Pokemon: Master Of Tactics

Alex entered the big exercise area and greeted Steven, who stand already there, with a slight smile.

Steven raised his hand slightly and Alex also raised his hand in greeting, as they high-fived.

"Morning, Steven. How was your morning?."

"Good. How was yours?"

Alex flashed a small smile as he said, "Not bad so far, but if everything goes according to plan, today is going to be an extremely good day for me."

Steven shook his head with a smile when he heard that. He then said, "Alex, it looks like I'm going to screw up your day today. I don't think you stand a chance against me.

because the two trained together, not only Alex but also Steven knew the levels of all Pokemon.

Alex also talked a lot with Steven and didn't keep secrets about the levels of his Pokemon so, that Steven even knows the exact levels of Alex's Pokemon.

Although it would be a bit better for Alex not to reveal the exact levels of his Pokemon for the competition against Steven---Alex doesn't think it's a big disadvantage for him.

Besides that Steven vaguely knows the level of Alex's Pokemon anyway and it's just a bit more accurate info for Steven than he already had.

Alex looked at Steven and said, "I can't understand why you're so sure that you will win?"

Steven looked serious as he replied, "As a trainer, I can't seem insecure before a fight. If I have an insecure expression, how are my Pokemon supposed to think we can win? ...Besides, I don't think I have no chance to win against you."

Alex agreed with Steven's words with a nod. Though many trainers don't pay attention to the morale of their Pokemon is it an important point that can even turn a lost battle into a win.

Steven didn't have the tactical talent of him and Lt. Surge or the superhuman abilities of Sabrina or Koga but Steven wasn't without his advantages.

He wasn't at the highest level in terms of tactics but still at a very high level. Alex talks to Steven a lot and he knew Steven had a lot of tactical skills.

Steven also had a very good relationship with his Pokemon and Alex saw how Steven always managed to motivate his Pokemon.

In addition, Steven is extremely talented in training his Pokemon (speed and quality) and is only slightly worse than Alex.

In Alex's opinion, Steven is an excellent all-around trainer.

Steven looked at Alex, "I assume you have your list ready?"

"The list" is a piece of paper listing which 6 Pokemon Alex chose to use against Steven.

Alex pulled a small note from his pocket and looked at Steven with a waiting expression.

Steven also took a note out of his pocket and gave it to Alex.

Both had settled on a 6 vs 6 Format where no Pokemon could be switched.

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(the potential was not written on the two lists)

Steven Team:

Metagross: LV 54 (Diamond)

Skarmory: LV 52 (Shallow Diamond)

Aggron: LV 49 (Shallow Diamond)

Cradily: LV 48 (Shallow Diamond)

Armaldo: LV 48 (Shallow Diamond)

Claydol: LV 46 (Shallow Diamond)

VS

Alex Team:

Crobat: LV 51 (Deep Gold)

Scizor: LV 51 (Deep Gold)

Gardevoir: LV 51 (Deep Gold)

Ditto: LV 49 (Gold)

Umbreon: LV 51 (Shallow Diamond)

Blaziken: LV 51 (Shallow Diamond)

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Alex had a decision to make about which 6 Pokemon to pick against Steven. like he did in the Kanto Champion Tournament.

In the end, he came up with the same two Pokemon as last time.

Ditto and Bastiodon.

Alex chose Ditto this time, even though he had a 2-level disadvantage to Bastiodon.

Bastiodon just had a bad matchup against Steven's team.

Steven's team had many Pokemon that have a type advantage over Bastiodon and [Earthquake] on the Expert or even the Master rank.

In comparison, Ditto seemed a much more sensible and a better choice to Alex.

Alex just looked at Steven's letter and said with a smile, "Are you ready?"

Steven said nothing and went to his position. He showed a serious expression, as he waited for Alex.

Alex's expression also became more serious and he too started walking to his position.

Both called their first Pokemon at the same time, as they agreed before the fight to give no one an advantage in the beginning.

Cradily V/s Crobat was a relatively quick fight even though Crobat didn't have an easy fight. Steven uses a very clever and annoying tactic that favors the "cann't switch" rule.

Cradily immediately use an [Sandstorm] on the Master rank and after that only the moves, [Recover] on the Master rank and [Rock Slide] on the Expert rank. apart from the fact, that it also used [Protect] once.

Crobat managed to win this fight thanks to [Toxic], [Leech Life], and his higher level. but it wasn't without taking a lot of damage himself.

Alex also noted that Crobat's major disadvantage in this fight wasn't his Pokemon-type disadvantage but that he had no moves on the Master rank.

If it weren't for [Leech Life] on the Expert rank, Alex wouldn't have believed that Crobat would have won this fight.

Crobat V/s Aggron

[Sandstorm] on the Master rank was still out of the arena and continued to deal a lot of damage to Crobat. Crobat didn't have much HP left. Alex tried a hit-and-run tactic but this was immediately interrupted by Steven's instruction. Aggron uses [Rock Polish] on the Expert rank, forcing Alex to abandon his hit-and-run tactic.

Alex didn't want to allow Aggron to buff himself to have a huge advantage against his next Pokemon so that he had to change his tactics.

Crobat then went on offense and was defeated after taking 1/3 of Aggron's HP with [Confuse Ray] and [Shadow Ball].

Alex looked at Aggron and suddenly changed his expression slightly when he noticed that Aggron was now at level 50.

Aggron leveled up after beating Crobat.

Alex thought, 'My luck is really...' when he saw that.

***

I won't show all of the rounds in Steven's fight and I will shorten about half of the fight to avoid an extremely long fight. as you can already see a bit in this chapter.

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