made contact, and the Airstream followed up by hamring his opponent's weakness and his body into the pitch, carving a deep line in the field. "One more will finish him, Saitama! Ready your One Blow!"

Sikandar went from pretending to be tense, to being infuriatingly chill in a battle this heated. "Bandar. Finish it. Raging Fury." The damaged ga Infernape hopped back onto his feet, and his hands reached up towards his head, to the golden crown that had appeared there upon ga evolving and did so on all Infernape that achieved this form. With a roar, he broke it in two and his eyes started burning an intense dark orange, as his body grew more muscled as well, and then vanished from view. Those watching had only had a brief mont to see the Infernape's Blaze activate, before he appeared again, this ti completely behind Saitama, and out of his reach. Bandar multiplied himself for good asure, as he needed to end this here, and each of his doppelgangers struck multiple tis at once with their six stage speed enhancents, and their raging, burning fists.

Saitama roared in pain from the sudden and multiple burns he was suffering. Despite that, he turned, once again moving faster than anything that large should have been able to, but the One Blow did not connect. It radiated into the energy barriers, as Bandar, on nothing but pure fiery instinct, Flare Blitzed his way up Saitama's massive arm and body, leaving a trail of burnt fur and simultaneously unbalancing his color sche. His flare-fueled rise culminated in what seed like a hundred Blaze Kicks at once to his skull and they, finally, did the job against Victor's team breaker. Saitama's eyes went white, and his form erupted in an explosive diffusion of Max Energy as he shrank back down to normal size, fainted.

Bandar, anwhile, was showboating. Loudly. Riding his fireball, he ascended to the highest point above the stadium, and loudly shouted his species na in an eruption of raging fla that had not stopped. The crowd ate it up, and soon, the monkey had the humans doing what he wanted, naly chanting, and raising his stats even further.

Victor smirked at Sikandar, as he recalled Saitama. "Don't get cocky now, mate. Yer not the first Champion with a Fire Typed starter to take down Saitama." Sikandar's eyes widened, and then narrowed, as he knew who was coming next. He'd expected it, though.

"Bandar!" He shouted up at his partner, and his voice snapped him out of the rage he'd been in. Rage cheering with the crowd had raised his stats impressively high. "Bring the thunder. It's a Water Type." The victorious flaming ape smashed his fists together, as with ease, fire energy shifted to electric. They were, after all, intimately connected types.

From Victor's ball ca a truly massive Blastoise. Every bit now the equal to Leon's Charizard. Both Victor and Leon had brought out the best in their partners, from the pri offspring of Mustard and Honey's own Pokémon. Logic dictated that there was also a Bulbasaur with this kind of ridiculous potential, but as far as Sikandar knew, the one that currently resided at the Master Dojo, which he'd t, was not the one that had been offered to Leon.

Victor had also been offered one of the remaining two and had chosen Tank near the end of his journey, before his final badge match in Hamrlocke. Honey had only ntioned that after a few years of living with them at the Dojo, Mustard had given said Bulbasaur away to the grandson of a good friend, and it had then been given as soone's first Pokémon, as the aforentioned grandson was apparently a Professor of so renown. Honey had refused to divulge his identity though.

As the Galar Champion eyed the oncoming storm that was Bandar, he made a decision. He raised up a Key Stone between the Victory sign he was making with his fingers, and from one of Tank's cannon bases, a Blastoisite floated free in front of his Alpha sized body, flaring as the energy between the two, fueled by their bond, connected, and catapulted Tank down the evolutionary stage of his species. ga Blastoise was essentially still just a Blastoise, but the blue cannon turtle now had the mother of all hydro cannons growing seemingly painfully from the center of his shell, as well as two more smaller cannons on his forearms. His body was comparable to a mounted base for an actual cannon, and his sturdy feet handled recoil with ease. Victor pointed with his free hand at Bandar. He may have been pretending to be the storm, but there was a vulnerable fire type amidst that lightning, and when there was enough of it, water could actually beat plasma and diffuse electricity. "Purified Hydro Cannon." Tank gave him a side eye, nodded, and then launched all three of his cannons simultaneously at the electricity shrouded fire ape.

Bandar, naturally, barrel-rolled around the cannon's stream on his sparking ball of electricity while laughing hysterically. Matching Tank's irritation, Victor shouted, "Wider!" Imdiately, Tank burned more of the move's power for a surge of width that caught Bandar.

Sikandar closed his eyes, sharing the relevant knowledge with his partner, as he shouted, "Stone Edge!" Instead of multiple pointed rocks, Bandar hamred the ground, and a single stone extended rapidly towards Tank along the absurdly powerful deluge coming from his Infinity powered cannons. "Now add your electricity!" The fist still holding Thunder Punch, and his aura shield, shifted to et his first and struggled against the powerful current Tank was producing. The stone he'd created had been made with exactly what fresh water needed to turn as conductive as sea water, and the sheer force of Tank's attack actually helped the mineral dissolve faster. It had already gotten close enough to Tank to conduct an electric current, and both Pokémon struggled as they made their moves surge in an effort to bring the other down.

When Victor added a Mud Shot to the mix, the combined energies finally exploded in a violent collision of power that shook the stadium and made the crowd roar. "What a colossal showdown we're seeing here today, folks! Champion Victor has gone with ga Evolution instead of Gigantamaxing! But will it be enough to douse the Indius Champion's flas!?" Ty shouted as the entire crowd waited eagerly, for the smoke to clear. The pair of Drone Rotom watching this match zood in on both challengers. Victor was frowning slightly, but confident and calm, while Sikandar huffed out a chuckle, and smirked. Cheers turned to murmurs as the crowd watched him.

When after thirty seconds the sheer amount of vaporized dust and stone hadn't dissipated, Leon gave Sikandar a aningful look, and with a wave of his hand, the Indius Champion revealed the results he already knew as a flash of psychic power removed the smoke. Bandar stood, victorious, conscious, a sparking fist raised high while the rest of his body slumped. Tank, for his part, had lost his ga Form, and consciousness to the severe shock to his system. The fact that Bandar had crit had sent even the defense heavy water tortoise to unconsciousness. "Champion Victor's Blastoise, Tank, is unable to Battle! The round goes to Champion Sikandar, and Bandar!" Both Champions recalled their partners, as Sikandar knew with a literal sliver of health left, his starter was as good as unconscious.

Their next picks were Kingdra and a Galarian Slowbro respectively, and Sikandar's eyes narrowed, as he saw how powerful Victor's was. Famously, he'd gotten three Pokémon from the Isle of Armor, and all three had been quite strong by the ti he reached Leon. "Alright, Bro! Use Toxic, make it a wave!"

Sikandar nodded slightly. He wanted to poison Raajapani, and then switch. But before that, he would pay the price of eting the Great Wall of Indius in combat. "Twister. Blow it apart." He got a rumbling acknowledgent from his Kingdra, and with a re lifting of his mighty snout, a Twister ford, and bisected the wave of purple sludge Bro had launched at them. It was flung back at Victor and his Pokémon, and their side of the field, lighting up the barrier as it struck. Frowning, Sikandar played defensively. "Agility. Begin the wind." The Kingdra's eyes flared with psychic power, and power from the crowd as they roared at the display the Kingdra had created. Ice began crawling over the battlefield from around Raajapani's side.

Bro cocked his Shellder side arm, and with a moist click, raised it again as Victor shouted, "Stay warm! Flathrower!" Normally, Raajapani's Icy Wind began chipping away at an opponent, but as Bro ignited his new…poison? Or whatever was leaking from the Shellder acting as a gun, it beca more of a Flathrower instead, with a small bit of ooze left constantly burning. "Again, Toxic! Make it into bullets this ti!"

Bro leaned back, and then upchucked so smaller, condensed globs of dark purple poison at Raajapani, but Sikandar answered it not with water, but an energy that promised to wipe it out. "Dragon Pulse!" A sparking bluish purple beam of dragon energy taking the shape of a vaguely draconic head and wings tore through the bullets with astonishing speed and hamred the Slowbro for good asure. Or at least it seed that way. A Light Screen shimred in front of him as the attack faded, and another bout of Flathrower burned against the increasingly violent Icy Wind swirling around the field. Seeing Bro had used it again, Sikandar grinned. "Now! Add in a Rain Dance! Cyclogenesis!"

