Going for Gold
Luna breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in the last fifteen minutes. The in-game assistant, which took the form of an old man, offered her the options; 'Continue', 'Rest' or 'Retire'. Pressing the down arrow on the d-pad, the arrow hovered next to the option to 'Rest', Luna pressed the 'A' button. The in-game assistant informed her that the game will be saved and will continue when she resumes her adventure. After hearing that all too familiar sound coming out of the speaker that sounded like a clink, the game screen returned to it's intro sequence. Luna used her magic to turn off the console and gently place her Game Boy Advance on her cushion that she had be using to lay her front hooves on.
Pulling her forelegs away from her console, she began to support herself on her back legs and pull herself upright. Letting an audible groan, she stretched out her limbs and feel a slight comfort in feeling the bones in her body click, if it her helped her relax for a brief period she would have no objections.
Luna proceeded towards her bathroom calmly and began to use her magic to turn on the sinks cold tap. The sound of running water filled the air as she stood in front of the sink. She dipped her front hooves in the streaming water, allowing the coldness to soak her hooves. After a few seconds of feeling that familiar sensation, she splashed her face with the cold water, dragging her hooves from around her eyes and down her cheeks, taking a deep breath. Placing her hooves by the sinks edge, she closed her eyes and began to calm herself.
'We can do this,' her thoughts began,'We have comes this far. We needn't any reason to doubt ourselves at this juncture.' Feeling the confidence rise through her body, she gave a passionate, honest nod and turned off the tap with her magic.
Trotting back over to her previous position, Luna felt the confidence rise in her as well as her excitement. It wasn't easy for to contain herself at this point of her journey but who could blame her? After putting over two hundred and counting hours into the game, overcoming many tasking battles and as well as organising, raising and extremely training a team that allowed her to come to this critical point in the completion of the game, it is indeed one grand achievement. Some would shake their head at this notion and look it as a complete waste of time, others would smile in wonder at her efforts and give the princess a well deserved pat on the back.
Making herself comfortable once more, she enveloped her Game Boy Advance with her magic and left it to hover a few inches in front of her face. Turning the console on, she allowed herself a moment to regain her composure and bring her thoughts together whilst the intro sequence played. Once it brought about the game's title screen, Luna went through the sections to bring herself to continue where she left off.
The game loaded her in-game character to the front desk of the Battle Palace. The same in-game assistant welcomed her back to the palace and informed her that she will indeed continue from where she left off. The game forced her character to follow the old man through the door, which brought her to a small hall way. The old man informed her that, since she has earned herself enough wins, she now has earned the right to face the Palace Maven - Spenser. What caught her off guard for a moment was when the old man asked her the same options as before.
'Foolish elder, we would not go through all this for naught, we will see it through and claim victory!' her thoughts proclaimed as she used her magic to choose the option 'Continue'. As she did, the assistant informed her the he shall inform his master of her challenge before they both proceeded into the room where they would do battle.
The elder and her character stood on one side of the room before and edge of water that flowed round the battle stage in the centre, on the other side of the room was an identical platform which was left in solitude. As they took their positions, the elderly assistant spoke.
"Let the great fanfare announce the arrival of the PALACE MAVEN, SPENSER!" as he proclaimed, an Azurill appeared from the doorway where Luna's opponent would appear and hurried itself to the far corner of the platform. Then a Dusclops appeared from the same doorway and took position in the near corner. Finally, Spenser himself appeared and proceeded towards the centre of the platform where he stood directly across from Luna.
"Gwahahah! You've battled your way up again?" Spenser began, "You must have developed a truly formidable bond with your Pokémon." That statement brought Luna to smile, "So be it! This time, I won't bluster or hold back. This time, there's no fooling around."
"Neither shall we!" Luna replied with confidence.
"Ready now? Prepare to lose! ... ... ...Kaaah!" as he finished his statement the game screen flickered and the logo of the Battle Frontier appeared on screen and the theme that played when once would face a Battle Frontier Brain began to play through the speaker.
The game screen turned black whilst the music started to go. After a moment the screen showed Luna, that she was challenged by the Palace Maven, Spenser. This is the time. This was her last opponent. It's game time.
