"Eevee, Sewaddle—come out!" Alexis shouted as he called out his Pokémon, Alan mirroring his actions from the opposite side.
"Baltoy, get rid of him!" "Come on, Pidove!" The grunts shouted back, releasing their own Pokémon and immediately going on the offensive. "Baltoy use Rock Tumb on that kid!"
Right above Alexis, a cluster of boulders materialised, crashing down under the force of gravity. The shock of being directly attacked by another human stunned Alexis, who barely managed to react in time and dodge the shower of stones. He had faced an Ursaring head-on for Eevee, but even then, it was a completely different situation—that had not been a wild Pokémon, but one following the orders of its Trainer.
"Useless creature!" The Axis Org. grunt yelled at the Baltoy, his peer ordering his own Pokémon at the same time. "Pidove, attack that bug!"
Alexis's shock slowly gave way to a different emotion. The terrorist attack, the destroyed Ibis Stadium, the lost lives, using their Pokémon as weapons, abusing them. Bright blue eyes narrowed, his mind almost entirely consumed by a burning anger.
"Eevee intercept it with Quick Attack!" Alexis growled, his voice turning low and raw. "Sewaddle use Bug Bite on Baltoy!"
As his Pokémon followed his commands, Alexis rushed the grunts, intent on attacking them himself. Even as a trainer fighter, facing two opponents was a hard task—especially so when facing not just people, but also taking part in a Pokémon battle.
As Sewaddle bit into the Baltoy, its small fangs charged with Bug type energy, the Clay Doll Pokémon produced a weird, high-pitched, jarring sound, trying to retaliate with an ineffective Mud-Slap since its Trainer was too busy avoiding Alexis to give it a command. At the same time, Eevee clashed with the Pidove that had dove down in a Quick Attack of its own, trying to get Sewaddle. Eevee, clearly stronger, pushed the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon away.
"Come on!" Alexis's shout could be heard over the sound of Pokémon clashing.
*
"Charmander, use Ember on Seedot!" Alan instructed as he ran away from a chasing Pidove. "Murkrow, get this guy off me with Gust!"
"Come on you stupid Pokémon!" One of the grunts spit insult after insult. As he saw Pidove get put out of commission by Murkrow, he was left with no option but to retreat. "Dumb pigeon, you can't even get rid of a kid!"
"Murkrow, chase him and use Peck!" Alan commanded, not wanting to allow the grunt to escape.
"Seedot, Rollout!" The grunt commanded, not caring about Seedot having just been hit by Charmander's Ember.
Barely staying up, the Seedot quickly started rolling on its side, heading straight towards the Charmander. As the first hit impacted, Alan could see his Pokémon would not last another one.
"Charmander, come back!" He called, risking his own safety and recalling Charmander to its Pokéball. Just when the Seedot was about to hit him, Valerio's voice reverberated across the stadium.
"Ice Shard!"
*
"Valerio," the leader apparent spoke to the member of the Elite Four, "you know there is no winning."
"No winning?" Valerio asked, a condescending smirk tugging at his lip. "It would seem you underestimate the members of the Alerma League far too much, ExecutiveAukan."
"I see it is no use talking to you..." The Executive said. "Shiftry, come out!"
"Trick Room," Valerio commanded, his Mr. Rime already preparing the move. As soon as Shiftry came out of its Pokéball, the quartet—Trainers and Pokémon—was encased in a cube of pink energy. "Now use Ice Beam."
Throughout the entire process, Valerio remained impassive, his expression one of calm and control. He had been right—Axis Organisation underestimated the Alerma League too much. Unfortunately for them, that fact was something they would learn the hard way.
"Shiftry, Protect!" Executive Aukan reacted, trying to stop his Pokémon from being defeated in one move. Alas, there was little he could do against someone who was clearly superior in combat.