His Kingdra roared, and then demonstrated why one did not attempt to use fire to stop the Icy Wind. Evidently, Victor hadn't seen him use this trick before, but enough locals in Indius were aware of Raajapani's powers to know taking the minor damage from a constant Icy Wind was preferable to what he could do if one started mixing heated air into cold air. Storm Clouds ford at the top of the field, and there was a low boom, as suddenly, a rather intense Blizzard ford with Raajapani not needing to summon the move's power to call for it. He ford it naturally, with little energy expended. Victor was undeterred. "Keep your Light Screen up! Launch your next Toxic Bullets with your Side Arm!" Bro nodded, and then cocked the Shellder again, as the lingering fla went out, and the ooze dripping from its business end turned a thick, dark purple. The Shellder seed to shudder, but then went still as Bro clamped down on its tongue, aid, and fired a Toxic bullet at Raajapani.

Sikandar, for his part, did not seem worried. "Freeze it all, my Great Wall! Himprakop!" The freezing bomb cyclone sohow got worse. The Toxic projectile froze solid and lost its montum as the blizzard force winds from Raajapani knocked it out of the air easily. The field shook as the storm was unnaturally guided by the Kingdra into hamring the Slowbro, and when after several monts Sikandar told his partner to clear it, they found Bro frozen completely solid, his eyes Poli-patterned within the ice.

Again Leon called the round for Sikandar, and Raajapani stayed where he was, as not one of Bro's attacks had actually managed to land on him. Being what he was, the Kingdra was quite adept at manipulating the elents to his command, and he could stop most special attackers in their tracks. Physical moves, especially Play Rough, were his bane, though. Assuming the lee fighter in question was good enough to get close to him.

"Drago!" Victor yelled, summoning his Dragapult, "Take it down! ga Evolve! Then Dragon Bombard!"

Sikandar's eyes widened, as he saw Victor holding a Draco Plate crystal, and with it, his draconic missile platform assud his species ga Form, which traded a slight amount of speed for attack power, and had quite a few more spots on its head for Dreepy projectiles to fire from. Not one to be outdone, Sikandar did the sa thing, and his Kingdra let out a much more impressive roar as he flared his ga Form's draconic wings and hovered like a deity over his side of the field, unflinching amidst the elental storm he controlled, and the storm only increased in the speed with which it was swirling around the upper edges of the field, building slowly for another strike.

"Smokescreen and Agility again!" Sikandar ordered, and as a cloud of smoke hid Raajapani, Drago fired anyway. The Dreepy explosions left them fainted, but they blew away the smoke, and most ended up making contact. Grimacing, Sikandar ordered their counter. "Slow it down! Ice Beam!"

Victor grimaced, as he had no doubt the heat from the exploding yeet-seeking missiles and the cold of this next attack would further power the storm again. "Dodge, Drago! Phantom Force!"

When the first Ice Beam was narrowly dodged, though not enough to avoid damage completely, Raajapani waited, spinning suddenly in the air as Drago erged from the shadows for his ghostly attack. Ghost energy infused his tail, and struck the Ice Beam, causing a collision of moves that Drago soared away from. Damaged, but still roaring, the Kingdra blew away the smoke from his magnificent ga Form, and then brought the heavens down for another massive attack. Victor grimaced. "Fire into it! Try to endure it!"

Drago acquiesced, but Himprakop struck again, and critically. As the Kingdra eagerly blew away the frosty remnants of the attack, four Dreepy missiles fired in relative haste hod in on him instead, hamring him with fierce explosions, two of which were critical hits. The Kingdra finally fainted, joining Drago on the field in unconsciousness. Sikandar made a choice then, as he'd intended to go with Raph and Fakir at the end here. He didn't need two psychic fighters though, and against a Cinderace as acrobatic as Victor's Ace, that would probably be a poor choice. Not that a Trevenant was much better, but Sikandar knew his undead tree tank would apply what was needed to win this contest, probably.

The crowd 'ooed' as they saw the sparkle of the shiny Trevenant appear, and slowly, without fanfare, Bhutya ca to life as his limbs rose again, for battle. Then, the spotlight was stolen, as Ace made his debut. The crowd erupted for Victor's starter, and Sikandar spoke to Bhutya as the burning bun showboated for his fans. "He changes Type with his attacks." Louder, he shouted, "Let's go, Will-O-Wisp!"

"Dodge it!" Victor ordered, knowing a burn now would put him at a serious disadvantage. Taking a page from watching Bandar earlier in his ball, Ace focused on Agility, and though he didn't get an imdiate six stages, four was more than enough to dodge. Or so he thought. The ghostly flas didn't just dissipate in the ground like he expected, and he had to flip around at increasing speeds to not get hit. Mud Slap and Scorching Sands put out most of them, but eventually, one of the ghost lights landed, and one was all they needed. In an explosion of purple fire, the scorching starter was burned, his attack power seriously weakened, and his health slowly draining away.

"Now Hex. Curse it if you can." Sikandar said with a hint of malice in his tone. For whatever reason, it seed Ace could choose not to activate Libero, as he had not beco psychic.

"Dammit, Pyro Ball!" Victor ordered, and with the speed he was known for, in under a second a teoric fireball was hurtling towards Bhutya. The birch Trevenant leapt through the flas, even as they damaged his burnable body and his crimson leaves were set afla. He landed near Ace, who seed surprised, and then fell to a knee in pain, as Hex hamred him and intensified his burn. "Finish it, quick! Fla Charge!"

"Destiny Curse." Sikandar said, simply. The Fla Charge struck, but not before Bhutya's Forest's Curse took hold through the linking power of Destiny Bond, instead of knocking Ace out. He could have done that and ended things right there, the opening was clear, but Sikandar didn't want to win with a cheap trick, valid strategy or not.

The Cinderace started turning green, on the parts of him that were red. His white fur beca a creamier tan color, and the bits of fur around his knees flared out into petals, while the fur around his neck morphed into a large green flower. With an appropriate ploof, a large, bushy green tail sprouted from Ace's behind, and after a quick Fla Charge in place, to try to get rid of it with Libero, they found the changes as permanent as the unconscious state of Bhutya, at least until he was healed.

"Gabby, is it , or have I seen that kind of Cinderace sowhere before?" Ty said with a furrowed brow, as the crowd rumbled with chuckles at Ace's reaction to his new appearance and typing, while Sikandar brought out his next pick.

"It's just you, Ty." Gabby said with a smirk. "Seems about like what I'd expect a Grass Typed Cinderace to look like. And it seems Champion Victor is stuck with it."

Ty nodded. "Destiny Bond persists until the caster is revived. There's actually a League rule about reviving the caster before one leaves the field, once the match is over. It carries a hefty fine, too. I have a feeling this change will persist, even if Ace faints."

"If Ace goes down, it's all over for Galar's Champion ladies and gentlen! And Champion Sikandar's choice to face this foe is d- no, wait, it's ga dicham!" She corrected, as the Pokémon effortlessly assud its ga Form with unusual speed. All six hands began burning with Fire Punches, and Ace's eyes narrowed as he got over his altered body and fell into his fighting crouch. "Oo… the Indius Champion's strategy is revealed! With six burning blows from a fighter that can predict your movents and effortlessly counter them at this level, we may be witnessing the end of Champion Victor's streak, folks!"

"You think making us Grass Type matters? Even as a Grass Type, we blaze!" The crowd roared as Victor shouted, "Trailblaze, and dodge!"

"For those keeping count folks, Ace has now reached six stages of increased speed! He cannot possibly be any faster than he already is!" Ty shouted into his mic.

Fakir's six arms struck true, but all they hit were smirking afterimages of the verdant Cinderace. "Enough. Fakir, use Rain Dance, and Ice!" Seeing his latest Trainer's line of thought, he moved in agreent, sure of the path to victory. Physical speed didn't matter, if one could not move, and an ice weakness was going to be a new experience for Ace. ga dicham tapped one of its feet, twice, on the field and suddenly a proper storm appeared from the lingering remnants of the last one, but with astonishing speed. Fakir raised a single arm amidst the surging rain then, and with a flaring pulse of ice energy from his fist, he froze his surroundings.

