A Brilliant Diamond Story

Chapter 10: The Final Battle

Oooooonly to be immediately accosted by good ol' Barry one last time. Ugh, now I understood why everyone said he was the worst rival...

His team was tough. Not scary-tough, but...just tough enough to make me scared of what was to come. His Infernape used a Close Combat that would have one-shot Beav, if our connection hadn't pushed her to tough it out. My heart leaped into my throat when she nearly died; Barry had nearly killed one of my team. If Barry had nearly killed one of them, that meant the rest of the Elite Four had even more powerful Pokemon. And that meant we could be in trouble.

But I hadn't come this far to lose now. I beat him senseless, and took a new look at my team. With what I knew about this Elite Four...we couldn't go in like this. Something needed to change.

And that something, unfortunately, was Beav.

She had been with us since Day 1. She had helped us in so many battles, and she was always the goofy, lovable comic relief of the team. It hurt me to put her in the box. But her typing was more a crutch than a boon. Barry's Infernape had taught me that much, at least. I doubt we would get lucky again if it came down to it, especially with what awaited us in there. So, she would go with us in spirit, kept safe from harm by Arceus' blessing. She'd be there, on the throne with us at the end.

I'll see you at the finish line, Beav.

But, if we were going to get through this, we needed a better counter to some of the monsters we'd see in there. We needed someone tough, someone with proper typings. Someone with the power to manage the strength of those beasts.

We needed...Gastrodon.

So, I swapped out Beav for Florp the Shellos (A pink one, sorry Shellos fans). Grinding was a long process, but eventually, he started catching up...and then he was killed by a critical hit Explosion.

...Well.

I went over the Pokemon I had left, and I made my next choice, grabbing Thonk the Cranidos. Grinding took...far too long. It's why this part took so long to come out. But soon, we'd be able to--

And then he died to a Machoke.

....You would think these deaths would hurt now, but I think I've gone completely numb.

To say I was afraid would be incorrect. Afraid implies I had something tangible to fear. No, this was...understanding.

I'm not an idiot, ladies and gentlemen, as much as the previous part of this chapter might imply it. No...I know an omen when I see one. This was a decree by Arceus himself; I had made a grave error. Correct it, or the deaths would continue. So, Beav came back into the fold, and even I admitted that I should've never abandoned her. Together, we crushed enough Pokemon to get her back on-par with the other hitters on my team, and finally, we stood before the Pokemon League, and I took one last look at my team:

Leaf. Torterra. Level: 74

Type: Grass/Ground

Item: Shell Bell

Moves: Leaf Storm, Crunch, Earthquake, and Giga Impact

Click. Crobat. Level: 74

Type: Poison/Flying

Item: Odd Incense

Moves: Dark Pulse, Leech Life, Aerial Ace, and Cross Poison

Beav. Bibarel. Level: 71

Type: Normal/Water

Item: Razor Claw

Moves: Superpower, Rollout, Scald, and Swords Dance