Chp 40: Master 
 
“You ready for this? These guys are the best trainers in Sinnoh.” Seth said.  
 
Fluffy was riding on his shoulder. “Yeah!” He jumped happily, causing him to nearly lose his balance. Seth couldn’t help but chuckle as the little eevee scrambled on his shoulder. If he did fall, Seth could easily catch him. The elevator eventually stopped. As the doors opened, the shine of the room struck Seth. The entire place seemed like a treasure trove. Pillars of gold adorned the edges of the arena, lines of silver traced the floors and walls and chandeliers of crystals cast twinkling lights onto everything. At the far end was a golden throne, decorated with precious gems of all colors. In that throne was yet another familiar face.  
 
“Well look who made it.” The blonde-haired man rose to his feet. “I knew you were special. Maybe you could even beat me.” He was wearing the same blue leather jacket and baggy jeans.  
 
“Volkner? But you’re a gym leader?” 
 
“And? I’m both a gym leader and a member of the elite four. In fact, because of me, the champion hasn’t had many challengers. I will be the one and only to beat her.” Volkner said. 
 
“But what is all this?” 
 
“You mean the gold? Wealth often comes from success, but it also makes life easier. Instead of that, I spent it all gathering the wealth of this room. Once I’m champion, I’ll make sure to make keep this as my floor. It does look nice.” He smiled smugly. “But that doesn’t matter. You’re but one more step in my journey!” He pointed to the sky. “I will be the best!” His arm drifted down to point at Seth. “And no one can stop me.” 
 
Seth could feel the excitement getting to him. “I decided I would beat the elite four. I’m not giving up now!” 
 
“We’ll see. Now, my rule will really test the skill of your pokemon. You and I are not needed. Instead, we each choose a pokemon from our team to take our place. We are not allowed to interact at all. The pokemon you choose will battle last.” Volkner explained, drawing all six of his pokeballs and setting them on the ground. 
 
“I’m game. And I know the perfect girl for the job.” Seth did the same, except he kept a pink ball in hand. From it, he sent out Sky. “Alright Sky, you’re in charge. You have to lead for me.” 
 
“But... me? Are you sure?” She asked.  
 
“Yeah. You’re smart, quick on the draw, and caring enough to not push your team too hard.” 
 
“You can do it mom!” Fluffy encouraged. 
 
“Alright.” Sky stepped up to the line of balls at the edge of the arena.  
 
For his stand-in, Volkner selected an alolan raichu. He quickly leaned back, lounging on his floating tail. One of the balls floated up and opened. An eel like fish pokemon, an eelektross, formed on his side of the field. 
 
Sky tapped Tiff’s ball and sent her out. Tiff let out her usual roar as she formed. Alright, do you know any ground type moves? 
 
“Huh?” She mumbled, trying to locate the voice in her head.  
 
Behind you. 
 
Tiff turned, a surprised look crossed her face when she saw Sky sitting where Seth would usually be. Seth himself was standing off to the side. 
 
It’s fine. This way our enemy can’t hear our plans. Sky smiled at her. Just think back at me. 
 
Like this?  
 
Sky nodded. This guy is the eighth gym leader. He uses electric types. 
 
Got it. I know earthquake and bulldoze. 
 
Alright, start with bulldoze, slow him down, then hit hard. 
 
Tiff let out a roar and charged. She made a forward leap, a brown wave emitting along the ground when she landed. It hit dead on, Eelektross shaking from the move. Suddenly, he lurched forward, clamping his sucker mouth on her chest. Tiff cried out, writhing in pain as she tried to pry him off. When that failed, her flame vents lit up as she let out a point-blank flamethrower onto the squid pokemon. This caused him to let go and float through the air as he backed off.  
 
He’s got levitate! Tiff thought. 
 
Are you okay? I guess just go for raw power. Fire type moves, the strongest you have. I’ll let you know if I come up with something better. 
 
Tiff was already breathing heavy. That attack hurt. There was a little bit of a tingle where he bit, so she must have stopped him just before he could shock her. Now the eel had stopped floating, landing on those nimble feet again. His snake like wobbly body undulated threateningly. In another sudden burst of speed, he opened his mouth and fired out a ball of electricity.  
 