"Use Dazzling Gleam," Valerio spoke as soon as the Protect ended, not giving Aukan or Shiftry space to act. Mr. Rime lifted its cane, a blinding sphere of multicoloured light forming on it, forcing everyone around to close their eyes. Before Aukan could react, the sphere of light shot towards Shiftry. Seeing the imminent danger, The Axis Executive did the only thing he could.
"Damnit!" He shouted. "Come back, Shiftry."
As he recalled his Pokémon back to its Pokéball, Aukan looked at Valerio with hatred—the battle was over, but the war would continue until they could no longer draw breath.
"Don't mistake things, Valerio," he growled. "This is not over."
Aukan's arm shot to his pockets, from where he retried a small, black sphere, which he smashed on the ground, producing a large cloud of smoke. Amidst this cloud of smoke, a large bird's cry could be heard.
"Corviknight, take me out of here!"
From the cloud of smoke rose a huge avian figure covered in dark, black plates of armour. Sat upon it, grabbing tight to what little plumage it had exposed on its back, was Aukan. With yet another cry, the Corviknight sped through the sky, escaping the scene.
Valerio clicked his tongue before turning towards the two new trainers and, seeing Alan in danger, acted immediately.
"Ice Shard!" He instructed Mr. Rime, who produced and shot a spike of crystal-like ice in a fraction of a second, hitting Seedot and putting it out of commission. Then he went on to do the same thing against the other Pokémon belonging to the grunts, putting an end to the ongoing battles.
Seeing their Pokémon now unable to battle, the Axis Grunts surrendered, cursing at their Pokémon for being useless and at Valerio for appearing.
"Your mistake was thinking the League would not issue security to an official tournament," he explained as a squad of Officer Jenny's appeared, cuffing the criminals and taking them away. Before they were gone, Valerio had Mr. Rime float their Pokéballs towards them, offering them to Alexis and Alan. "You two stayed and fought valiantly, if a bit stupidly—I'll let you choose what to do with these Pokémon."
"But... Mr. Valerio we..." Alan started, still remembering the moment he had to be saved. "We... I did not do anything."
Alexis looked at Alan with—for the first time since they had first crossed paths that very same morning—respect. It was one thing to be a good Trainer, but to be able to put himself on the spot like so and recognise his own faults... that was difficult. Besides, he had stayed and fought, as well as tried to save as many people as he could.
"You stayed," Valerio's eyes gazed at them with a brotherly warmth, "and fought against them. That is more than many would have done."
Seeing Alan was still doubting, Alexis grabbed one of the Pokéballs and released the Pokémon inside, which turned out to be the Baltoy he had been fighting against before Valerio intervened. Seeing the creature, still hurt, abused by its Trainer, Alexis put the Pokéball on the ground and stepped on it. Once destroyed, the Baltoy was now free. Then eh proceeded to do the same thing with the other Pokéballs, leaving one untouched.
"That one is yours," he told Alan, encouraging him to do what they all knew was the right thing.
Receiving both Alexis and Valerio's recognition, Alan stopped himself from crying, his lips pressed together so tight they made a thin line. Then he grabbed the Pokéball and activated it, revealing the Seedot that had almost hit him earlier. The Seedot stared at him, as if waiting for him to do or say something. When Alan destroyed the Pokéball, Seedot's eyes shone brightly, before it threw itself at Alan, crying in relief.
*
"Are you sure you won't rest here, Alan?" Alexis asked his fellow Trainer as he was about to get on a car, back to Buenos Aires.
"Yeah, I feel like..." Alan started, taking a moment to think his words through. "I feel like I owe an apology to my parents."
"That's good then," was all Alexis said, offering his fist to Alan. As the two young men bumped fists, a small round Pokémon came out from behind Alan, curiously looking at their exchange. It was Seedot, who had chosen to stay with Alan. "Take care of your Trainer, little guy."
Bidding farewell to each other, Alexis and Alan split ways, one headed back home, the other to the Pokémon Center.
"I am not looking forward to this..." Alexis muttered, looking at the list of dozens of missed calls on his phone. "They're gonna kill me..."