Spring Hearts Open — Finals Day

The blaring voice of an excited announcer cut through the background chattering of the massive crowd in the stadium, which was quickly matched in volume by the resounding cheers. The screens around the walls of the stadium in-between the sections of stands lit up with the familiar faces of two smiling women. "We are live from the one-and-only Andromeda Stadium, on the long-awaited finals day of this supermajor tournament," the other announcer continued, eyes brimming with anticipation and settling into their more natural narration style. "My name is Cassandra, and with me is Candace, and at long last, the Spring Hearts Open is drawing to a conclusion. You've been with us for two weeks, and while today we started with eight talented trainers, we are now left with only two! But just one of them will rise above the other to take the championship!"

Candace grinned, clenching her fist. "And my goodness, we have been waiting for quite some time to see this tantalizing matchup in an official event! On one hand, the manager of the Andromeda Stadium itself, a seasoned veteran and an incredibly formidable combatant, it's Julia!!" Cassandra nodded, watching the gates in the stadium below with earnest eyes. "On the other hand, the young dynamic prodigy with a currently undefeated tournament record in the 1v1 format, absolutely dominating the competition thus far and seeking her first supermajor title, there's none other than Vivien!! Come on out!"




The arena's screens changed to focus in on the two trainers, walking from the gates within to their respective sides of the center stage. There was nothing to say to each other — just the look in each other's eyes was enough to understand everything. This was it, and everyone's eyes were on them alone. With the stakes of what this victory would mean to each person, one would think the pressure would be massive, but the two trainers were probably the most calm people in the entire stadium. For one, a veteran who had seen this stage many times before, both in-person and observing from above, and relished the moment more than anything. For the other, ice running through the veins of a confident young girl who had simply smashed through everything in her way, with the intent that today would be no different.

Julia had seen it all within her career so far. Helping her father establish the Andromeda Stadium, resulting in Altair becoming a cradle for developing superstars, she was one of the very first. Intimately familiar with the center stage, she had taken Pokemon battling and had turned it from her passion into her career. With that experience, helping run the stage for everyone else to share in this priceless experience was something to take incredible pride in, but she'd be damned if that stopped her from continuing to win as many battles as she could. Handing one of the hottest rising stars her first loss in this format was a incredibly rare opportunity too juicy to waste.

The Spring Hearts Open was a one-on-one event, with your chosen partner Pokemon to be used throughout the entire duration of the event right from registration to now. It was Vivien's first supermajor entry, but the format favored her tournament record, having won every single one-on-one event she had entered so far. The only mark that she was vulnerable at all was just a couple of defeats in full battles, but right here and now, none of those mattered. The Summer's End Festival and the Winter Dreams Trophy later this year could belong to anyone else for all she cared. Her time was now, and she would not be denied.

Both trainers tossed their Pokeballs, and both trainers' signature Pokemon appeared on the field. For Julia, her violet Dragalge, hovering menacingly as it had taken a stage it was all too familiar with, eager to take down the last opponent standing in their way. For Vivien, her emerald Noivern, entering with a backflip in the air and letting out a deafening roar, ready to write the last pages of this chapter in their story.





Both trainers wasted no time immediately getting started. "Noivern, Tailwind." "Dragalge, Sludge Wave!" Their voices rang out through the air, as Noivern whipped up a gale that it caught right away on its wings, soaring in a loop around the edge of the battlefield. Meanwhile, a circle of poison splashed around Dragalge as it let out a cry, causing the ring to violently surge outwards and upwards, torrents of poison rushing towards the acrobatic dragon in the air.

Vivien was quick to counter. "Hurricane." There was at least some distance between the two Pokemon to allow time for a fast response, and Noivern took full advantage of the brief moment, with a blast of wind creating a strong vortex that not only dissipated the incoming Sludge Wave, but tore through the battlefield itself and battering Dragalge.

"Now!" Julia's voice rung out through the winds, and a thick magenta beam erupted from the middle of the storm, Dragalge's Dragon Pulse cutting through the winds to strike down its target. "Dodge it." The wind stream from Noivern's tailwind allowed adept movement at twice the speed, and the bat-like dragon peeled off course to dive down, at an angle both backwards and to the side, before righting itself at a lower elevation and closing in.