Tiff dropped down to all fours in time to dodge it. From there, she charged forward while flames formed all around her body. She delivered a powerful flare blitz to him, causing his body to wiggle like jelly. Instead of flinching in any way, Eelektross raised an arm and gave her an electric punch to the side. Tiff bit back the pain and used it to fuel a big fire blast, which exploded right in Eelektross’ face. This one finally made him rear back in pain. His lack of a spine allowed him to nearly bend completely over backwards. But when he came swinging back in, his long head was wrapped in water. He slammed the impromptu water tail into Tiff’s head. A large splash of water got everywhere, hissing and forming steam upon touching her hot fur. The impact sent her flying back, where she landed on the ground a few feet back. 
 
No, not in front of him. Tiff growled as she started to get up again. As she did, a crackling orb of energy hit her, exploding in a shower of electricity. The sparks traced over her fur, but it didn’t slow her down. She rose to her feet, orange energy flowing around her. She dropped down and charged forward, taking a dragon pulse head on. She gave an allout reversal attack, crashing into Eelektross with the last of her energy. They both went toppling over, Tiff out cold and Eelektross wrapped around her, also beaten. 
 
Both of them were recalled at nearly the same time. The next pair was sent out at the same time too, causing reactions all around. Zip looked up, right into the red and yellow piercing eyes of the other luxray. 
 
“Well this should be interesting.” Volkner muttered with a smirk.  
 
“Hello my dear.” Luxray said, pressing a paw to his broad chest. “I must say, you are quite fetching. Now, shall we begin?” 
 
“Bite it!” She spat back. He looks just like him. “Let’s just get this over with.” 
 
Zip, it’s Sky. Alright, so he’s probably stronger than you. Try to weaken him first. 
 
Don’t tell me what to do. And get out of my head. Zip leapt forward, gnashing her fangs at Luxray. He jumped back in rhythm, as sparks began to rain from his body. Once he landed, the sparks spread out across the floor, covering the entire arena in writhing electricity. The next moment, his body braced and his eyes went wide. When Zip began to charge again, his eyes followed. Energy coated Zip as she went full speed at him, drawing additional power from the ambient static on the floor. 
 
But as she neared, Luxray dropped, his body pressing into the floor. The electrical charge burst off her, shocking him with the power it held. But the physical impact was negated as he used his head to throw her up and over him. The moment after, a huge bolt of lightning shot up, creating a loud thunderclap as it hit. Even with her electric typing, the lack of grounding caused the shock to jump around her body and cause massive damage. 
 
From below, Luxray built up energy, arcs jumping off his body and into the ground. When gravity began to pull Zip down, he lifted his head and fired a second powerful thunderbolt at her. The main bolt drilled into her, launching her up into the air and into the ornate roof. The remaining energy, instead of scattering off, wrapped in a band around her midsection. It persisted even as she fell to the ground with a thud.  
 
She rose to her feet quickly, shaking a bit while she did. Luxray just stood there and watched. Zip began to build up power again. As she did, the band of energy closed in, causing her to wince. When she opened her eyes again, Luxray was coming down, sparking claws bared. He traced six yellow lines through the air, cutting through Zip. 
 
Damn... She thought before she dropped to the ground. She remained conscious, but did not try to get up. Sky recalled her not long after. She grit her teeth while forming her next plan. This guy wasn’t just strong, he was skilled.  
 
“Well?” Raichu taunted. “I’m waiting.” 
 
“Alright, you asked for it.” Sky muttered. She tapped the ball that contained Mewtwo. The legendary pokemon formed holding her paw aimed at Luxray. He let out a shudder at the feeling of overwhelming power coming from her. But he remained standing nonetheless. 
 
“I will start.” Mewtwo said. Her paw glowed purple. A ball of psychic energy formed in it before blasting forward. Luxray dodged to the side. He already knew that Mewtwo was redirecting the orb, so he launched a rapid bolt of lightning at her. It came out fast, zapping Mewtwo, but with little effect. Behind him, the psystrike exploded, waves of power hitting him hard. The force of the blast sent him sprawling forward. Without even getting up, his eyes narrowed, just like with Zip. The energy on the floor started to dance over his fur. 
 