All at once, the speeding afterimages disappeared, and the slowing and shuddering Cinderace beca a sitting Ducklett. In the blink of an eye, Fakir was there, his main arms clasped together, focusing his elental mastery, as the transcendent arms from his ga evolution shone with powerful Ice Punches. To Ace's eyes, Fakir's fists were moving impossibly slow, but the ice made Ace, and his new grassy body shut down, even with his speed boosted.

As he fought to keep conscious, Ace heard Victor shouting. Weakly, he acknowledged his Trainer. "Ace! Your Type changed! Not your Ability! HEAT WAVE!" Suddenly, the Cinderace's eyes flared with a bright orange, and the world turned to fire, as he summoned his mastery of his elent, and burned away the encroaching ice. Victor gave the attack order. "Shadow Ball! lee Style!"

Ace was a green blur with burning orange eyes as he vanished, and then appeared behind Fakir. He physically kicked a Shadow Ball with a foot wreathed in ghost energy straight into the fighting psychic. He didn't sail away even from a super effective hit, but rather slid, and then Sikandar gave their counter. "Psych Up!" With a flash of potent orange energy, Fakir beca as fast as Ace, and the two Pokémon entered a battle all their own. They were moving literally too fast for their Trainer's commands to be anything other than slow, distracting noise, and thus the two were left to face each other mon to mon in this realm of altered perception.

Ace knew he only had one chance, since he had limits to the ghost energy he could control. His body shuddered as he summoned the power for Acrobatics, and once again Libero was kept from giving him that sweet STAB. Acrobatics helped him dodge the insanely fast flurry of six icy fists coming for him, and though he landed several hits, they felt like glancing blows, and the ga dicham infuriatingly showed no sign of weakening or losing focus.

Their Trainers could only watch, wincing as they both landed blows. Eventually though, Sikandar knew their moves would collide explosively. Sure enough, after blurring around and smashing together a few tis, the flying energy mixed with the ice in an explosion of snow and cold. An irritated thought from ga dicham blew away the ice and dust cloud, revealing the two battered aces struggling for dominance. Five Ice Punches combined, his ethereal limbs were wrapped around one of Fakir's physical fists for a knockout blow, but Ace was still holding onto his flying energy.

He shifted it all to his feet as he struck with Aerial Ace, using his foot, before the massive ice fist landed. In a blur of movent, Ace was suddenly above Fakir, and then for good asure, as the damage stunned the ga dicham, Ace backflipped into a Fla Charge as he hamred the ga Pokémon. Fakir lost his form, and consciousness, and Sikandar exhaled in disbelief. Then, as Leon was calling the faint, Blaze ended, and Ace fainted as well. Rarely had so many humans and Pokémon been so utterly silent.

Leon was there though, confident, dapper as hell, and aware he was making battle history. "Ladies and gentleman, we have a Draw!" The crowd rumbled in low, discontent rumbles, but Leon's charismatic and amplified tone cut through them. "There is a precedent for this, although I admit, I did not ntion it, as reading rules off can get…tedious." His smirk widened, as he got laughter and chuckles from the audience he was floating in front of, "Moves or Abilities that push a Pokémon through a final massive attack are still counted as a faint. Had Ace remained standing once Blaze ended, Victor would remain unbeaten, but he fell as soon as the energy ran out. And thus, we have our tie! Now, we have two paths before us: another Battle with the sa contestants, or," He paused for suspense as he let the murmurs from his people build. "Our tied Champions can choose to team up, and challenge the Battle Tower in a Double Battle, all the way up to . There are criteria for who would be considered the winner in a Double Battle against , but uh, I'll let folks peruse the details at ho! The Battle Tower's Double Battle Bash will begin in three days! Rest well, Champions."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

While Leon exposited, Sikandar quietly did not ntion that Bandar was, technically, still conscious and able to fight, and instead he called out Bhutya, and revived his fainted tree. He then raised a ghostly claw at Ace's fainted form, and the strange grassy form he'd taken faded as his regular colors and typing returned. Victor approached, as he recalled his starter. "Thanks for that. Great Battle, mate. I 'ad a feeling when I saw you competing for the Strongest in Eous that you'd be a good opponent. I look forward to our Double Battle." He offered a hand, and Sikandar shook it, evenly eting Victor's gaze.

"The rumors are true, and you live up to their hype, Galar Champion. I'm sure together, we can beat Leon…no matter how strong he has beco." Sikandar answered, just in ti to hear Leon wishing them a good rest. "We have three days to perfect our synergy, Champion Victor. I hope you're ready to train hard." Victor gave him a knowing smirk, and simply nodded.

Three Days Later, Wyndon Battle Tower - Galar Region

Fans stood around the northern parts of Wyndon City for as far as the eye could see. Wyndon Stadium was once again packed to the brim. Raphael and Victor's Galarian Slowbro were out and ready to defend the Champions in case of another Imperium attack as they made their way into the Battle Tower to thunderous cheers. The people had, mostly, agreed with what the Galar League Chairman had decreed, even though Bandar had, technically, still been conscious, not even Sikandar wanted to tarnish that battle with semantics. Bandar had had maybe one Fire Punch left in him after taking a ga Blastoise's Hydro Cannon to the face, which Sikandar did not count as 'battle ready'. What followed as they entered the tower was nine levels of fairly challenging Double Battlers that Sikandar and Victor used to put their teamwork to the test.

Aside from a few exceptions, pretty much every mber of their teams was getting along well, and the two young adult Champions were very much in the zone. Not one of the Macro Cosmos double battlers had really challenged them, until the most recent one, which had also been their last. "Those last two had goin' for a minute. You ever face a Nidoking and queen before?" Victor asked, as the Galarian Nurse Joy healed their teams.

Sikandar shook his head. "Not both of them at once. They're a pretty rare species in Eous. A lot of our local wildlife does not tolerate Poison Types in their territory." Sikandar stretched, arms cracking satisfyingly as he did so. "Only Leon left, now. Think we'll win?"

Victor chuckled, darkly. "I think Leon has been training hard ever since Tank and Saitama rolled through his team with almost ridiculous ease. We may get the win…but he's going to put up much more of a fight. Do your five have their Items?" Sikandar nodded. Said items were just various bands or scarves that empowered their attack or special attack powers. Nothing tricky. Victor thanked the nurse, who wished them luck, as they walked through the doors to the comically large, but Dynamax capable office that served as the space for League Chairmans in Galar.

Chairman Leon was at the far end, taking in his city like Rose used to, by the window's edge. He was dressed in his battling uniform this ti, and his number had been changed from 001, to 003. He didn't tell anyone, but this was his personal loss record, and he wore it to rember those difficult but imnsely enjoyable battles. Only Sonia could claim to have beaten him before he beca Champion, but that loss had fueled them to grow stronger, seek out Mustard, and venture out into Galar to see who they'd et along the way.

The Chairman turned from his reminiscing as he heard the Drone Rotom flying through the air. He held up a finger to them and began walking towards Sikandar and Victor. He started to jog, as the comically large space made walking across the largely blank area tedious. "Champions!" He called out from his side of the 'pitch', "Are your teams ready? Any injuries or other problems?"

The pair shared a look and shook their heads. Victor responded, "No, Chairman! We're ready!"

"Good!" Leon bood back at them. "Good…" He said quietly to himself. He turned to the Rotom then and nodded. A red light appeared on their apparatus, signaling they were live. "Ladies and gentlen of Galar, and the world! We've finally made it! This will potentially be the final match of our Tournant of Champions! Because of our technical draw, this will be a Double Battle! The Champion who takes down the most Pokémon will be considered the overall winner!"

Sikandar and Victor shared another, much more loaded look. The Chairman's wording suggested that they would have to turn on each other, if they ended up tied. "Leon first?" Sikandar mouthed. Victor nodded, and their teamwork remained intact. They would beat Leon down first, and if they were still tied at the end, they'd battle it out. Sikandar had enough respect for him and knowledge of his personality after their training together to trust the Galar Champion.

Leon continued, "The other usual rules also apply! No healing Items, no restrictions on Moves, power ups, or how many tis you use them! Now then…let's begin the match!" Without a care for strategy, Leon flared out his royal purple cape with the Battle Tower, surrounded by Wyndon, printed upon it and confidently tossed two Pokéballs, revealing his Aegislash and his Dragapult. Sikandar and Victor nodded, and threw next, bringing out Rillaboom and a shiny Grimmsnarl, respectively. Both teams sized each other up, and then, in perfect sync, Sikandar and Victor shouted, "Treacherous Terrain!"

