I don't know how long I had been laughing for, but I only stopped when I could feel the cold creeping back in now that the fighting was done.
Infernape was either passed out or on the verge of doing so, Houndoom had reverted to his usual form and stopped radiating his intense heat, Snorlax was doing justice to his name and already snoring, LOUDLY, Steelix was coiled up comfortably despite the lingering cold, Lucario was sitting as he meditated, and Slowking was walking around the cavern while examining everything he could.
"Alright. Let's get the hell out of here." I said while rising to my feet once again, drawing my pokemon's attention as those who could also rose to their feet.
"Firstly I want to say good job to all of you. Every one did far better than I could have ever expected and hoped against such an opponent. Especially Infernape and Steelix, who both managed to evolve during the battle. Infernape as well, good job for keeping Blaze under control!"
"..."
Though he did not answer directly, Infernape still replied as he slowly gave me a thumbs up to let me know he heard.
"It looks like I might have a proper sparring partner from now on." Lucario added with anticipation. After all, I had no other fighting type pokemon right now that could give him a run for his money. Tepig, Croagunk and Machop were all still in their base forms, and therefore still too weak to give Lucario a proper challenge. Infernape however would also the type advantage as a fire type, on top of his fighting type.
Well, that was for later though.
Infernape was in no state for sparring right now, and we were deep in the bowels of a frozen hell. Better to get out now and rest up after all the work we went through to get this far.
"All of you, go ahead and return, and take a nice long rest." I said while recalling them into their pokeballs, before grabbing one that had remained on my belt this whole time.
"Ralts, come on out."
'...Here...!' Ralts proclaimed as she appeared, before she registered the intense cold.
"!!!"
'...Cold...!' She declared, before promptly Teleporting directly into my jacket and shirt with her head sticking out beside mine.
"..."
'...Warm...' She sighed contently while snuggling up against my bare skin.
"Really?" I asked her, only to get no answer as she instead savored the warmth of my body.
"Whatever. Can you Teleport us back to the surface?" I asked her.
'...Yes...!' She declared in affirmation, before the three of us suddenly shifted as she Teleported us.
"Huh? Did something happen?" I asked, as we instead found ourselves back in the cavern with all of the Slowpoke and Slowbro. It was a LOT warmer here though.
'...Too far..." Ralts answered, before the three of us shifted yet again so that we appeared directly inside of the entrance to the caverns.
"Haaa." I sighed while breathing in that fresh warm air, while I could also feel Lucario relaxing beside me.
"Its not cold anymore. You can come out now." I said to Ralts.
"..."
'...No...'
"..."
I didn't know what to do as she refused and snuggled up to me even more, though I eventually just settled for walking out of the cave and passing the guards.
""!!!""
"Ace Ketchum?!" One of the exclaimed in surprise.
"Yo. I made it back." I said while waving at them in greeting, before continuing on to Lorelei's manor. After all, I hadn't slept at all since I went down there, and I needed some SERIOUS shut eye.
Lucario and I hurried back to the manor while Ralts remained snuggled in my shirt, and we were greeted by a few maids as we arrived since no one else was probably up yet. After all, it was still REALLY early in the morning with the eastern horizon just barely adopting a light glow.
"Lord Ketchum!" One of the maids exclaimed when she saw me.
"Just Ace please." I told her as more gathered around us.
"I'll go and wake speaker Lorelei!" One of them said as she tried to hurry.
"No need for that, let Lorelei sleep. I also plan to go and get some shut eye for a bit as well, since I haven't slept since going down into the caverns." I told them while also heading for an empty room. It wasn't like I was avoiding the girls, but I didn't want to disturb their sleep as well.
"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed, before pulling out all of my pokeballs, except the one that was holding Regice. "Can one of you make sure my pokemon are taken care of? Some of them took quite the beating down there."
"It will be the greatest honor of my life!" One of the maids declared as she accepted the pokeballs, her aura and expression looking as if I had just handed her the most important role for the survival of the entire Kanto region.
"I'll go as well, to make sure they're taken care of." Lucario said as he followed the maid.
I then entered the empty room and prepared for bed, staying up only long enough to disrobe and send Regice to professor Oak's lab, swapping it for Togepi as I did so. The little egg was still fast asleep himself, so I tried not to wake him while crawling into bed and falling asleep with Togepi and Ralts at my sides.
...
"Ace ! Wake up!"