Mewtwo aimed her paw, still not having taken a step. Other than that, she took no action. A large amount of energy began to build up around Luxray, drawing extra from the terrain. Mewtwo suddenly clasped her paws together before firing a titanic bolt of thunder. The bolt of pure electricity was larger than Luxray’s entire body. Before it hit him, he launched his own thunder, arcing it up and over hers. Both attacks hit at the same time. Luxray was engulfed and obscured by the power of the attack. Mewtwo took it head on, only tensing for a moment. When both ended a second later, Mewtwo was standing and Luxray was out.  
 
“Yeah! Go!” Fluffy cheered. He jumped up and down a few times. 
 
Raichu changed out Luxray, this time sending out a rotom. Rotom let out an angry buzzing noise, flailing his lightning bolt arms around. Mewtwo seemed unimpressed as she took aim. She slashed her paw down, sending out a blade of psychic energy. It cut through the air, almost hitting Rotom. But just before contact, he sunk into the ground, vanishing from sight.  
 
Mewtwo’s eyes traced along the floor and her aimed paw followed. It changed course a few times, going up the wall and across the ceiling. For a split second, Rotom poked his headout into the open, but disappeared right after. The place where he had been exploded into dust. 
 
“Uh...” Fluffy asked.  
 
“Don’t worry, he’s a ghost type. He's in the walls.” Seth explained. 
 
“I know that... it’s just... boring. Why hide?” He cocked in ear in curiosity. 
 
“It’s a strategy.” Seth shrugged. With aura, he could see Rotom’s location easily. It seemed Mewtwo could sense him as well. 
 
Fluffy grunted in displeasure before wandering off, walking alongside the arena. Seth perked up a bit from his sitting position, but did not get up. If an attack came Fluffy’s way, he would be ready. Fluffy walked over to Volkner, who was leaning up against the wall. When he looked down, Fluffy pounced forward, biting at the shoes of the enemy. He barely seemed to care about the little fox gnawing at his undoubtably expensive footwear. In fact, he even wiggled it around, making Fluffy fight his prey. 
 
“Hey Fluffy!” Seth called. 
 
Fluffy relented, leaving the poor shoes scratched and defeated. He trotted back over to Seth with a proud look. 
 
“You shouldn’t do that.” 
 
“Why? He’s the enemy, right?” 
 
“Well, no. It’s more like... a friendly competition. It’s a contest to see who is smarter and stronger, and who has the better team.” Seth explained. 
 
“So it’s like a game?” 
 
“Yeah. Even though it looks like fighting.” 
 
“Seth.” Mewtwo said. “May I demolish the building to get him out?” 
 
Seth went wide eyed. “NO! Just wait. He has to come out eventually.” 
 
“Ghost! Come out or I destroy the wall to get you out!” Mewtwo announced.  
 
“I said no!” Seth shouted as she raised her other paw. 
 
Volkner was also roused, but for a different reason. If this pokemon could really blow apart the room so easily, he wanted to see it. 
 
Before Mewtwo could do anything more, Rotom shot out of the roof and crashed into the floor, causing a wave of electricity to blast out.  
 
Mewtwo just stood there as the shocking energy flowed past her, leaving a few sparks crawling on her skin. “You’re weak.” Mewtwo said, aiming a paw. The air around Rotom went wavy as purple energy surrounded him. But then his image distorted, spreading out into lines as the after image broke.  
 
From behind Mewtwo, with blurred speed, Rotom emerged from the floor, a shadow ball larger than his own body held in his bolt shaped arms. The blast was launched, but a barrier of psychic energy formed and caught the explosion. That attack seemed to be a diversion however. As Mewtwo started to turn her head and offensive hand to counter, Rotom emerged from the ground in front of her, the previous one dispersing. He body crackled with energy, before it all erupted, creating a bright yellow orb around both of them. When it cleared, Rotom was gone again, while Mewtwo was encased in a protective ball as she rubbed her eyes to clear the blindness. Despite the shield, electricity lingered on her body, indicating paralysis. An angry frown was firmly planted on her face. 
 
The shield faded as she aimed her paw again. This time, action began immediately. A section of the floor quivered, and lines broke around it. A sizable chunk of it broke away, covered in a barrier of psychic energy. At the very bottom, below the flooring, was Rotom, trying to escape, but trapped by Mewtwo. He phased through the floor again, trying to go out the top, but she closed the cage before he could. He turned back around, hiding his incorporeal body in the chunk of concrete. Around Mewtwo, orbs of blackish purple energy formed, five in total. A laughing skull formed in each one, before launching into Mewtwo. She tried to flex her other paw and create a wall, but she grimaced and failed to move. Before she could make one without hand motion, the hex hit, and hit hard. She let out a grunt, but quickly responded in kind. The chunk of floor began to quake and suddenly turned to dust, leaving Rotom exposed as he was battered by the powerful forces. The sphere of energy faded, allowing the floor powder to fall, along with the unconscious pokemon.  
 
