Pokémon Champion at Last {One-shot Ficlet}

[Flyg0n]

Champion at Last

(aka Get owned, Garchomp)

Spoiler: Preface

Tiny ficlet based on my rematch with Cynthia. Matthias is my Machamp. Echo ofc is Crobat, Kuroshio is my starter, Empoleon. Also Skell the Dusclops, Cygnus the Clefairy and Dwayne the Golem.

Oh and uh. Not looking for crit, this was just indulgent fun. Comments appreciated though!

​

Cynthia's face remained unreadable. Even down to her last pokemon, her ace, her Garchomp, her conviction never wavered.

Matthias faced her, body loose and relaxed, strength simmering in his muscles; his four arms ready to strike. His team, his friends, his comrades, had faced her once before. But that time they were exhausted and weary from struggling against the rest of her pokemon. He remembered it with absolute clarity.

Echo's pained whimper as he withstood a brutal Dragon Claw that should have knocked him out. Kuroshio's valiant struggle to strike before the earth broke around him. The cries as each of his teammates was struck down by Garchomp before they could gather themselves.

This fight would be for them. Yes, he was ready to fall, but this time he would strike before he did. One strike, for all who had fallen before.

"Garchomp, Earthquake!" The call rang cool and clear in the wide chambers of the champion's room. Garchomp's roar filled the space before the echoes of her voice faded, bringing her claw crashing against the ground. The earth heaved in reply, cracking and splitting, the entire battlefield tearing itself apart.

Matthias flexed and stood firm as the attack sent tremors through his body. After what felt like an eternity, the shaking stopped. Anger and determination surged through every muscle in Matthia’s body, but he remained still. With one hand, he reached up, dusting himself off before flashing a smirk to garchomp, who seemed unamused.

She gave a low rumble, daring him. Matthias answered, striding calmly across the broken field. In a moment, he stood in front of Garchomp, hand raised, dark energy wreathing his palm. One strike. One for everything they had lost. Everything he had lost.

WHAM

Matthias never felt his arm move. Just contact. Skin against scales. Explosive impact. Then the crash as Garchomp’s face cratered the earth, her body limp before it touched the ground.

Pride filled Matthias. He stood tall, the wild cheers from his trainer washing over him, mixed with the triumphant roars of his team. With the lowermost of his four hands, he brushed a thumb against his shining belt and smiled.

A Champion, at last.

Spoiler: Preface

This is just a silly but heartfelt one shot written after my triumphant victory against Cynthia. The first time I fought her I genuinely lost. I got her all the way down to Garchomp but my pokemon were too weakened and she got revved up with Swords Dance. Her attacks were one-shotting my weakned team before I could get my legs under me. Echo even put up a valiant fight and I tried, but eventually it became clear it was going to just be a loss. So with a heavy heart, my final pokemon was KO'd.

I had lost. I made misplays and didn't use moves I really should have, and got surprised by certain moves from her. I was broken. Ashamed. I had failed my dear team.

Kuroshio, Echo, Dwayne, Matthias, Skell and Cygnus. It waasss honestly my fault. So I left and rechallenged the entire league. The second time around, I got her down to Milotic and Garchomp. Ihad used Knock Off earlier to get rid of the annoying Flame orb/Marvel Scale thing. I bolstered Matthias with 6 Bulk Up's.

Milotic went down, and then Matthias, bulked up, stayed in.

Garchomp used Earthquake and it took maybe 25% of Matthias health. I had chosen Knock Off because I figured 'it won't do much but it will get rid of any nasty items/berries'.

Instead it KO'd Garchomp instantly.

Retribution never felt so sweet, so triumphant.

So thats why I wrote this, haha

Thank you, Matthias.

https://media.tenor.co/videos/8a3b19ab2393b55ac59cc32dc85a181b/mp4

 

[windskull]

This is the plot of One Punch Man, right?

Hi Tetra. I picked this up to read during my break and thought it was cute. As it is something short, a few of my comments might come across as nitpicks, so please take any critique with a grain of salt.

You do a great job of getting across the feeling of anticipation as Matthias stares Garchomp down. He's determined, he's ready, and he's not going to let Garchomp intimidate him, but there's still that memory of what happened last time hanging in the back of his mind. He's prepared to fall again, but not without getting his own strike in first.

And then he strides forward and strikes and…. It's over. I almost wish he expressed a bit of surprise, but pride is good too. He has every right to be proud after that display. You get across that triumphant feeling in just a few short lines. And you do good showing his feelings of pride when he's shining his belt.

One thing I wish was more clear within the ficlet itself is establishing Matthias as the machamp earlier. Even reading the Author's note, my brain still initially filled Matthias in as the trainer

Before I wrap up, I have two minor line edits:

Then the crash as Garchomp’s face cratered the ground, her body limp before it touched the ground.

Using ground here feels a bit repetitive. I'd cut one of them. The first one feels more superfluous.

Garchomp's roar filled the space before the echo's of her voice faded,

This should be echoes, instead of the possessive echo's.

I think I'll end things off here. This was a fun little ficlett that feels like it accomplishes what it set out to do. Thanks for sharing!