Kuranku grinned darkly, hamred her hollow wooden drum down onto the floor of their battlefield, and started hamring away with her drum sticks. Simultaneously, Grimm shot his extending hair whips into the ground, and with a pulse of fairy energy, made the battlefield weird. They were now safe from status moves, and simultaneously healing from Kuranku's Grassy Surge, an ability that a man-made patch gave her. Her vines were currently creating a thorny bramble. Smirking, Leon let them set up, and countered in his usual style, brutal, efficient, and fast.

"Smash through with King's Shield! Dragapult, give two barrages!" Aegislash easily crushed the vines with its steel body, and Dragapult was right behind, firing two Dreepy that looked rather large, like they should have evolved already, as missiles. Luckily, Victor was on it.

"Snare them with Fairy Energy!" Grimm responded instantly, snatching the pair of yeet-seeking missiles with a single arm's hair. "Now smash!" The fairy energy in the follicles utterly canceled out the Dragon Darts attack, and they exploded on contact with the ground. The Dreepy, who looked to have maybe also been trained by Leon, were dazed, but not fainted, and their slow base speed made their reload ti quite long.

"Are they ready, Kuranku?" Sikandar asked. The Rillaboom, with fresh braids in her mane courtesy of Isabella, gave him a dark thumbs up. "Excellent! Fling it right at that creepy eye!" Kuranku's arm humd with evil energy as she spun, grabbed, and hurled at full power a combination of mud, leaves, ground energy, and probably feces, directly at the Aegislash's creepy purple eye right below the sentient sword's hilt.

Aegislash was rocked by the combined dark and ground attack, and Leon grimaced. "That is Properly foul, Indius Champion! Gyro Ball, Aegislash! Then use Air Slash! Dragapult, ride the wind and fly into her!" Like a flawless demonstration of everything a Trainer aspired to be, Leon's pair of Pokémon launched into action. Aegislash cleared away the muck with a rapid rotation that had so obvious anger to it. Fairy aura shielded hair whips smashed through most of the Air Slashes before they could hit Kuranku, and Dragapult followed the sharpened air, pushing its ridiculous speed even further, but Sikandar was ready for this combo.

"Dark Hands!" He shouted, and Kuranku summoned the power for Knock Off. "Now grab it!" Kuranku's massive gorilla hands snared the draconic missile platform, but his forward montum refused to be stopped so easily. The flying energy around him flared, and he snarled at Kuranku, who t his snarl with her own, and drew upon more of the power for her move in response. Unfortunately, Dragapult managed to force her all the way back to the barrier by Sikandar, such was the force and speed of his attack, and once Kuranku ran out of room to backslide, Dragapult landed his move, though that lack of flying energy made Kuranku land hers, as well. The two Pokémon exploded in a cloud of dust as their energy blew up the field.

Leon was quick to respond. "Aegislash! Get in there and finish her off!" It switched to its Blade Form, and as it soared towards the cloud of smoke, Grimm appeared out of nowhere, right in his path, with a dark grin.

"Foul Play!" Victor shouted, and Leon grimaced, as Grimm warped Aegislash's perception, making him appear as Kuranku instead.

"Sacred Sword!" Leon ordered, hoping to counter the dark move. The sentient sword angrily struck at what it perceived as Kuranku, and then let out a painful groan, as it found its own attack power, a rather high number thanks to Leon's careful training and its form change, damaging it with super effectiveness. Victor saw the opening as Foul Play staggered Aegislash, and took it. "Assurance, now!" Whip quick hair tendrils suffused with darkness smashed into the stunned sentient sword, and fainted it. Grimm roared in victory, and then turned to the finally dissipating dust cloud, only to see Kuranku standing, scorched, but conscious. The flying energy had left sharp cuts in her fur, but she still looked raring to go. Dragapult, strong as he was, had terrible defensive stats. Sikandar recalled Kuranku, after letting her Grassy Terrain heal her with a pulse.

Despite his double loss, Leon was grinning. "Excellent… Yes! You two will give us the Battle we've been yearning for! Return, my friends. Go! Hatterene! Mamoswine!"

Sikandar nodded, as two of Leon's new, and as yet unseen, teammates took the field. "Khaang. Join us." He said, quietly. His ball opened, and his Krookodile sank into the ground, converting the floor around him into sand, with ease. Despite being an office, it was still structurally the sa as any other Galarian Gym, so his digging around would not ruin the building.

On a viewscreen above them, Gabby and Ty were at it again, this ti orating from a blank void, and a similarly blank desk. "That's two of Champion Leon's newest teammates revealed ladies and gentlen! We've been told by the Chairman himself that he's brought on nine Pokémon to his original team, which are, his Dragapult, Aegislash, Inteleon, Mr. Ri, Haxorus, and of course, Charizard. Mamoswine and Hatterene are, by our records, completely new additions!" Ty chattered excitedly. "But rumor has it that he's also elevated so of the spares or on deck teammates he has to this new roster of ten. Leon fans are on the lookout for Rhyperior, Seismitoad, or even Kingambit!"

"What about Champion Sikandar's pick?" Gabby asked, as the Krookodile dove into the ground to do what it did best, and the next round kicked off.

"Khaang…is a beast. But I'll let him demonstrate that himself." Ty said, knowingly, completely drawn in by the battle.

It was anyone's guess as to who Khaang would aim for, but Leon took the initiative, with his power ups. "Let's kick this off proper! Mamoswine! ga Evolve!" He shouted, holding up a shining piece of an Icicle Plate shard. Mamoswine's body grew taller, as it traded pig attributes for elephant ones. Its snout grew into a proper trunk, still covered in its light brown, coarse facial fur. Its tusks were even more impressive, now coated in sharp ice, and its body and legs were more akin to an elephant. Snow covered his top half, and a formidable icy crest running from his head down to his new short tail marked the final changes Infinity Energy wrought. Leon followed this new and as yet not fully docunted ga Form with the command, "Blizzard!"

Just like that, the battlefield turned stark white, and the audience view shifted to heat signatures, though they were hard to make out in a cold as intense as ga Mamoswine's. Sikandar and Victor shared a nod, as they shouted together, "Brick Break!" Though upon hearing that, Leon simply smirked. The cara focused on him by one of the Drone Rotom captured his smirk, and his words, as he shouted.

"Grimm is already fainted! And that Krookodile is next!" Accentuating his point, was the unconscious form of Grimm, hamring into Victor's energy barrier. The Galar Champion looked in disbelief at the fainted Grimmsnarl, and recalled him. "Keep it underground, Mamoswine! High Horsepower!"

It was Sikandar's turn to smirk. "You may control the ice, Leon, but the ground belongs to Khaang. Entrap him! Sand Tomb!" Ever one for theatrics, Khaang finally struck, surprising the icy pig mammoth as a pyramid of sand suddenly encased his massive ga Form from all sides. "Now, Sand Burial!" Sikandar shouted the follow up, and the pyramid started to sink.

Leon laughed, as he recognized where Sikandar had likely gotten the 'inspiration' for such an 'original' move. "That won't be enough! Smash free!"

Sikandar didn't let up on his own confident smirk. "Underground, there is no room to rampage. End it, Khaang. Keep it down there with Grass Knot and Low Kick."

With Mamoswine seemingly trapped, Leon finally called upon the rather slow Hatterene. "Alright Hatterene! Gigantamax! Mamoswine needs so help!" He recalled her, and the office started belting out the gym anthem of Galar as her towering form rose almost too high for even Leon's spacious office. Once she was done, Leon pointed at the field, as Victor brought Ace onto it. The Chairman was very obviously having fun. "Smite them!"

"Uhhh… Victor!?" Sikandar said, as Khaang was still dealing with ga Mamoswine beneath the earth. Victor nodded, and then recalled Ace, Gigantamaxing him in response.

"teor Shot, Ace!" He shouted, with the Dynamaxed ball still in his hands. The Gigantamaxed Cinderace appeared quickly, and then backflipped in the air, sending its massive fireball scattering into multiple tiny ones that collided with the falling fairy stars of G-Max Smite. The entire building shook in a way that made Sikandar rember he was hundreds of feet above the earth.