Mewtwo took a deep breath and relaxed her stance, stiffly flexing her shoulders. “Good job Mewtwo!” Sky called. “Just hang in there!”  
 
“I will do what I can.” She said plainly. Raichu swapped pokemon, this time sending out a Galvantula. Mewtwo visibly cringed upon seeing the electric spider.  
 
“What’s wrong?” Sky asked upon seeing the blatant discomfort on her usually stoic form.  
 
“Ar-arachnids. I... despise them.” She hissed with disgust, giving a shiver. 
 
Seth smiled. “Seems she has a weakness after all.” He muttered with a chuckle. 
 
Galvantula started right away, launching a large electrically charged web at Mewtwo. She swung her arm, quickly forming a moving barrier to knock it aside. But she wasn’t prepared for the second one. The web hit her dead on, covering her in the shocking silk. After the volts left it, the threads remained on her body. She made a noise of disgust as her defensive paw moved to try and pull them off. When she returned her attention to the battle, she was met with a pair of crossed claws. Galvantula delivered a powerful X-Scissor, point blank and undefended. Just as quickly, she scattered away as Mewtwo’s body locked up again. She launched a thick string from her spinneret and pulled up, suspending halfway between the floor and ceiling.  
 
Mewtwo grimaced and took aim, gritting her teeth as she did. She formed an opaque sphere of psychic energy. The dense and powerful orb fired, flying at extreme speed right for Galvantula. Just before impact, Galvantula gave a twitch, causing her body to shake on the single string that held it. This made her swing to the side like a pendulum, the odd motion causing the orb to miss at the last moment. It curved in midair, coming back for her, but another twitch caused her to swing in a different direction. Before Mewtwo could redirect the attack again, Galavantula spat a black mass at her.  
 
The black mass splattered over Mewtwo, revealing it to be a mass of tiny spiders. She let out a genuine cry of fear. The orb, now masterless, shot off and exploded into the wall, leaving several cracks. Mewtwo quivered violently, but remained standing and slowly took aim again. She started building up energy again, but some of the spiders bit her, breaking her focus. The new orb detonated, unleashing its potent energy and kicking up a massive plume of smoke.  
 
Taking the opportunity, Galvantula began firing web after web, saturating the area.  
 
“ENOUGH!” A short-range burst of energy came from Mewtwo, blowing the smoke, spiders and webs away. Her voice echoed in the aftermath. A second later, she vanished with a flash. 
 
Volkner frowned. He had wanted to see more of what she could do.  
 
Both Sky and Raichu waited, but Mewtwo was long gone. Sky then looked down to make her next choice. Even with Mewtwo’s panic, this spider pokemon still managed to fend off her powerful moves. She nodded to herself, setting her plan in motion. She tapped Soul’s ball, sending the absol onto the field. 
 
“Took... Really?” Soul asked, pointing a claw at Galvantula. “You’re gonna... Sky?” She questioned upon turning around.  
 
“I’m in charge. Focus on the fight.” Sky explained quickly. 
 
“Fine, whatever. But you’re gonna use the ace against this overgrown bug? Talk about waste.” 
 
“Arachnid.” Galvantula chittered to correct her. 
 
Soul whipped her head to the side in a white blur, launching a night slash. Galvantula twitched again and spun randomly, moving right past the first and second slash. The third was not aimed for her though. That one cut right through the thread at the base. Galvantula, still swinging from it, went rolling onto her side midair, landing on her back on the ground. Soul appeared from above and swung her claws to release a fiery pair of slashes. Unlike the black dark type blades or the silvery normal ones, these were orange and wreathed in dancing fire. These were followed by her own body, delivering a flaming impact to Galvantula’s vulnerable underside. Both the blow and energy pattern resembled the horn pointed strike of a megahorn, but it held a flashy display of pyrotechnics instead of bug type energy. By the times the flames vanished, Galvantula was unconscious. 
 
