Okay, so I definitely put way too much effort into this story. I even used the Pokemon Showdown Damage Calculator to make sure the final battle would make sense. And I’m pretty sure it does.
Anyways, so this is a story about Alder. He is Unova’s champion, obviously. But this is the story about how he became Unova’s champion. This is his last gym battle against Drayden. If you didn’t know, Alder used to be like Cheren - he thought strength was just about beating everybody and being the best. But later in the series, he realizes that’s not not exactly the case. Strength is more than just beating everybody, and in Part 2, he has to learn that the hard way.
(I don’t know if people still use the PAPC tag, but if anyone [preferably a writer] is willing to review this story, then please do. I want .)
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“Please, Mr. Alder, the round is over!”
...but the man wasn’t satisfied quite yet, even though his opponent was clearly knocked out from the hard fight. The little Larvesta just kept on going and going, attacking until the pokemon couldn’t even do so much as twitch.
“Alder!” The referee called again, but it was as if she wasn’t even there.
The gym leader returned his Druddigon and sighed, trying his best not to show any fear of his pokemon being seriously injured. And when he was recalled, that was the only thing that made Larvesta come back to reality.
Alder’s purple eyes were staring at the floor, and he was breathing heavily. But not heavier than the little Larvesta was breathing, for it was the one doing all of the fighting.
“Why...” he muttered quietly to himself, “...Why haven’t you evolved yet?”
The Larvesta was wondering the same thing. This was the last gym, yet it was still just a Larvesta. Were we still not strong enough? Even after 7 whole gyms, they were still too weak?
The gym leader took out another pokeball. “You have done good so far,” he said in a deep voice, “but you must learn to control your pokemon.”
Alder, the referee, and even Larvesta could hear it in his voice; he was clearly irritated. But of course, Alder didn’t care; he was just eager for another easy win.
The gym leader threw the pokeball, and out came a Haxorus - even this dragon-type looked angry and ready to avenge his friend by any means necessary.
The referee raised her right hand. “The last round between Gym Leader Drayden and Challenger Alder will now-”
“Use Flame Charge!”
The Larvesta quickly charged at the Haxorus, and it was already incredibly fast after using this move 4 times already.
Gym Leader Drayden did nothing for a moment. Instead, he let his Haxorus tank the hit, to Alder’s frustration.
“Don’t you know?” Drayden scolded. “Haxorus resists Fire-typed moves. Same type attack bonus will do you no good. Isn’t your Larvesta’s Ability Swarm? Why don’t you use STAB and Swarm to your advantage?”
Alder clenched his fist and muttered almost threateningly, “If that’s what you want… Use U-Turn!” he called.
Drayden perked up, since he had not seen this move used yet.
The Larvesta quickly ran up to the Haxorus, still incredibly fast, and collided with the dragon type, and as expected, there had been a hefty amount of damage dealt.
Drayden decided to ask, “Are you seriously thinking of becoming champion when you couldn’t even use your pokemon’s abilities to your advantage? It’s clear your pokemon is male, which is why Haxorus’s moves will be powered up with Rivalry. Dragon Tail,” he said to Haxorus.
The Haxorus quickly whacked the fire-bug with his tail, and it went flying.
“Use Dragon Dance while he’s switching out,” he ordered, and the Haxorus did just that.
But when it was finished, the fire-bug was still out.
Drayden wondered, is there an item he has that prevented the switch?
“Do it again,” he told Haxorus.
And so it started to do just that, and it was just as confused as his trainer was. But before he could…
“Acrobatics!”
The move that had ended Drayden’s previous 2.
Haxorus saw nothing but a Larvesta charging towards him.
“Assurance!” the gym leader called out in alarm.
And so the also alarmed Haxorus quickly used the dark-type move, dealing a lot of damage, even though it wasn’t very effective.
“Now hold him down,” Drayden calmly ordered after regaining his composure.
And that’s just what he did.
The Haxorus pinned the tiny fire-bug to the floor. It couldn’t move an inch. It could barely do so much as squirm.
“Larvesta! Do something! Get out of there!” his trainer quickly called. But there was nothing it could do.
The referee simply covered her eyes in fear.
“You still don’t understand, do you?” Drayden sighed. “Dragon Tail.”
And so the Haxorus used the STAB move on a pretty tired ‘mon, having previously used Dragon Dance and already having a massive attack stat.