"Ngh..."
"I said wake up!"
"I'm up..." I groaned while sitting up properly.
"Tokiprrrrrrri~!" Togepi trilled happily as he watched me get up.
"What time is it?" I groaned irritably while focusing on the one who woke me up, Nemona.
"Its after noon already!" She exclaimed excitedly from seeing me get up.
"Too early..." I groaned, though I didn't try to go back to sleep.
"But if you don't get up, then we won't be able to have our battle before you leave!" Nemona stated with a pout.
"Wait.... Really?" I asked her.
"Yeah. You were down there for TWO days! Today is the last day before the ferry takes you all to Cinnabar Island in the morning!"
"..."
"Alright, alright. Let me wake up first, then we can have our battle." I said, even as a group of maids promptly marched into the room while carrying several trays of food for me to choose from. I was REALLY going to miss the service around here.
After eating I quickly showered and dressed to find Nemona gone, and a maid waiting for me.
"Mistress Nemona asked us to inform you that she will be waiting for you at the Seafoam arena, on the north side of the island." The maid informed me.
"Thank you. I'll head there now." I said, before leaving to make my way to the other side of the island. AFTER I made a quick stop to pick up my pokemon, and reorganize my team somewhat. Thankfully, everyone appeared well-rested and recharged after everything from earlier.
Then again, I still didn't know how long exactly I was out after I went to bed.
I decided to stop thinking about that as I approached the arena, which was also one of the places where Lorelei accepted challengers as a member of the Elite Four.
The arena was sitting out on the water, raised up just above the waves on massive stakes while the stands towered above it, keeping the spectators out of harms way while also giving them a Fearow's eye view of the battles taking place.
"Feels like a full house." Lucario commented as we got closer. And I could also feel his rising excitement.
"I take it you want to participate?" I asked wryly.
"This is a Champion level opponent. Of course I want to!" Lucario said as if it were obvious.
"Well, we know she has Lycanroc, of course, Pawmot, and Skeledirge. But who knows about the other three?" I said while ticking them off on my fingers.
"You gonna use Charizard?"
"Possibly. But he's already managed to beat Lycanroc, so he has nothing else to prove as far as that." I said. "It'll also depend on some of the other pokemon she's got, if they'll make a good matchup against him, or some of my other pokemon."
Our conversation was cut short as a cheer went up in the arena, prompting Lucario and I to hurry inside where a battle was currently underway.
"Slowbro is unable to battle! Speaker Lorelei and Lapras win!" Declared the officiator right as we reached a point where we could see the arena, where I saw both Misty and Lorelei as the former lost their battle.
"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered with wry smile. After all, Lorelei was one of Misty's heroes, so it stood to reason that she would try and battle against her at least once while we were here.
"She doesn't appear to be upset about losing the battle." Lucario commented.
"Well Lorelei IS a part of the Elite Four. I wouldn't be surprised if Misty went into the battle already expecting to lose." I told him.
"Hmmm..." Lucario hummed to himself, and I didn't need aura or our link to know what he was thinking.
"Easy." I told him, already hearing him chastising Misty for having a 'weak' mindset. After all, anytime you go into a battle EXPECTING to lose, you were pretty much guaranteed to.
We watched Misty and Lorelei talk for a couple more minutes, during which it looked as if the latter was giving the former pointers, before both women left the arena. As they left Nemona hurried out to take Lorelei's place, before she turned to look directly where Lucario and I were in the stands.
"Well? Are you gonna come down here Ace?" She called up to me, her smile wide in anticipation.
"Well, since you're asking so nicely." I called back to her, before Lucario and I both leapt from our place in the stands to the arena below.
"Toki toki~! Togepi trilled happily in my arms as we soared through the air, and of course I made sure to keep an extra tight hold on him the entire time.
The arena itself was obviously created with Lorelei in mind, as the entire thing was covered in ice like an ice rink, with chunks of ice sticking up from it similarly to what Regice's cavern was like. As an added hazard though, if the waves from the ocean below grew large enough, they were able to wash over the arena to make the ice even slicker.
I waved up to the girls, who were watching with wide eyes from above.
"So what are the rules?" I asked while turning my attention back towards Nemona.
"A standard six on six." She replied with a smile.
"Really? Didn't JUST your Lycanroc kick our asses the first time? If I recall right, we had to prepare specifically just to rematch it." I pointed out.