Volkner’s brow furrowed at this. The legendary had been a marvel, but this... Absol were not known for being a particularly powerful species, but this one just took out one of his pokemon without taking a scratch. This was the same absol which had been taken out by him earlier at his gym. How could it have gained so much power in so short a time? Raichu saw the power too. He sent out Ampharos in response, the strongest member of their current team. Volkner regretted not bringing Electivire along. 
 
Ampharos, the moment he formed, lowered his head and reached up with a stubby arm to polish the gem on his head. He moved on to the tail and made sure that was shiny too, before he finally looked at his opponent. “Hi there!” He said cheerily, giving a wave. 
 
“I hate these types.” Soul muttered. “Right, you want the easy or the hard way?” She asked. 
 
“Let’s go with hard!” He sharply looked over at Volkner, who caught the sign immediately. He whipped his jacket to the side to reveal a chain hanging from his belt loop. He grabbed the tip of it, where a mega stone resided, as energy began to pour out. The same energy surrounded Ampharos as his body mega evolved. He ran a paw along his newly formed luxurious white hair while his woolen tail gave a few flicks. 
 
“Drama queen.” Soul scoffed. “Thanks for turning dragon. Makes my job easier!” She swung her horn to the side, launching an ice coated horizontal slash. Ampharos seemed unfazed by the ten-foot-long crescent of ice coming at him. He calmly lowered his head. From the gem on his forehead fired an absolutely massive beam of electricity, larger than his own body. The energy tore through the ice slash as if it was nothing. The two severed halves went flying past Ampharos, exploding into the ground far behind him, leaving him unharmed. The lightning kept going, at nearly the speed of the real thing. By the time Soul realized she was being attacked, she was already hit.  
 
All her long, pristine white fur stood on end, making her look nearly twice her size. Unlike the first time she got a shock like that, she remained standing. “Ugh. Alright, I’ll get serious.” She growled darkly. She took a deep breath, before she raised her head and let out an echoing howl. Her body lit up with golden light while her form mega evolved. Her tousled fur began to wave with the power she was exerting. Volkner knew he made a mistake in team choice. 
 
Soul’s aura let out another flaring pulse. “One shot.” She promised.  
 
“That’s what I was thinking.” Ampharos said cheerily, not intimidated in the slightest. An aura covered him as well, but not one of concentrated life force. This one consisted of pure electricity, being a light blue instead of the common yellow. A large, writhing net of energy coursed around his body, arcs leaping off him and onto the ground.  
 
Soul raised her head high, as dark energy began to swirl around her horn. It began to condense into a solid curved blade of darkness. It kept growing larger and larger, eventually being larger than her body.  
 
Ampharos raised his head and let out a light yell, his electrical field at least tripling in energy. His body was now nearly invisible behind the raging storm of bolts. The shape of it changed from a rough outline of his body to a sphere. 
 
Soul braced her stance, frost forming on her fur and the floor. The blade grew even bigger while solid chunks of ice solidified on her body in a sort of makeshift armor.  
 
Ampharos let out an even louder yell, but still nowhere near aggressive. The lightning changed from blue to purple.  
 
“Ready when you are, Lighthouse.” Soul mocked. 
 
“Go!” He responded. The orb around him coalesced into a single thin beam. Soul vanished from her spot, reappearing behind Ampharos. He didn’t bother turning around. His tail lifting and slammed down, smashing the illusion away. The real thing appeared above him. The rod of lightning shot towards her, homing right in on her. It was too fast for the naked eye, hitting her before anyone in the room could see it move. Soul let out a pained cry, but followed through with her attack. 
 
She swung her horn down, slashing across Ampharos. The normal explosion of energy that occurred when her slashes hit was absent. This one cut a black line through the air. Soul kept falling, landing on her side, out cold. Even with her unconscious, the streak of black remained in the air. It looked as if someone had used a paintbrush to mark reality itself. It just hung there, not moving, in midair. It even obscured the upper half of Ampharos, as his body was inside the darkness. A moment later, he stumbled out of it, panting heavily. His fur looked like someone had spilled ink on it and he was covered in scratches. 
 
“Ah... hah... n-n-next?” Ampharos asked. 
 
“Uh...” Sky said, her ears falling to the side in worry. “Seth?” 
 
“Yep.” He said, giving Fluffy a pat before getting up.  
 
“Get ‘em Dad.” Fluffy told him.  
 