And with that, the Larvesta was fainted.
The referee uncovered her eyes and looked at the mighty Haxorus still standing tall, and the Larvesta laying on the floor, despite its amazing efforts.
“Um… Larvesta is unable to battle!” She raised her right hand, since Drayden was on that side. “Which means Haxorus is the winner!”
Drayden sighed again and said, “That Larvesta put up one heck of a fight. I can’t wait to see your next pokemon.”
Alder just stared at his Larvesta.
Drayden then thought of the U-Turn. “...You do have another pokemon, don’t you?”
Alder just walked up to his Larvesta and picked it up slowly. “...We were supposed to become the champions together… just us, and no one else. We made it this far, and we were still so weak…”
Drayden sighed once more, and his Haxorus walked over to him with barely a limp.
That’s when the referee spoke up. “How are you supposed to be the champion with only 1 pokemon?”
“Me and Larvesta are capable!” he turned to her and yelled. “We’ll be the strongest trainers in the region! Maybe ever!”
Drayden said softly, in that same deep voice, “It’s not uncommon for people to come in with 1 pokemon. And certainly most of them haven't made it as far as you have. But listen… strength isn’t everything, you know.”
Alder actually laughed at that comment as he turned around. “Are you serious? Never did I once think I’d hear a gym leader, of all people, say that to my face. ‘Strength isn’t everything?’ What else is there? If you’re not strong, then you’re weak! And that’s lame!”
“But tell me, Alder, what do you think it means to be strong?”
Alder didn’t think twice about his answer. “It means beating everybody - duh.”
Drayden once again sighed as Alder turned back to say, “and we haven’t beaten you yet. Which means we still aren’t strong enough.”
“I do agree,” Drayden responded, “that you aren’t strong enough yet. But not for that reason. It’s hilarious that we’re near the same age, yet you’re acting like a child.”
Alder suddenly felt anger building up inside of him. But not at Drayden.
He walked over to the exit as the referee turned and said, “Sorry about the last comment. I actually think that little guy is really amazing!”
Alder turned away from her and muttered, “I guess so… but it didn’t win.”
“Hey, just beacause he-”
“He didn’t win!” he repeated, interrupting her, as he walked away to the entrance, and left.
And when he was outside of the Opelucid Gym, he stared at his fire-bug type that had worked so hard to win the battle, and he said, “Why are you still so weak? Why are you still a Larvesta?”
He dropped him on the floor, which hurt Larvesta, obviously.
“I raised you to win!” he shouted, drawing attention. “When I told you to get out of that, why didn’t you?! We could’ve won if you hadn’t-” he stopped and realized there were people watching.
He took one deep breath in, and then out, very slowly. He kneeled down to the Larvesta, who tried not to cry since it was fire-type.
“Hey,” he said softly, “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just really want to be one of the first champions who wins with 1 pokemon. You. I want you to be that 1 pokemon. I know you’re capable. I know you are.”
The Larvesta sighed and also wondered why it was so weak, why it was still a Larvesta.
“So c’mon!” Alder smiled. “Let’s get you healed up so we can train some more!”
That comment was supposed to make Larvesta feel better. But it didn’t. Why did they have to train constantly? Larvesta wanted to be the strongest too, but couldn’t they have breaks every once in a while?
No; he knew if they stopped, he would never get stronger. There was no time for play. They had to be the very best.
Like no one ever was.
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It’s been 3 weeks since that day.
Normally Alder had his rematches the day right after the loss. But he didn’t want to walk in looking like an idiot again. He wanted to train hard.
He learned about this new move; Quiver Dance. He wanted his Larvesta to learn it as soon as possible.
He fought trainers at Challenger’s Cave after proving to the guard that his pokemon was worthy enough to enter the cave. He fought new people everyday, and he fought all different kinds of pokemon that they bought in.
After a long time, Larvesta still did not learn this new move, and Alder was getting impatient.
“What’s wrong with you?!” He shouted to the Larvesta. “Is it so hard to do 1 thing?! Why aren’t you growing stronger?!”
The fire-bug type obviously did not answer. Instead, it started to feel really tired, and helpless.
All it wanted was for its trainer to stop yelling at him. It wanted to be strong. Why wasn’t it? Why couldn’t it ever please its owner? Was he just going to be weak forever? His owner wanted to be the strongest trainer in Unova. How could he accomplish that with such a weak pokemon?
