I sent in Sneasel to deal with the Dragonite. Dragonite was a giant bipedal beast with orange scales and a horn sticking out of its head. It had two wings sticking out of its back and was an infamously strong Pokémon.

Sneasel lightly warmed itself up by jumping from foot to foot and I figured it was time we started the battle. "Use Ice Shard!"

"Block it!" Lance shouted. Dragonite's large arms absorbed the small ice attacks with ease. "Now use Dragon Pulse!" Dragonite fired a purple projectile in the shape of a dragon at my Pokémon.

Sneasel jumped high entire the air and easily evaded the attack. "Now use Double Team and get in close!" Sneasel made multiple false copies of himself and they all landed on the ground.

The copies ran towards Dragonite at an astonishing pace. Lance made a fist with his hand. "Use Fire Punch and cut them down until you find the real one!"

Lance's Dragonite began swinging a flaming fist around, striking any Sneasel it could reach. Dragonite cut through one after another but couldn't seem to find the real one.

I started grinning. "Use Ice Punch!" Sneasel leaped out of the crowd and landed a direct hit on Dragonite's chest. Sneasel backed away and I was sure it was over but Dragonite was still standing.

Lance shook his head. "We won't be brought down so easily. Use Surf!" Dragonite suddenly conjured a wave of water in front of it that crashed into Sneasel.

Sneasel was thrown into the air and I realized just how much strength Dragonite had left. "Fire Punch!" Dragonite took to the skies and started flying over to my Sneasel.

"Block it with Night Slash!" I shouted. Sneasel shoved a purple blade between it and Dragonite's flaming fist. Sneasel barely managed to stop the attack and land on the ground safely. "Ice Shard!"

Sneasel got off a bit more damage with his ice attack but it still seemed to only be doing so much. "Run in!"

Lance didn't seem amused by our head-on tactic. "That will only do so much! Dragonite use Fire Punch!" Dragonite prepared to strike Sneasel and I saw our opening.

"Coat the ground in ice and slide right under his legs like your old home! Then use Ice Punch!" Sneasel used Ice Shard on the ground and dove to the ground, going right between Dragonite's legs and missing its fist entirely.

Sneasel hopped back to his feet and prepared to strike Dragonite from behind. Lance shook his head. "Dragonite turn around and use Dragon Pulse."

My eyes widened. Is he really going to use that move in such close quarters? I barely had time to process the draconian move exploding where the two Pokémon once stood.

The smoke cleared and to my dismay, Dragonite stood tall with Sneasel defeated. I returned him and looked down at my final Pokémon. Heracross.

Heracross stood tall and stomped onto the battlefield. It stared down Dragonite and got into a fighting stance. "This is it, buddy! Let's win for Electabuzz and everyone else!"

"Use Fire Punch!" Lance suddenly snapped back into battle mode. Dragonite took to the sky and started flying for Heracross.

Dragonite was fast and bulky, we would have to be strategic about our battle from here. "Bulk Up and block the hit!" Heracross put his arms up and energy swelled around him.

Dragonite punched Heracross but the blow bounced right off. "Brick Break!" Heracross immediately switched from defensive to offensive and hit Dragonite on the stomach.

Dragonite flew back to the center of the stage and Lance began thinking of a new approach. "Use Surf!" Dragonite conjured up another wave of water and sent it Heracross's way.

As the wave came close I had a good idea of how to handle it. "Cut through with Horn Attack and then hit Dragonite!" Heracross pushed himself off the ground and plowed straight through the wall of water.

Heracross flew into Dragonite's side and scored a hit on the beast. "Grab it and use Fire Punch! Then follow up with Dragon Pulse?"

Dragonite snapped right back into action and grabbed hold of Heracross's horn. It punched Heracross and sent it flying into the sky and then unleashed another dragon blast.

The move directly hit Heracross and he crashed onto the ground. Heracross forced himself back up and winced. "Hang in there, Heracross! Use Bulk Up!"

As Heracross increased his attack and defense again Lance prepared his next attack. "Don't let them use that power boost! Finish this with Dragon Pulse!"

Heracross had a lot of distance to close and a powerful attack coming his way. The attack was fired and I had to think fast. "Heracross jump over it and use the explosion from the move to fly forward and Brick Break Dragonite's leg!"

Heracross jumped right before the attack hit him and it exploded behind him. This gave him a boost in movement that brought him right over to Dragonite.

Heracross ducked down and chopped Dragonite's left leg. "Fire Punch!"

Dragonite absorbed yet another blow and prepared to crush the Pokémon in front of him. "Block it with your other hand!" Heracross threw his other arm up and absorbed the blow thanks to his defense boosts. "Now use Horn Attack!"

Heracross's horn started glowing and he leaped upward, striking Dragonite's chin. Heracross flew away from Lance's Pokémon and caught his breath.

Dragonite's shin was damaged enough by the attack that it seemed the Pokémon was struggling to stand up. After all the damage we've dealt it has to be just about out of energy. Heracross can only do so much more battling so I hope so for his sake.

Dragonite took drawn-out breaths and pounded its hands together. Lance's slick smile returned to his face. "This has been a very impressive display of strength. Soon enough, we will have our winner. You've been a very good opponent Gold, but I'm afraid I must test your strength one final time. And I have my doubts that you'll pass."

I gasped slightly but tried to keep my cool. "Bring it on! We're going to win this no matter the odds!" Heracross flexed his muscles in agreement.

Lance shook his head while smiling. "We'll see about that. Use Hyper Beam!" Lance's Dragonite prepared the familiar attack but this time when it fired it was much larger than any Hyper Beam I had ever seen

There was no chance Heracross could dodge or survive it. We had to go right through it. "Heracross let's do this! Use Megahorn and plow straight ahead! We're never giving up!

Heracross poured his strength into the horn atop his head and he jumped into the attack. Megahorn cleared a path through the powerful beam and Heracross started making progress.

The attack focused down onto Heracross and Dragonite kept up the pressure and Heracross stopped making progress against the powerful attack.

I could see he was struggling under the power of the move. Heracross had battled so hard against the Elite Four and Silver. Am I pushing him too hard?

I shook my head. Heracross is as tough as they come! "You've got this Heracross! I believe in you! You've gotten us out of tight spots before! You've won impossible battles! And even when you couldn't win, you always motivated the rest of the team. We never would've beaten Alex if you hadn't taught Electabuzz how to master Brick Break. So now it's our chance! GO HERACROSS!"

Heracross seemed to erupt with power. He plowed straight through the beam and into Dragonite's chest. Dragonite stumbled back and began to teeter while Heracross stood proudly.

Finally, the Dragonite was overwhelmed by the damage it had received and it fainted. Lance's smile remained as he returned his Pokémon.

I ran up to Heracross and we high fived. "That was incredible, Heracross! You really did it!"

Lance and the rest of the Elite Five made their way over to us. "I'm truly impressed. You defeated us and have now earned a right to facing The Champion. Your match against Red will be tomorrow night at the Saffron City Arena. You can take a train there from here if you need to. I'll be looking forward to your battle."

The Saffron Arena was constructed a few years ago to allow spectators to watch The Champion battle challengers and create more dynamic fights with a constantly changing field.

I nodded. "Sounds good! What kind of battlefield will we be fighting on?"

Karen shrugged. "Nobody but The Champion knows. He gets to pick it."

Bruno gave me a firm handshake. "You battle with a fire I haven't seen in a long time! Keep that fire and you're sure to win!" 

I thanked them all and walked out of the room, ready to face off against my final challenge.