Ace reford his fireball with ease, and Hatterene readied another strike, when Khaang finally reappeared, or rather, his handiwork did. Shot forward from the bowels of the earth ca a battered Mamoswine, sans ga Form, hitting her with enough force to do damage. Khaang's dark eyes waggled at the massive fairy, as he Taunted her, and she fell for it, despite Leon telling her to aim at Ace. Giving in to the inherent rage her species was known for when they were displeased by the emotions around them, the G-Max Smite ca down focused on Khaang, who dove back deep underground, and Ace was given essentially a free shot at a KO. Which he took. It kept their teamwork intact, and tied at two KOs on Leon's team per Champion.

Ace summoned a Max Phantasm, but condensed it into a shadowy ball, much like the original form of the move he was now using while Gigantamaxed. He crouched low and sprang hard off his fireball, hamring the ball of Max Energy and ghost energy towards Hatterene. He lived up to his na, and critically struck, very obviously seeking praise from Victor for doing so, and Victor gave it with a loud whooping noise. The faint sound of the crowd in the not so distant Wyndon Stadium, who were watching this all on massive screens, made it all the way to Leon's office, and his notice of the hype was visible.

His tone was cocky, despite being down by two Pokémon. "Sounds like you two are able to ignite our fans even from way up here! Excellent! You have lived up to every single bit of hype I've heard these last few weeks." Sikandar glanced at Victor as he tensed, and gave his Indius counterpart a knowing side eye. Sikandar just nodded. This was it, then. Leon was about to get serious. Leon, for his part, had dramatically hidden his face beneath his hat, which was still the sa one he'd had as Galar's Champion. He tossed it away then, and the cheering beca loud enough for all of them to hear. "Unfortunately, your Tournant Challenge ends with ! Go! Kabutops! owscarada!" As they appeared, he smirked darkly. "Take them out."

Ty got to mark another pair off the unknowns list, and Sikandar swore, quietly. A owscarada at Leon's level was going to be a big problem. And on top of that, was a Mukking Kabutops. Because apparently he'd just missed out entirely on finding a cool rare fossil. He had a feeling there was a previously unntioned escapade with Isabella and Leon he hadn't been inford of, and he psychically let her know they were going to have a chat, later. He wanted a Kabutops too.

The insanely cool scythe wielding water type crouched low, and then ca at them at hypersonic speeds powered by jets of water shooting from the gaps in their armor. That kind of ludicrous speed had to rival ga Gyarados. owscarada, was even faster, and had simply vanished in a blur. Ace, despite still being Gigantamaxed, was only slightly slower than his Paldean counterpart, and he summoned a massive ball of electricity, this ti simply by shifting the composition of his fireball, much like Bandar had done. Or at least, it looked like electricity at first, convincingly enough for Leon to call for a ground type aura shield from Kabutop's mastery of Mud Shot and Dig. Then, Ace's gathered ball of energy turned green. It was Victor's turn for a one liner. "Bold of you to bring a glass cannon to this kind of Battle. Max Overgrowth!"

The sphere of quadruply effective grass energy struck, and while owscarada embraced it like a refreshing breeze, it visibly rocked Kabutops, so much so that it had to dig its scythes into the ground to not simply be blown away. Its sharp weapons were forcibly dragged through much of the field. It clung to consciousness, and was then healed slightly by the sa energy that had just nearly fainted it. It was still conscious, and Ace was normal sized now. Kabutops let out a screech at the sky above them, willing a rainstorm into existence by sheer force of will. The intelligent predator's eyes then fell on the fire rabbit, and it vanished in a watery afterimage. Its blades seed slightly dulled, but that wouldn't make it any less deadly.

Sikandar saw what was coming, but all he got out was "Khaang-" Before he noticed owscarada had already dispatched him, with what seed like a Leaf Blade from its glowing green claws. The masked lynx winked at Sikandar, and then glided along a trail of grass on its favored terrain back to Leon's side of the field with an expression that made it seem like he was just having the best ti. Sikandar grabbed for his next partner, and felt his ball warming up in his palm.

Victor also only got out one word, but as ever, it was the exact one he needed, to seize victory. "Trailblaze!" Ace's feet lit up with an energy he'd gained a new appreciation for, after briefly experiencing being grass typed, but the watery image of Kabutops was on him. Movent for movent, the ancient predator matched his prey, and then suddenly, a Stone Edge rose right in Ace's path, hamring him violently in the other direction, right in the cheek. He went spinning across the field, groaning, as he rarely got hit that hard these days. As he landed in a heap, Kabutops was already moving for the finishing blow.

Knowing he needed speed and fire, that left only one choice for Sikandar as he threw, and shouted, "Bandar! Help Ace!" With no reluctance, despite being rivals, Bandar burned to life with a roar and wave of fla that kept the lingering owscarada, waiting to strike, away from him. His eyes flashed purple, and then Bandar simply appeared to vanish. The fresh fire monkey then suddenly reappeared, and rocked Kabutops with a powerful and thunderous uppercut right to the underside of its head.

Kabutops had drained so vitality from Ace however, which was enough to keep it conscious, even after tanking a Max Move. A Fire Punch t the oncoming owscarada and its Aerial Ace, again with its claws lengthened like a sword, and Bandar's free hand caught the Mud Shot the still conscious Kabutops shot at him, and crushed it into pieces with his iron-like fist. Then, Ace was there, brutally smashing Kabutops with a Double Kick, again to the head, and knocking it out cold as it was hamred into the floor.

Suddenly on the defense against two fire type starters that could claim to match its speed, owscarada skated across the fading terrain, and desperately traded blows. Growing irritated, Bandar roared, and burned away the field effect with another pulse of fire energy that it seed he could just make, whenever he needed to. Ace was honorable to a fault though, as he finally connected a critical Double Kick, and sent owscarada straight at Bandar. A Flare Blitz shrouded fire ape smashed into it with enough force to knock the powerful, tricky, and sowhat glassy cat magician into unconsciousness as his inertia violently changed direction and the pain overwheld him.

And yet Leon looked thrilled. It occurred to Sikandar that getting him this far had taken sending out their starters, but the pair of fire types were still raring to go. Then, as if planned the whole ti, ca Inteleon and Seismitoad. Sikandar and Victor shared another side eye, but they didn't hesitate.

"Ace, Trailblaze!"

"Bandar! Ride the lightning! And use your Multitude of Monkeys!"

"Pin down the Ace, and then Snipe Shot. Seismitoad, handle the monkeys." Leon responded, smirking confidently. Sikandar had no doubt that the Chairman had done his research, which ant he'd seen most of Bandar's tricks, and felt Seismitoad could counter them. Hitting the highest level had changed his starter, however. He'd gotten bigger, standing at a solid six feet now, and he could do things like catch a Mud Shot in mid air and break it. His type weaknesses were still there, but they seed to mildly irritate him at most. He'd even started joining the team in their hot spring bathing ritual back in Indius, despite despising water, the heat was more than worth it apparently. Sikandar knew he could handle anything a Seismitoad could bring at them.

As the Inteleon, who had a bit of a history with Ace, as Victor had been given the choice between both of them back in the day, fired off a series of blindingly fast Ice Beams, Bandar moved for the Seismitoad with his Agility enhanced speed and electric powered movent. Or rather, most of the Infernape clones did. One stayed back and launched a Sunny Day into the air above them from his mouth. Seismitoad struck the oncoming clones with a powerful, echoing Hyper Voice that cracked the air when it was unleashed.

Only a few broke from that, which was on purpose, as the sound attack gave Bandar a rather strong and intense headache, multiplied by each clone. Irritated, the original Infernape grasped at the empty air with a green glowing hand, and a powerful Grass Knot sent the smirking Seismitoad suddenly crashing onto his face with a thunderous boom. Despite his headache, Bandar made his clones shriek with laughter at him, and the large toad seed self-conscious about it as he stood up.

Ace, anwhile, was dodging Ice Beams and Snipe Shots like a fiery acrobat, despite the lizard sniper's excellent aim. Then, suddenly, an Electro Ball shot back towards Inteleon in response, and just as suddenly, Inteleon was now the one doing the dodging, while Ace advanced, running and kicking lightning-fast balls of electricity like the striker he was as he rapidly gained ground. Sikandar focused back on his Infernape as Bandar neutralized his opponent's Hyper Voice with multiple Vacuum Waves, as the creation of a vacuum nullified the sound's power. Then, they both saw the opening, as Seismitoad switched to Echoing Voice, which while potentially powerful, was much weaker in terms of attack power. They wouldn't get another chance to hit that sack of hit points this hard, if that Echoing Voice got going. "Now, Bandar! Solar Beam!"