Why was he sticking with it instead of picking someone new?
They were in Challenger's Cave when he yelled like that. And right after that, they stood in silence.
Until a rock suddenly flew right in front of them.
They both turned to see a Boldore who had thrown the rock at them.
As he was about to throw another one, the Larvesta, despite its fatigue, quickly ran infront of its trainer to protect him no matter what.
As it jumped up to use Flame Charge, it suddenly started glowing blue, and it started growing wings on its back, and it was growing bigger by the second.
Suddenly, it dodged the rock, and started using Flame Charge. And even though Boldore was rock-type, it fainted instantly.
Alder was shocked and speechless during this entire event. Had he finally done what he wanted?
“Larvesta, you-” he tried to say. “I mean, Volcarona…”
The still fire-bug type flew to its owner, as he unexpectedly gave his pokemon a hug. Even though he was a fire type, so it burned.
“I knew you could do it!” He shouted happily. “I knew you would evolve!”
Volcarona was confused, but pleased. So Alder was only overworking him because he cared about him? But he thought he only cared about being strong!
“I’m so proud!” Alder continued. Then he finally let go.
“I know we should go to the gym now,” he told his pokemon, “But this calls for a celebration.”
Celebration? Volcarona had never done that before. Whenever they won a badge, they would just go to the next gym. Whenever he learned a new move, he would just learn how to use it effectively. Never have they ever “celebrated” anything.
They left the cave, and Alder looked in the direction of Opelucid City. “We’re coming for you, Drayden,” he mumbled fiercely.
And from this moment on, it was the first time Volcarona actually had... Fun.
First, they went to Castelia City to eat Casteliacones, and Volcarona was fire-type, so it didn’t hurt him in any way. And then they went to Nimbasa to watch a sports game and the Pokemon Musical.
“Do you think you could do that?” Alder said to Volcarona at the musical.
The fire-bug type shook his head quickly, to which Alder laughed at.
And after all of that, it was getting late, which meant they had to leave. They stayed at a hotel near Opelucid.
Alder didn’t put his pokemon in the ball tonight; he let him stay out.
“Get ready for tomorrow,” he told him, “it’s gonna be one step closer to the championship. Goodnight, partner.”
Goodnight, partner? He had never said that before. But it was nice. He wished he could hear this every night.
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Even though it was early in the morning, here they were, in front of Opelucid Gym once again. Volcarona was sure they were ready for this moment. And Alder was sure, too.
They walked into the gym, and did the whole gym challenge again, and it was easier, since they had done it once before. And that’s when they finally saw Drayden again.
“Well, welcome back,” he said. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
The referee waved to the 2 of them, and smiled. Both of them waved back. Well, Volcarona dosen’t have hands, so it simply nodded.
“We’re ready this time,” Alder said fiercely as Volcarona stood tall. He walked over to the challenger’s side of the gym.
Drayden was purposefully walking to the other side of the gym, getting one of his pokeballs out. He eyed Alder excitedly, eager to see if he had improved. But he also looked as if he were deciding something.
“Let’s do this…” he said in that same deep voice. He sent out one of his pokemon - it was Haxorus, standing tall and giving a mighty roar.
“Since you only have 1 pokemon - I assume you haven’t brought more - I’m going to do the same. Fight me, Alder. 1 on 1.”
Alder and Volcarona were astonished. “One on one?” He repeated.
After the confusion came anger. “You’re just trying to make it easier beacause you think I can’t beat you!”
Drayden only shook his head slowly. “The entire point of gyms is to prove your strength. You’ve already proven you can beat Druddigon and Hydreigon. I don’t need to see you do it again, especially when you did it with ease last time, then this time should be even easier for you.”
What he was saying sounded believable enough to convince Alder to not think he was only making it easier for him. So he sighed, and said, “Alright, then.”
The referee raised a hand up and said, “The battle between Gym Leader Drayden and Challenger Alder will-”
“Use Flame Charge!”
Even though this was the first time he used the move, Volcarona was incredibly fast already. All you could see was a fireball charging at the axe dragon.
Again, Drayden did nothing, only letting his Pokemon tank the hit. He let out a slow sigh. It seemed as if he had learned nothing from the last time they fought.
