Untraveled Roads - Key Moments

The Fraudulent Champion

Ethan is struggling. He's battled tooth and nail through the Elite Four to make it to Lance, acting Champion of the Indigo League, and yet his hard work is being rewarded with five Pokemon fainted because of one monstrous Gyrados. Lance hasn't even used any other Pokemon yet, and yet Ethan is on his last legs. His last Pokemon is the Sandslash he's had since even before his journey, which is still weak to Gyrados' Water moves. Ethan doesn't really have a choice though, and throws out his partner Pokemon into the battlefield.

"Pathetic. You can only resort to a mere Sandslash after I've decimated your entire team with only one Pokemon? I was expecting so much more from one of the trainers who quelled Lugia, but I guess those expectations were too high."

Lance speaks from across the arena, mocking Ethan for his poor performance so far. What Lance didn't imagine was how much that taunt could backfire. Ethan, now more determined than ever to take the spot of Indigo League Champion, calls out a command to his Sandslash.

"Knuckle, use Return!"

"Gyrados, use Waterfall!"

The Sandslash quickly carries out Ethan's command, executing an extremely powerful Return flawlessly, dealing quite a large amount of damage to Lance's Gyrados while simultaneously dodging Gyrados' Waterfall. Lance was taken aback at the sheer speed that Ethan's Sandslash moved at, to his knowledge his Gyrados should have gotten the first hit due to his superior speed, and yet this Sandslash not only dodged his Waterfall, but got a hefty amount of damage off on his Gyrados. Lance, knowing Gyrados will faint if he is kept in, calls for a switch, losing his type advantage.

"Gyrados, return to your ball."

A red light zaps out from one of Lance's Pokeballs, calling the water dragon back into his home. Ethan knows exactly what Pokemon Lance will bring out. One of his fearsome Dragonite, known for demolishing the dreams of any trainer who dare challenge it. This will be a tough battle, and yet Ethan still stands there, smirking as if he knows something Lance doesn't.

"Dragonite, you're up. Mop the floor with them."

As Lance says the command, one of the Pokeballs on his belt opens up with a red light, locking onto a spot on the indoor arena so his Dragonite can appear. The 7'03" orange dragon dwarfs the Sandslash in height, and yet neither Ethan nor his Sandslash shows an ounce of fear. Ethan knows what move Lance will use, too. Every time Lance has the strongest of the three Dragonite appear in opposition to one of his opponents, Lance only uses one move, overconfident in it's ability to faint or even kill it's target. Ethan knows that Lance is going to let out a-

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam! Leave nothing left of that Sandslash!"

And so the Dragonite obeys it's master's orders, firing out a devastating bright beam of energy that makes even the crowd watching from outside shudder in fear. If it were to hit his Sandslash, the battle would surely be over in an instant: a sad, anticlimactic instant.

So Ethan just doesn't get hit.

"Knuckle, dodge the Hyper Beam, and follow up with a Crush Claw to the head!"

The Sandslash recognizes his partner's command and takes a blindingly fast leap to the left, avoiding the Hyper Beam that was travelling along a vertical line. In almost the same moment, Ethan's Sandslash takes advantage of the opening presented by Dragonite needing a brief rest period after using Hyper Beam and swiftly closes the distance between it and the dragon. The moment it gets close to Lance's Dragonite, it leaps into the air and performs an excellent Crush Claw right onto the head of the Dragonite, guaranteeing a critical hit along with lowering it's defenses, and proceeds to land a decent distance behind the Dragonite, still running to maintain it's speed. Lance is shocked by the blinding speed this Sandslash conveys, but he doesn't even have time to give his Dragonite another order.