There was a flash of surprise, and then a grin from Leon. "You're going to need to use all of it, Seismitoad! Sludge Wave!" Seismitoad inhaled to frankly absurd proportions as its stomach bulged with air, and poison. While several clones of Bandar lowered their hands by their side and began rapidly empowering the solar attack with their Sunny Day, Seismitoad summoned every bit of power he had for his move. Bandar and his clones brought their hands forward in a Kahaha of grass energy, while Seismitoad t it with the considerable wave of poisonous sludge it could create at a mont's notice.

The grass energy struggled to cut through the wave of corrosive sludge, but Bandar let out a mighty screech, as he saw Seismitoad deflate slightly from using so much power, and the damage it had already taken from Grass Knot. Thanks to its bulk, that attack had done quite a lot of damage, quadruply effective as it was. In the last monts of the attacks, the Solar Beam cut through the Sludge Wave, and flashed in a line across Seismitoad, while the other Bandars suddenly vanished, with the wave of tiredness following the extra oomph Bandar had given his attack. He regained his breath as the smoke cleared, and then looked over at Ace.

He and the Inteleon were engaged in a brutal battle of lee moves that Ace was seemingly winning. Inteleon wasn't out though, and Leon made no move to recall Seismitoad and give him aid, for so reason. All that remained on the Chairman's belt was his Charizard, and a mystery Pokémon he had to be very confident could handle the rest of their teams. Sikandar still had a bad feeling. Leon's team had never gone down this easily before, with his match against Victor and the then mostly unknown Urshifu rolling through most of his original six being the singular exception. Even the reigning World Champion, Ash Ketchum, had had more difficulty against Leon, when he'd first ascended to that spot, and in all their rematches since. Ketchum always managed to win, though, and remained pretty much the only Trainer alive that could regularly outfox a battling genius like Leon. Age had only made him better.

Ace's Double Kick was appearing to do work, but Inteleon's Acrobatics were making the kicks effectively negligible in terms of damage. While very much a special attacker, Inteleon also possessed a fairly decent amount of physical attack power, at the price of defense. Any decent Trainer knew how to turn offensive capability into a passable defense, as Inteleon was demonstrating. "Get in there, Bandar! Thunder Punch!"

Hearing him intending to interfere, Leon recalled Seismitoad finally, shouting, "No you don't! Charizard! Keep him at bay!" Again, the roars from Wyndon Stadium could be heard, as the region's favorite fire lizard appeared, eting Bandar's Thunder Punch with one of his own. The moves collided, and Bandar found himself being overpowered as they t fist to fist. After being sent back several feet, and now thoroughly impressed by a being with three fingers having a fist that solid, Bandar was grinning madly, his head fla shifting to a white-hot coloration as he recognized who he was finally up against. By contrast, Leon's Charizard was as cool as an ice type, his tail flas were the usual red and yellow, patiently waiting for Bandar to strike again. Instead, Sikandar had him ga Evolve. While this occurred, Inteleon finally got past Ace's guard, managing to hamr him with multiple Mud Shots that were comparable to bullets from an old Earth style firearm.

Ace's white fur had spots of red now, darker than his actual red fur, but he wasn't down yet. Just very hurt, and visibly trying not to cry out from the pain. Even Inteleon, upon seeing this with his sharp eyes, looked down with a brief expression of guilt, before his gaze hardened. Better to take Ace down quickly, so he could go back into stasis in his ball until the nurses could see him. Water spiraled around his finger as he spent Snipe Shot's move power to make it faster, and bigger.

Seeing this, and their chance at remaining equal slipping away, Victor shouted at Sikandar. "Alley-oop, mate!" Sikandar simply nodded, and Bandar knew what to do. The fireball his ga Form rode upon shifted to lightning with a clap of his ape hands, and Ace proceeded to Bounce into the air. High enough to rival a Dynamaxed Pokémon. Bandar Thunder Punched his sphere up to Ace, who used the montum from his return Bounce to smash into the Electro Ball, which was much larger than anything he could produce on his own, or without a power up. The move struck Inteleon, who barely had ti to even see it coming, such was the speed of the strike, and it was the large area of effect that caught the crafty water lizard within it. Inteleon was thoroughly shocked, and then left unconscious, in the wake of the move. Charizard, for his part, had simply raised a rock wall with Ancientpower to avoid the blast's damage entirely.

As Leon recalled Inteleon, Victor shouted, "I'm withdrawing Ace! He's too hurt to keep Battling." His Cinderace looked at him with an expression of shock at the betrayal, but Victor was not going to be dissuaded. "Yer health cos first, Ace. I'm not risking it, mate. No matter who we're facing, or what Battle this is. You're benched." Ace looked pissed, but the crimson spots on his fur had only grown since being hit with the compacted Mud Shots, and Sikandar knew it was the right call. "Zard! Your turn!" He shouted, after recalling Ace. For the first ti, the son faced down the father, as Victor's Charizard, a gift from Leon after he'd beaten him and beca Champion, took the field and roared.

"Charizard…focus on Zard. Now co! Avenge your team! Kingambit!" Leon shouted, throwing his last pick.

Ty's voice helpfully started narrating excitedly as the black and red steel shogun appeared, and slowly raised his head to take in his targets. An aura of darkness radiated around him, and he went from sitting on his malleable wiry tal mane of hair, which could act as a chair apparently, to levitating in the air itself, probably through so kind of electromagnetism. "There it is folks! Chairman Leon's final secret, and this one could spell the end for our Champion Challengers!"

Gabby looked believably confused. "And why is that, Ty?"

Ty looked at her, and then channeled Samuel Oak, as he raised a finger, and dropped so expositional knowledge the people of Galar largely did not know, since the Bisharp of their region didn't typically form groups large enough to bring forth a Kingambit. Nor were there enough Bisharp for the kind of territorial wars that places like Paldea, Kalos, and so parts of Japan were known to see from the species. Even Unova had reported a few isolated cases of a Kingambit appearing in the wild, but that wasn't entirely unbelievable for a region that was ho to the literal embodint of victory. "Well Gabby, Kingambit is sowhat infamous for its Ability, which we can already see on display on the field. It's called Supre Overlord. For each party mber that has fainted, Kingambit's Special and physical Attack raise one stage."

Gabby blinked. "But they can only raise six stages, right? That can't be too terrifying."

"Normally, yes," Ty said, with a nod, "The maximum is six. Any more either has typically no asurable effect, simply fails to work, or causes too much stress on the Pokémon using the boost and starts to endanger their health. Kingambit is pretty much the only exception to this rule, and only a Kingambit with Supre Overlord, at that. But I have no doubt that's the Ability that Leon's has…it's practically radiating darkness! This has definitely been the Chairman's plan from the start, whittle down our Challengers, and their starters, with his team, and then have his Charizard and a nine-stage boosted Kingambit clean up what's left." Eager to see what Leon did next, the two focused on the battle.

Zard had also taken his ga Form, but his sire barely even acknowledged the shift. In a brutal aerial clash, they traded fire, Dragon Pulses, and even so Thunder Punches, but the last left Zard open, which was when Leon struck with his patented upstart Charizard breaker. "Ancientpower!"

By this point, Leon's starter didn't need chunks of rock to use the move, it simply opened its toothy maw and fired a massive beam of rock energy, still with quadruple effectiveness, right at the fire and flying typed ga Charizard. It was enough to bring Zard down. Sikandar, for his part, had recalled Bandar, and had him drop his ga Form so he could properly rest. Kuranku had co out instead, only to have her Bulked Up Body Press brutally knocked off course with Fury Cutter from Kingambit. Sikandar winced, as Kuranku fainted, still damaged from earlier, and now Kingambit had an even further boosted Fury Cutter, if it kept using it. It was, in terms of power at this point, almost a guaranteed one hit KO. If it landed.