Seth cracked his knuckles as he entered the field. Fur sprouted as he turned lucario. The streak of darkness was still there. It was on Ampharos’ side of the field, with him in front of it. “This time, no games.” When Ampharos twitched a muscle, a blue beam shot from Seth’s chest spike. As it went for Ampharos, he started to dodge, but winced. It looked like the black stains on his body squeezed at him for a moment. The beam exploded on impact.  
 
Seth leapt into action, bounding into the air. He came down foot first with an aura powered flying kick. Ampharos blocked it with one of his short but strong arms. Seth, instead of falling, formed a small aura platform below a hand and used it to flip above Ampharos. He grabbed the sheep’s long necked head, taking it with him as he kept going. He spun in the air, lifting Ampharos before he slammed him down on the ground. Now on top of the prone pokemon, he delivered a pair of aura punches. Ampharos exploded with a large pillar of electricity, still brimming with power.  
 
Seth jumped back, using Ampharos as a springboard to do so. Upon landing, he raised a hand. Ampharos rolled on his side twice before bounding to his feet. But it was already too late. He looked back just in time to see a construct of aura closing around him. It formed a bubble around his body. It then began to roll, right for the black streak. Once the ball reached it, the darkness simply phased through it, immersing Ampharos into the damaging attack. He cried out the moment it hit him, unleashing an even bigger lightshow. Seth grit his teeth, the damage on his life force hitting hard, but he kept the barrier up. Not only was Ampharos trying his damnedest to escape, containing Soul’s energy was difficult. It felt like it was sucking the life out of him. After a long few seconds, he couldn’t hold his breath any longer and let it out, the aura disappearing as he exhaled. 
 
Ampharos collapsed out of the darkness. He was beaten. Raichu quickly recalled him. 
 
“Whew. I’m gonna punch out.” Seth said. “I gotta walk us home after this anyways.” 
 
“That’s fine. I can handle the rest.” Sky said. “But uh...” She pointed her tail at the darkness. “Can you do anything about that?”  
 
“Uh, I think.” His fur turned white and features changed into an absol. He then walked over to the energy. He carefully reached out and placed his paw on the edge of it. It was a surprisingly complex structure. It was mostly pokemon energy, but it was combined, almost laced with life energy. Aura was pure life and every other pokemon move was pure pokemon power. But it wasn’t this combo that gave it lasting power. All it did was give it strength. And it didn’t just last a long time. It almost had a life of its own. Even with his dark type and species change, it still tried to attack him. “Hey Sky, release Soul, right next to me.” 
 
She did so and the unconscious absol formed right next to him. Seth reached out with his other paw, touching her. He took a deep breath and began to slowly direct the life energy out of the mass and back into Soul. It didn’t hurt, but it was a careful process, manipulating another’s aura. 
 
“Uh, sorry to intrude, but we are on a bit of a time crunch.” Volkner said. “We can work around that attack if we need to.” 
 
Seth didn’t hear him. He was too deep in concentration. All he could do was move Soul’s aura back into her, but even such a simple thing was extraordinarily difficult. When the process was nearly done, Soul opened her eyes. 
 
“Ugh...” She groaned. “Did we... Wait, why are we still here?” 
 
“That move you used is causing some problems.” Seth explained. 
 
“Oh.” The move began to fade away as the energy returned to her. “First time I used that in a real battle.”  
 
“We’ll talk about it later, come on.” Seth picked her up and carried her over back to his previous sitting spot. “But let me guess now. You put too much energy into it, so you got knocked out right away.” 
 
“Dead on.” She muttered, snuggling into his white furred chest as he sat down against the wall.  
 
Sky walked forward, taking the field herself. At the same time, Raichu floated onto the field. Already, Sky’s eyes darted around, forming a plan as fast as she could. The fight began with Raichu, who launched a series of lightning bolts. Sky dove through the first few, but the veritable storm overcame her dodging. Each bolt hit her from a different direction. It seemed not only that they were guided into her, but that they struck her weak spot. None of them were strong, but there were many and they added up quickly. Every time she moved to dodge, or even look for the next bolt, it hit her from behind. Sky let out a yell, forming a barrier around herself. The rest of the lightning storm battered harmlessly against it. She only had a brief time to think. 
 