"Per-lease! The main reason we won was because of the type advantage!" Nemona stated, even as he held up a pokeball. "Speaking of, its time to get started! Go Lycanroc!"
Unsurprisingly, Nemona led with Lycanroc. I wonder if she ALWAYS started with it?
Either way...
"You're up, Sceptile!" I declared while throwing out a pokeball.
"..."
Sceptile said nothing as he appeared in the arena, his focus solely on Lycanroc across from him as they both waited for the battle to start.
"Begin!"
"Accelrock!"
"Leaf Blade!"
Lycanroc shot forward, even faster than I remember it being as it appeared directly behind Sceptile so fast that it was like it had Teleported. But Sceptile wasn't the same as Charizard.
While Charizard was focused almost entirely on raw fire power, Sceptile was a speed demon himself. Exactly why I chose him to go against Lycanroc.
"TILE!" He cried out while using one arm in an attempt to block the attack, while the other slashed at it with a sickle-like blade of grass type energy.
"!!!"
I could feel the surprise coming from Lycanroc as it just barely avoided the attack, before Sceptile immediately followed up with another as he shot forward with another blade forming on his other arm.
"Stone edge!" Nemona hurriedly ordered, to which Lycanroc slammed one of it's paws down to summon numerous jagged spires of stone under Sceptile's feet. Despite the ice.
"Detect!" I ordered him, and Sceptile moved with a natural grace as he avoided the worst of the attack, instead turning it to his advantage as he used the spires as footholds like he would trees in a forest.
"Stealth Rock!"
"Leaf Storm!"
"ROC!"
"TILE!"
Lycanroc summoned dozens of floating jagged stones that covered the entire arena in order to turn it into a death trap, before they all turned invisible so Sceptile wouldn't know where they were. But then he answered in kind by summoning a massive storm of leaves that sliced through the entire arena, cutting the Stealth Rocks, the pillars from Stone Edge, the chunks of ice, and even Lycanroc.
Such an attack didn't go without its drawbacks though, as Sceptile's ability to use non-physical attacks dropped drastically after using it.
Oh well.
"Leaf Blade. And don't let up until it goes down." I ordered Sceptile, who launched himself forward while swinging the sickle-like blades on his arms to slice through any remaining Stealth Rocks.
"Drill Run!" Nemona responded, her expression one of elation as Sceptile and I put up a decent fight against them.
Both Sceptile and Lycanroc moved so fast that not even I could keep up with them as they traded blow after blow, with Sceptile relying on Leaf Blade while Lycanroc alternated between Drill Run and Accelrock.
"ROC!" Lycanroc barked as it took some distance from Sceptile after nearly a minute of this, both of them looking battered while Lycanroc appeared as if it were on it's last legs.
"One more time! Drill Run!" Nemona cried out.
"Finish this with Leaf Blade!" I told Sceptile.
The two shot forward with their attacks, Sceptile with blades of grass type energy on his arms, and Lycanroc spinning to replicate a massive drill.
*...*
The two flashed by one another so fast that none of us saw what happened, with Sceptile taking a kneeling stance while Lycanroc was poised to pounce. Before the latter collapsed onto the icy ground.
"Lycanroc is unable to battle!" The official declared, ending the first round of the battle.
"Well done." I told Sceptile as he slowly walked back to my side, while Nemona recalled Lycanroc. I noticed that he was just barely able to remain standing as he did so, and was more than likely only staying upright out of a sense of pride.
Even if he had been able to keep up with Lycanroc, somewhat, and had the type advantage, that damn rock type still hit HARD. And Sceptile had taken quite a few hits in those last minutes.
"Get some rest. You did really well." I told Sceptile while recalling him to his pokeball, while he remained stoically silent the entire time. Wannabe cool guy.
"I hope you aren't going to get overconfident just because of A victory Ace!" Nemona called out to me with a smirk despite her win.
"Lycanroc is just a test that I start my battles with, to see if my opponents are ready for the REST of my team! Now let's go, GOODRA!"
"Ugh..." I groaned slightly at the dragon type made it's appearance.
I will admit, they were a strong line. But I still had a hard time accepting those THINGS as actual dragons. Maybe Sludge the Magic Dragon or something.
But, that was ok.
"I choose you." I said while tossing out a pokeball.
"Beep boop bop beep." Beeped the pokemon I sent out. A certain towering rock titan.