Now also down to two Pokémon each, Sikandar and Victor shared another nod, and out ca a Runerigus, and a golden Arbok. Leon's eyes widened, as he saw Victor's rarely used Rune. This was because, of all his Pokémon, Rune tended to be the most violent, and this tendency had only increased as his level had. He also, as it happened, had the perfect ability to counter Supre Overlord, and cent Leon's defeat. Once again, Ty helpfully exposited, proving again that there were brains behind that cara he usually used. "Wandering Spirit is the ideal counter, Gabby! If Runerigus can make contact with Kingambit, and not faint, it could steal all nine stages of that boost for itself…and since it's a ghost, it probably can handle the larger number of increases, too."

"It still has to hit it, though…" Gabby said, doubtfully. "It's…a rock. It doesn't seem very mobile."

Ty winked at her and tapped his nose. "It's more versatile than you think, especially with an Indius Arbok, infamous for their speed, on its side. No, this Battle is by no ans over, folks! Neither side is done yet!"

As Ty finished, Leon shouted, "Looks like it's ti to remove all the stops! Charizard!" His partner looked back at his Trainer, sensing what he intended. "ga Evolve!" He shouted, as he tossed his longti partner a deep bluish purple Charizardite X, and revealed a wrist fitting, sleek ga Cuff, similar in design to a Rotom Watch, on his wrist. The whole of Galar watched, stunned, as Leon abandoned his trademark Gigantamaxing, for a ga Evolution instead. Sothing he and Charizard had never done publicly. As the power faded, the X strand of ga Charizard let out a fierce roar, and exhaled blue-white flas at his opponents with a powerful snort, daring them to challenge him. Leon wasn't done, however. "And you, Kingambit! Dynamax!" He recalled his dark warrior, only to then resummon him as he grew and grew and grew so more, tall enough for his head blade to scratch the ceiling of his office space. Kingambit let out a tallic roar too, and Sikandar just nodded.

Leon was going all out, but all they had to do to cent a win, was stop Kingambit from taking them out with an overpowered Max Move, which did incorporate stage boosts alongside the power of Max Moves in general. As Kingambit started radiating power, the shields around the Chairman's arena quintupled in layered durability. They scaled to the power of the Pokémon detected, and strengthened as needed, to keep the surrounding and sowhat precariously high tower from falling over, or becoming too stressed by the moves being used on the field. Sikandar and Victor both started sweating a bit, as they saw that. The rciless, looming eyes of Kingambit promised defeat, and quite possibly death. Kingambit was not going to hold back.

"Get in there, Raaj! Acid Spray! Then target the Kingambit!" Raajabara was a golden blur that slithered, coiled, and sotis jumped across the field, as the ga Charizard lit it up with Flathrowers on its approach. Raajabara created a Rock Tomb as it moved, which Charizard countered with a pair of Dragon Claws, but by that point, the golden cobra had already used Dig. With a snarl, the black Charizard turned on Rune, and launched at him. The gravity of the field increased, as the sheer amount of dark typed energy being gathered started to affect the area. The Battle Tower's tal groaned in protest.

"Now, Kingambit! Max Darkness!" Kingambit unleashed the attack, which was not fully charged, with a tallic roar that was interrupted as an explosion of ground energy smashed into its feet. A massive Sludge Bomb covered the Kingambit, and instead of laughing like that wouldn't work, Leon's brows furrowed. Neither Sikandar nor Victor would make such an obvious mistake in a match this intense. Sure enough, the golden cobra's attack was affecting Kingambit, and Leon swore. There were moves that could get it off of his body, but not while he was Dynamaxed. What looked like brown rot slowly started spreading from the areas the poison had hit, so Kingambit turned his mid-attack focus on the golden Arbok. A wave of black death flooded Raajabara, and though the snake struggled to stay conscious for his Trainer, the power was simply too strong to resist through. He did make one final move, however, or rather, Rune did, as it was finally his turn by that point. Ally Switch changed their places, and the ghostly rune rock began charging its fists with ground typed power.

Sikandar recalled his Arbok, and thanked him, before sending out his last pick. "You're the only one who can end this, Raph! Go! Sacred Sword!" Raphael started running, and ga Charizard, who now lacked a target, shifted to Raphael. The Gallade, who had also ga Evolved upon switching in, danced away from his Dragon Claws, and sharply raised his attack power as he did so, with a Swords Dance. Raphael Teleported behind the Charizard then and hit him with a weak but damaging Dazzling Gleam, before he Teleported again, in front of Kingambit's massive face. His Sacred Sword went straight for the steel shogun's giant golden head blade, and instead of using Max Darkness again, the Kingambit focused his gathered energy into the blade, to et the ga Gallade head on.

A crossed pair of Sacred Swords caught the now forward moving Max Darkness, and that collision of power rolled across the field, stressing the barriers, and even briefly stopping ga Charizard from moving towards them, or more specifically Rune. He spun while flying, a Dragon Dance, and then moved towards his target even faster. But by that point, it was Rune's chance to strike again. It brought down the power of Earthquake on the steel shogun's gigantic foot, the only part it could really reach, and Kingambit's eyes rolled, as they traded abilities, and the powerful earth attack broke the corroded parts of his body that the Arbok's acid had weakened. Rune suddenly swelled with a wave of intense ghostly energy, and the red carving on his stone began glowing brightly.

Now possessing Supre Overlord, Rune was getting power from his own fallen teammates. And those of Sikandar's team as well. Raphael yelled, burning power to increase his Sacred Sword, and the stress was too much for Kingambit. Max Energy flared out of him in an explosion of pain, but he didn't faint as he shrank back to normal size. Even in his normal form, his head sword radiated darkness, and did not yield to the Gallade's blades. They locked again, as the two Pokémon struggled to overpower each other.

Rune, anwhile, had turned with malice on Leon's Charizard, easily blocking his Air Slashes and Flathrowers as he closed in for lee. Rune made him pay for it with painful Rock Blasts, but in this form, his quad weakness was more like a regular one, and barely an annoyance to the burning black dragon. Once the ga Charizard was close, a rain of Rock Slide fell on him, only for him to barrel roll out of most of the damaging stones, right into a waiting Stone Edge, that rocked him hard, and sent him spinning the other direction. As the ga Charizard rose slowly from that hit, and wiped his mouth free of the blood it had drawn from within his toothy maw, the heat on the field quadrupled. His draconic eyes narrowed, and then with a burst of brutal speed that Rune simply couldn't match, he flew past the stationary sentient stone with speed and a pair of Shadow Claws.

When the ga Charizard ca around for another strike, they once again traded blows, Stone Edge for another pair of Shadow Claws, which fainted Rune. In that sa mont, Raphael finally overpowered Kingambit, and sent it into unconsciousness from the quadruple effective hit, atop of all the other damage he'd taken so far. The Charizard and the Gallade locked eyes, but neither made a move to attack.

Sikandar and Raphael had no illusion that it would take both him and Victor's last pick, which was of course, his Blastoise Tank. "This is it Charizard!" Leon shouted with a disgusting amount of confidence. "We take back our streak here! Now! FULL POWER!" An aura of rich purple pulsed from Leon's feet, and his ga Charizard roared in response. The already oppressive heat quadrupled again, and Sikandar read the temperature at well over a thousand degrees, but given that Indius still used Celsius, Sikandar had only a rough guess at how hot that was. Too hot to drag this out, he correctly figured. Then, they saw it, as Tank joined them on the field. A burning aura of molten red energy was surrounding the black dragon. A proper aura shield, forged from hundreds of battles, only two of which had been losses.

Victor grimaced, and made his choice for Tank's power up, as he recalled him. The Gigantamaxed cannon turtle appeared with his heavily fortified shell facing his opponent, and Sikandar watched as each hydro cannon locked onto the Charizard. Sikandar went first, as Raphael was currently the fastest on the field. "Double Team. It's going to use Thunder Punch, so block it in kind and don't stay in the line of fire!" Raphael nodded, and then shot into the air before and around Tank, fists sparking and ready to counter Charizard.

Leon just smirked at them. "Sunny Day!" The fading orb from earlier was revitalized with a simple glance from the ga Charizard. Leon seed very confident after this happened.