Seth wanted to shout out, to reveal the trick of Raichu, the thing she couldn’t see as she was caught inside the net. Soul could see it too, as she stopped rubbing against Seth’s absol fur and watched the battle. “How is he doing that?” Fluffy asked.  
 
The barrier around Sky faded as quickly as it formed. She made a shadow ball and launched it. Raichu hopped off his tail, using it as a shield, while the rest of his body floated. For a brief time, that obscured his view, allowing Sky to hide. When Raichu lowered his tail, there were nearly twenty espeon on the other side of the field. And each one took a bolt to the side. This time, now that she wasn’t in the center, Sky saw it. 
 
“The metal all over. It’s pure silver and gold. Both conduct electricity.” Seth explained. “With that, and his control over his energy, he can attack from anywhere in the room.” 
 
“But then... how can Mom beat that?” 
 
“I have no idea, but she’ll figure it out.” Seth reassured him. 
 
All the Sky clones scattered, taking up positions far away from each other and surrounding Raichu. He began to bristle with power. Before Sky could launch an attack, the energy burst out in all directions. Several large bolts went for the columns while the rest, mostly smaller, struck out at the clones. Some of the clones dodged, mostly ones to the left and right of Raichu. Those that dodged were struck again when the electricity hit the silver lines in the floor and came back out from a different angle. The entire display created an impressive lightshow. It also held much more power than the last few. 
 
Sky countered quickly, launching a staggered barrage of shadow balls. Raichu floated a little higher and danced through the air, dodging most of them, only taking a few grazing hits. “Hah!” One of Sky’s clones cried out, pouncing into him. It exploded in a shower of blue shards, sending Raichu flying backwards, right into a held shadow ball by a clone behind him. It sent him flying forward, where he landed face first onto the ground. A few more clones leapt for him, but bolts of lightning shot out the pillars, destroying the four clones in midair. The pillars remained sparking though, still holding energy in the gold. 
 
Raichu floated back into the air, though his tail remained on the ground, pressed flat against a line of silver. A nearly solid wall of lightning erupted from the entire network of silver along the floor. This left the remaining clones, and the real thing, scattered and cut off. Then, one by one, massive bolts of lightning shot out of the walls, destroying the clones. When there were only three left, Sky had it. A yellow orb formed both on front of her and Raichu. They then flew off, flying through that wall and trading places. Raichu felt a sudden surge of weakness, while Sky got all his built-up power. He had been charging energy this whole time, powering up. That’s why he started off light. But she just stole all that.  
 
The wall began to weaken, becoming much less intense while the pillars lost their spark. The lines of silver began to shake, dust rose and floated from the ground. From the outside, a large blue dome blocked vision. On the inside, everything turned black. Raichu knew this attack. Shattered Psyche, of the Alolan Z-moves. He clenched his teeth, ready for the powerful blow. He looked behind him to find Sky, brimming with purple energy. She let out an uncharacteristic roar, far too deep for her light voice. A gigantic dragon shaped projectile fired from her body, piercing right through the electric wall and leaving a purple trail. It hit and exploded in a purple mass of concentrated dragon type energy. The power of it broke the barrier she had formed around the arena, causing her to cry out in pain as a sharp spike ran through her head. It absorbed most of the blow however, preventing Seth and Fluffy from taking the hit.  
 
The barrier shattered outward, the shards fading away as they fell. Both Raichu and Sky were lying on the floor.  
 
“Did... did we tie?” Seth asked nervously. 
 
“It...” Sky’s tail lifted and flicked around a few times. “It would seem you have won.” He frowned, looked down and sighed, before looking up and walking over to Seth with a big smile. “You were better. Now be careful. If you beat the champion, I’ll be gunning for you instead.”  
 
“Heh, yeah.” Seth said with a short chuckle. That was way too close. Whatever Sky did, it was a last-ditch attempt. 
 
“Mom!” Fluffy shouted as he charged over. “Are you okay?!” Sky opened her eyes but said nothing. 
 
“She’ll be okay.” Seth said as he came over, patting Fluffy to calm him down. “She gave it her all.” 
 
Volkner walked over. “Before you go, that absol of yours. Where did you get her?”  
 
“Soul? She was my first pokemon. From the Daedris region.” Seth managed to suppress the blushed caused by thinking back to their first meeting. 
 
“The golden power. My electivire can use it too. He was my first pokemon as well. And I’ve never seen it elsewhere. You have a very special pokemon.”