Until he looked up and saw that Haxorus was already sweating, already breathing heavily. That hit noticeably did a lot more than last time. Clearly, it was a critical hit. This time, Drayden nodded, impressed.
But that still wasn’t going to be enough to win.
“Dragon Tail,” ordered Drayden, “and then Assurance.”
The Haxorus obeyed, slamming Volcarona into the ground. Those moves had done a hefty amount of damage. Normally, the battle would be over right there. However, the fire-bug type got up right away, much to Drayden’s surprise. Either Haxorus’s attack had been weakened, or Volcarona’s Defense had been raised.
Then he looked closer at his ‘mon, noticing it was steaming a little.
Had the Flame Charge *burned* Haxorus?
“Dragon Tail again!” Drayden called, and the Haxorus obeyed, hoping to end the battle.
“Dodge it!” Alder called, and almost as fast as the speed of light, Volcarona avoided the attack with ease.
Drayden knew he was never going to win if he didn’t do something about his attack. So he called out, “Dragon Dance!”, and Haxorus obeyed.
That’s when Alder called right after, “Quiver Dance!”
Drayden stopped to marvel at this move. He knew exactly what it did; but it took a lot of skill to learn.
And he looked up at the beautiful dancing fire-bug, as its wings glittered in the gym, and a trail of smoke followed behind. Even the ref was impressed.
That’s when he ed he was part of a gym battle.
“Oh- Assurance!” He stuttered quickly.
And even the Haxorus was fixated on the fiery dancing moth, so he quickly came back down to Earth and tried to hit the Volcarona.
But the Volcarona was too high to hit, as he could fly. So, even though he was not instructed by his owner to do this, he tried for a Dragon Tail, but it still did not hit him.
Drayden was confused. He was fast enough to dodge every attack, and he could’ve just flown up high to dodge the Assurance and Dragon Tail at the beginning of the battle. But why didn’t he? Did he *want* his ‘mon weakened?
“U-Turn!” Called Alder.
The Volcarona charged at Haxorus as if it were a housefly buzzing around a living room.
That’s when he realized - Alder wanted Swarm to activate so U-Turn could deal more damage!
Even Drayden was sweating now. He wiped his forehead, less worried, more amazed. He knew it was over, but he didn’t let it bother him. He had done his job - teaching his opponent how to do better in battling. And look at how much it’s payed off! He used Quiver Dance to raise his attack, and stacked with Swarm damage, the STAB move did massive damage. Drayden knew that Alder could finally see there was more to Pokemon battling than just being strong.
“End this!” Alder yelled. “Acrobatics!”
Haxorus tried to tank the hit as much as he possibly could, but despite its efforts, Volcarona finished it off with Acrobatics. Not even the burn damage mattered - it would’ve killed either way.
The ref was amazed; she stared at the fainted Haxorus, jaw-dropped, eyes wide. Then she looked back at the challenger, who had defeated him with such ease.
Then she snapped out of her daze and said, “Oh- Haxorus is unable to battle! Which means the challenger is the winner!”
Volcarona helplessly tried to fly to Alder, but he was so weak from battle he could barely manage. But Alder also ran up to him so he didn’t have to fly so far.
“Volcarona!” he called in excitement as he grabbed him and gave him a big hug. “I knew you could do it! I’m so proud of you!”
Volcarona was also proud of himself, as you could see his eyes start to well up with tears, and you could see the steam forming while he cried; it hurt, beacause he was a fire-type.
Alder noticed, and wiped away his tears - even though it burned, it didn’t faze him in the slightest.
“You did amazing,” he told the fire-bug type. “I knew you had it in you.”
“Well,” Drayden said, walking over to them, “I’m very impressed. You used your ability to your advantage. And the burn was super lucky.”
Alder told him, “I wanted the battle to go exactly like that, except for the burn. I didn’t even really consider that. So I guess I still have a lot to learn, don’t I?”
Drayden gave a quiet chuckle, much to the ref’s surprise.
“Drayden laughed!” She exclaimed. “You don’t know how hard it is to make that happen, let alone making him *smile*.”
Drayden sighed. “Anyway, I truly think you’re champion material, Alder,” he told him as he was holding something in his hand. He opened his hand slowly, revealing the gym badge.
“Ha!” Alder exclaimed happily. “That’s where strength gets you!” he said as he’s about to take the badge from Drayden’s hand.
