- Blessed by Divinity -

Epilogue - A Journey's End?

Two years had passed since the fateful encounter at the finals of the Galar Champion's Tournament. As I took my seat on the plane, my mind flashed back to the outcome of the battle.

Both my opponent and I had been reduced to our final pokemon. Dragonite had battled earlier but she had shaken off any signs of fatigue, ready to battle again.

My adversary's facial expression had not altered once throughout the battle, making me nervous. His unchanging eyes bore into my skull as if to pry into my mind in an attempt to gauge my battling plan. However, the time finally came where his lips shifted into a smile which in turn caused me to do the same.

A large, orange scaled, winged lizard pokemon was released onto the battlefield. Quickly, I noticed the blue and black crystal attached to the pokemon's pendant. Dragonite and I exchanged knowing glances, remembering that we were up against the Red. The boy who had taken the pokemon league by storm at the age of sixteen.

"What you thinking about Aaron?"

Elaine's soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts just as I was getting to the good part of the battle. In response, I smiled to her telling her that I was thinking about the battle with Red. The light blonde turned to face directly in front of her, her lips pulling into a wider smile.

"That was some crazy battle, huh?"

I nodded in agreement, acknowledging that it was definitely the best battle I had ever participated in.

"To think the Red was pushed that far into a corner. You were awesome Aaron!"

Slowly, I turned to look out of the window, seeing that we were above land, meaning our destination was just below us. Thinking back to what Elaine said, I retold the final outcome of the glorious battle.

"Dragonite, finish this with hyper beam!"

"...!"

Even as I called the final move, the battle was still in full swing. Just as the pink ray of energy was about to hit its target, Charizard, now in its mega form, evaded swiftly. This wasn't good as Dragonite and I were nearing our limits. Our eyes had already changed to their new gold colour, our emotions reaching fever pitch.

"...!"

"Hyper beam again!"

Our opponent's attack snaked through the battlefield, breaking away the mud as it made its way toward the dragon pokemon. However we were not finished there. Dragonite poured her all into this final move, making sure to hit the target this time.

Just as both moves hit their targets, a huge dust cloud was kicked up and as it finally settled, the result was clear.

Both pokemon had been knocked out simultaneously, meaning that the finals of the tournament had ended in a draw, much to everyone's surprise.

My opponent and I stared out to our pokemon dumbfounded that either of them had been knocked out for the first time, ever.

As we recalled our pokemon, I glanced toward my opponent who was looking down to the ground but not out of disappointment. Kanto's greatest trainer looked up to me, a fire lit in his eyes.

I crossed the field, extending my hand to him which he politely shook. Slowly, I leaned closer to him so that none of the camera's could see what I was about to say.

"I hope you know we can't let our battle end here. The next time I see you, I'm challenging you to a rematch and you won't say no!"

Passion filled my voice and even though my opponent chose to remain silent, the fervour in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. It was settled, we would have a rematch like no other.