"Your turn, Dragon Pulse." Noivern responded in kind, as dragons were wont to do, they were best at taking down each other. However, its magenta beam would also not quite hit its mark. "Acid Armor!" Julia called out to match Vivien's orders, and right as Noivern's Dragon Pulse would have torn through the sea dragon, its form began melting, and the part of its body that the beam struck simply sloughed off into a sludge as the liquid body of the Poison-type began charging up an attack, as the opportunity was prime. "Now, Draco Meteor!"

A bright orange ball materialized in front of Dragalge's snout, vastly increasing in size as it was shot up high into the air, before exploding into a large hail of powerful meteors that began raining down towards its opponent. Vivien's eyebrows narrowed as she noticed the Tailwind beginning to peter out, but she had a little bit of time left, but that was all she needed. "Double Team, quickly." Noivern's form began shimmering as it split into a small horde of clones, each of which split off from the other, acrobatically attempting to dodge the storm of meteors.

"Go, close in." One by one, as some Noiverns were struck down by meteors, the numbers steadily decreased, but the Flying-type's true form had still managed to evade everything thus far. The remaining Double Team forms, still hiding the real Noivern, regrouped their formation and began approaching the Dragalge below, out of the threat zone of the Draco Meteor. Julia could sense the impending danger as a chill ran down her spine. "Thunderbolt, take them all out!"

Using its horn as a conduit, Dragalge charged up a vicious electrical attack, connecting with one of the Noivern clones, but upon impact, it chained the lightning to each of the rest of the bodies in the formation, causing them to dissipate just as planned, but despite being part Flying-type, Noivern was also part Dragon-type, and seemed to be okay tanking the attack head-on for now as it cornered Dragalge directly from behind. One lone word uttered from Vivien's lips elicited a feeling of dread.

"Boomburst."

The speaker-like ears on the dragon glowed white, before unleashing a devastating destructive shockwave of sound at point blank range and causing the stadium to shudder from the sound waves. Concern on Julia's face, she could only hope that Dragalge was still in fighting condition. If it was, it was the prime opportunity to retaliate. "Sludge Wave, now!" Staggering but still conscious, the sea dragon materialized a ring of poison around itself, but right as the attack was ready to erupt, another word could be heard from the other end of the stadium. "Again."

The torrent of sludge was blown back along with Dragalge itself from the deafening encore, and this time it had fallen to the ground for good. Silence hung over the arena. On the far sideline, the omnipresent referee, Zane, with a good eye on the situation, raised the flag in his left hand. "Dragalge is unable to battle. Noivern is the winner!"

Immediately, the crowd erupted into cheers, celebrating the victory of the young girl and the end of a fantastic tournament. Julia gritted her teeth, walking over to her fallen partner, stroking its head to slowly wake it up. "Hey. I'm still proud of you," she whispered, forcing a smile. "We'll get 'em next time, I promise. Rest up." Dragalge remained on the ground, but gave the tiniest of nods. Julia tapped her Pokeball to the dragon's forehead, withdrawing it. On the other end, Noivern had flown over to Vivien herself, ecstatic excitement in its eyes. The girl chuckled, smiling, a rare expression to see on her face, but one that couldn't be helped in the situation. She ran her hands through the fur on Noivern's head, giving some light scratches before also withdrawing her Pokemon back into its ball. Turning to face the crowd from her podium, Vivien gazed up into the stands, her usual blank expression already back on her face, and the crowd's noise started to simmer down. But then, a lone fist raised into the sky. The corner of her mouth crept upwards as the applause and cheering readily resumed.




Candace's voice rang out from the speakers of the stadium. With a flourish made more flashy from her uniform's flair, the victor turned to return towards the stadium's gate as she waved, disappearing into its shadows. Julia also stood up from the battlefield, also taking the time to make her exit to the tunnel on the opposite end, with a face that hid her stinging disappointment to the very end.

"The awards ceremony will take place in fifteen minutes! I would like to ask the trainers who placed in the top four to meet up by the north gate tunnel before that time, as we have a very important guest hosting the awards ceremony! Thank you!" More raucous cheers erupted from the crowd at Cassandra's announcement, as everyone who had attended a supermajor in Altair already knew who that guest was going to be.