"Get ready, Tank!" Victor shouted, and the roar of water filled the air as it rushed through his massive shell, to his cannons. Raphael and Sikandar watched closely as their opponent shot into the air, and neared the Sunny Day. "G-Max Cannonade!" Tank let out a roar, and every single mounted water cannon on his shell fired at Leon's Charizard, but this ti, the dragon had the power of the Sun on his side. He flew into the orb of fla, and then expanded it with his own mastery over fire. The entire battlefield beca obscured by steam as despite the pressure of the waterflow, it was simply evaporating too quickly to even get near the ga Charizard. The heat reading was comparable to a small, condensed star, and it was a credit to how hard Charizard was going, and how far the arguably greatest example of that species could take a ga Form.

"Now, Solar Beam!" Ca Leon's charismatic baritone, and suddenly, the field lit up despite the steam. They watched the stream of light move through the steam cloud, where it hamred into Tank, but the Blastoise was still standing, and nowhere near done yet.

Raphael, briefly awed by this titanic clash of opposing types, made his move as the steam obscured all. Thanks to Charizard's aura shield, which had also helped with his Sunny Shield, the Gallade could sense where he was. Raphael launched his Rock Slide where he last sensed Charizard, but the attack missed. As he tried to figure out why, a Dragon Tail suddenly sent him hurtling across the field, all the way into one of the barriers. That hit made Raphael slow to rise, as the lingering dragon energy from the hit had sohow blocked his psychic powers temporarily so he couldn't stop his montum and balance himself, and as he recovered from that strike, Leon and ga Charizard went for Tank.

Steam evaporated as the black dragon roared, summoning the power of electricity for a Thunder Punch on Tank as he suddenly appeared from the steam cloud. Victor was waiting for that, however. "Now, Tank!" Suddenly, hot air, from Tank's lungs, was expelled through the cannons instead, with enough force to clear the steam, or at least blow most of it onto Leon's side of the field. Charizard was also pushed back, slightly, as his wings caught the air. Just far enough to give Tank room. "Now, Max Rockfall!" A massive pillar of still super effective stone rose above Charizard, but in this form, though his partner hated admitting it, he could handle Max Moves as easily as when he was Gigantamaxed. He spun into a Dig through the Rockfall, and then brought both fists down with a crack of thunder, sending the super effective electric surge into Tank's shell. His many water cannons started going haywire, aiming wildly.

Then, suddenly, at a rumble from Tank, they stopped, and as one, locked onto the ga Charizard. Water wasn't super effective anymore, but G-Max Cannonade did continuous damage, and this one, was point blank. Victor gave the command, and with a final surge of power, the massive water move hamred Leon's Charizard, and even with his draconic might, the sheer water pressure was simply too overpowering. Resisting this in his Max Form would've been easy, but this ti, his smaller ga Form hindered him. He was sent sailing across the field, into the energy barrier on Leon's side, where the force of the hydro cannon barrage kept him pinned for a solid thirty seconds, before the Max Energy from Tank finally ran out, and he returned to normal size, turning back around, and leveling his cannons at his rival. Victor seed confident, but Tank knew better. His rival could take more than that.

A furious roar echoed across the field as the water ended, and a Heat Wave evaporated it off of the ga Charizard's leathery black skin. He shot forward, only to suddenly be brought to the ground by a white blur, and a powerful kick. ga Charizard's enraged eyes went wide as he smashed into the field, and then suddenly, that sa blur crashed into the ground in front of him. An all too familiar series of jutting stones, Stone Edge, ca for Charizard then, and for a mont, he almost let them hit. He was on his last legs, Tank was as well, but Raphael would win this match. Charizard however, decided that if they were going to have a third loss, it would be to only one Trainer.

With a roar, he used Dig through the Stone Edge, surprising and soaring past Raphael as his draconic claws sparked, and he went for Tank once more. On his side of the field, Leon watched, knowingly. His eyes took in every single battle he'd ever seen, and learned from it, and he knew what his partner wanted. ga Charizard's fiery aura shield burned to life again, as the Hydro Pumps the turtle upstart launched at him were diverted with a combination of heat manipulating the air, and ga Charizard's own dexterity and barrel rolling skills.

Tank grit his teeth, and caught the Thunder Punches, matching and sowhat blocking their damage with Ice Punches of his own. But the dragon's mastery of this elent, one he had used for decades now, was superior to Tank's control of ice, and ga Charizard was not weak to it. Victor wasn't done, though. If he was going to 'lose' by being knocked out here, they would make it count. Sikandar had given Raphael an order, as the two starter Pokémon clashed.

The honorable Gallade disliked it, but the move guaranteed that they would be the last ones standing. As ga Charizard forced Tank to his knees, the ground around them shattered, and broke, shifting into a powerful, roiling mass of upturned earth and stone. Raphael stood from where he'd landed and set off the Earthquake, watching its effects with a grim expression. Tank was almost unconscious already, but he was also holding the ga Charizard in place, so it couldn't fly away from this. The black dragon shot a glare at the Gallade, before a wave of rising stone and earth buried him.

Leon visibly sighed, but then perked himself up with a smirk. He knew when his partner was done, and sure enough the Drone Rotom caught the image of both Tank and his Charizard, unconscious, eyes Poli-patterned, trapped together in a heap of dirt and stone, with Raphael, grim faced and standing victorious over both of them. "Ladies and gentlen of Galar! Your Champions have succeeded in defeating my Battle Tower! Sikandar Jiyoshi, you have the most Knockouts, which ans, we have our winner folks! The Indius Champion has won my Tournant of Champions!"

Sikandar gave Victor a fist bump, after he recalled Tank, and the caras saw Raphael putting a hand on Victor's shoulder in a manner that suggested an apology. The Galar Champion waved him off, as technically, this was still a victory for him, even if Sikandar had gotten more KOs. He had, sohow, managed to both win and lose the Tournant of Champions, and that topic would be debated on Chatter and other such Pokénet forums for years to co. Leon ca over, shook both of their hands with genuine enthusiasm, and made a show of handing Sikandar a rather large golden trophy, worthy of a tournant with so many Champion Trainers in it. Victor had one as well, and the victorious duo held them up, smirking as they heard the crowd below in Wyndon roar in approval.

When the caras went off, Leon did not change, but rather stayed friendly, and chatted with both of them about their training thods, the moves they'd used in their battle, and what was next for them. Victor, claid he needed to train harder for the World Tournant, and had learned that the key was having a roster of intense battlers he could combine together as needed. He had plenty of great Pokémon, they simply had not reached their highest potential yet. Leon said his plans were much the sa, though he intended to stick with his current roster, to make them the best they could be. Then, the two Galarians looked to Sikandar, with Leon saying, "And what about the Indius Champion? Going to spend so ti with that redhead of yours, Champion of Champions?"

Sikandar chuckled at the title that Ty had given him when he'd excitedly comnted on the match's end. He and Gabby were still going over the highlights, and the confusion about Victor's win record had already begun. At least among Galarians. Indius Trainers did, and would continue to, point out that Sikandar had still technically had Bandar conscious at the end of his 'draw' with Victor, which ant the following Double Battle Bash had just been for show. For his part, Sikandar couldn't care less about the records. He'd had a lot of fun in Galar, made many new friends, fell into an epic romance, and had even beco a teacher of psychic abilities all mostly without really aning to. His only regret was that he hadn't been able to summon a Barrier to protect his fans from the Imperium's assassin squad. He went over those events constantly, ridden with guilt that he could have sohow done better, maybe even saved one of their lives, but then the reality of that awful situation reared up in his head. They had died almost instantly, a credit to the Imperium's deadly weaponry.

He took a deep breath as he pondered Leon's question, and then finally said, "I'm going to head ho. The Imperium won't stop, they never have, and I need to be stronger, if I want to keep Indius safe. They say the Emperor and his Primarchs are unmatched Trainers as well as masters of war. I need to be worth twenty of them."

Leon and Victor's smiles turned serious, as they grokked his words, and the reason for them. The shift against the Imperium had been growing in Galar for a while, from a state of indifference to disdain, and now outright dislike. Victor spoke this ti. "Well if Indius is ever facing more than it can handle, and Eous is…let's call it 'slow to respond' to the threat, you always have friends in Europa ready to lend a hand."

Sikandar gave the Galar Champion a genuine smile. "I'll rember that…but hopefully it won't be necessary. Thank you, both of you, for letting participate. It has…been a genuinely life changing experience." With that, Sikandar shook their hands once more, and then departed. True to his word, he reunited with Isabella, and then went back to Indius for a well earned break before training for the upcoming World Tournant began.