But he pulled away before he could grab it. He shook his head in disappointment.
“Do you seriously still not get it?” he scolded. “That wasn’t strength! That was strategy and clever thinking! Do you still think strength is all that matters?”
Alder just stared blankly as if he had just asked if he really thought 1 + 1 was 2.
“Well, of course,” he answered. “I would never have won if Volcarona wasn’t strong.”
“So you’re saying that if Volcarona was weak, you would’ve abandoned him a long time ago?”
“Well-” he started to say, as he turned back to his Pokemon partner, and he started ing all of the things they’ve done together, how hard they’ve worked, and how far they’ve come. He would never *dream* of losing Volcarona!
He turned back to Drayden. “Of course not! But even if he *was* weak, I would just train him to be strong! What kind of question is that?!”
“A question I want you to think about further,” he said in his deep voice. “Pokemon aren’t tools. They have feelings and emotions. Strength really isn’t everything. Or, maybe it is, depending on what your definition of ‘strength’ is.”
“There are other definitions for strength?” Alder said, tilting his head in confusion.
“Strength, to most people, means being able to beat everyone in battle. But true strength is more than that, or something else entirely. Strength is being able to it that to yourself. ‘Just beacause I’m strong dosen’t mean I possess true strength.’ Sometimes strength is just…”
He trailed off, and stared back at his Haxorus, who was struggling to walk over to Drayden, as he was still weak from the battle.
When he finally made it, he nearly collapsed, but Drayden caught him before he could fall to the floor.
“Sometimes,” he continued, giving his pokemon a Sitrus Berry, “strength is, at the end of the day, just being proud of your pokemon for trying there hardest, whether they win or lose. That’s what most of us Gym Leaders think it is.”
Still holding his Haxorus, he handed the badge to Alder again.
“You aren’t a true champion until you see that.”
Alder just stared at him for a few seconds, and took the gym badge. Instead of putting it in his badge case, he just shoved it in his pocket for now.
“Thank you, Drayden,” he said, nodding, even though most of that just went through one ear and out the other.
Drayden nodded back, and put his Haxorus back in the ball. And with that, he walked away.
The ref waved to Alder. “Good luck at the Elite 4!” she told him before following Drayden.
Alder walked away, as well, with his Volcarona following behind. They left the gym and looked up at the sunset.
“Let’s just find a hotel for now,” he told him. “We’ll train first thing tomorrow morning.”
Volcarona sighed. Drayden’s inspiring speech got through to Volcarona, but not to his owner. Was he *really* proud of his owner? It didn’t seem like it. It seemed as if he always assumed he could do better.
“I just don’t get it,” Alder muttered. “Why would strength mean something other than being strong? It makes no sense. A gym leader saying strength dosen’t matter? It’s unheard of.”
Then, he just shrugged and said, “Alright then! Let’s get you healed up and go to sleep! It’s a big day tomorrow!”
Volcarona sighed, mostly due to fatigue, but also due to his owner’s unawareness.
And with that, the duo headed to the Pokemon Center, about to have a long night’s sleep before getting ready to challenge the Pokemon League.
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I tried several times to make this battle make sense by using the Damage Calculator. It was actually really fun! Despite the fact that I write Pokemon stories, I don’t actually write a lot of Pokemon battles, which sounds weird, but it’s true.
If you don’t care about all this, then just move on to Part 2.
Volcarona Flame Charge vs. 100% Haxorus on a critical hit: 18-22 (14.6 - 17.8%)
Rivalry buffed burned Haxorus Dragon Tail (on a critical hit) + Assurance vs. 100% Volcarona : 79.2%
Dragon Dance (Atk +1, Spd +1)
Quiver Dance (Atk +1, Def +1, Spd +1)
+1 Swarm Volcarona U-turn vs. 83% Haxorus: 54-64 (43.9 - 52%)
+1 Volcarona Acrobatics vs. 31% Haxorus: 38-45 (30.8 - 36.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
So yeah. I hope I did all of my calculations correctly. I tried to replicate this on Pokemon Showdown, but that was before realizing I needed 2 critical hits on the first turn, and for the Flame Charge to actually burn the Haxorus, so it’d be pretty hard to do.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy Part 2! I’m actually really proud of myself with this story.
Please give . I’d really appreciate it.
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