Spenser and Luna had selected three Pokemon to do battle with, all of which would be level one hundred, and as part of the Battle Palace rules; Luna would have no say on what moves her Pokemon would do, neither would her opponent. Spenser's first Pokemon was one of the most versatile fire types in the entire franchise - Arcanine. Watching it appear, Luna bore a confident smile as she knew her first had a type advantage over her opponent's. Her first choice was Gyarados, a formidable water/flying type. As it appeared, it's ability kicked in - Intimidate. The ability lowered her opponent's, Arcanine's, attack and what was fortunate in her case, Arcanine didn't have the same ability. However, from here on in, she knew she could do nothing but trust her Pokemon.
Pressing the option to 'Fight', she did her best to remain calm as the first move was made. Arcanine made the first move and used 'Extremespeed'. Watching the animation, Arcanine disappeared as three strikes barged against Gyarados, Luna didn't lose her confidence as she knew that it wouldn't do as much damage as it normally would. As the animation ended, Gyarados' health lowered from three hundred to one hundred and seventy eight. From that alone Luna knew it would take a couple more hits to end Gyarados, despite this, she watched on. Gyarados used the stat move 'Dragon Dance' which raised his speed and attack by one stage, this was good for Luna. It would mean that her Pokemon would have a higher chance of making the first move.
Doing nothing but pressing the button once more, she watched as Arcanine chose the move 'Protect', this move would not allow any move that would cause any harm to Arcanine to follow through. The princess leered at her screen as it happened, anticipating that her Pokemon would go for an attack move. However, Gyarados repeated it's last move and went for another 'Dragon Dance' and it's stats raised once more. This was indeed promising for Luna.
Feeling a bit more eager, she pressed the option again and smiled brightly as she witnessed her Gyarados use the move 'Earthquake', the in-game screen shook and flickered as the sound large vibrations blasted out. The sound of a super effective hit played out afterwards, as she watched her opponent's health bar diminish rapidly and hit zero. The sound of Arcanine's faint cry was heard as it signalled it's defeat.
'One down,' Luna mentally checked as Spenser brought his next Pokemon - Slaking, 'Two to go.'
Repeating the same notion as before with more confidence in her, Luna observed her Gyarados use 'Dragon Dance' again. Whilst this was good, it would also allow her opponent to go in for an attack. Her eyes widened in horror as her opponent used the move 'Yawn.' This was bad. If she did not take down Slaking with the next move, then her Pokemon would be forced to nap. She would definitely prefer it if she can take down Slaking now and keep all three of her team members ready for the last Pokemon in Spenser's arsenal.
Feeling a bead of sweat fall down the back of her neck, Luna took a deep breath before pressing the button again. Fortunately, her Gyarados went for 'Earthquake' once more. This move wasn't super effective like it was one Arcanine but with the stat boosts, it was sure to do some damage. Luna peered close attention to the health bar of Slaking as went from green to just going yellow, meaning that Slaking had already lost half of it's health. She was given even more reassurance as her opponent was 'loafing around'. Luna remembered that was downside of having a Slaking - it's ability only allowed to move once every two turns. However, a sense of dread of crawled up her spine when she saw that Gyarados fell asleep due to the effects of 'Yawn'. It didn't demolish her confidence entirely, but it was something to worry about.
Pressing the button once more, the game kept her Gyarados asleep for this turn, which irked her a bit. The dread came back once more, in twice the amount, when Slaking used the move 'Hyper Beam'. She began to mentally pray for Gyarados for survive, biting her lower lip, as the animation of the move, a swirling beam of orange yellow that made Gyarados shake wildly on contact, showcased on her screen. When it ended, the health bar for Gyarados rapidly went to zero. This wasn't good. They were even. As her Gyarados fainted and was removed from the battle, Luna weighed her options as the list of her remaining Pokemon appeared on screen.
She had a bug/fighting type - Heracross, and a steel/electric type - Magneton. The obvious choice stuck out to her like a sore hoof. Heracross was her best chance of beating Slaking considering, it's typing and the fact that once again, it will be 'loafing around' for the next turn. She had a feeling that Magneton would definitely have a large roll to player later and so chose to send out Heracross.
As Heracross appeared, a new found confidence wiped away the sense of dread that filled her body when she lost her previous Pokemon. Taking a moment to regain her composure, again, she momentarily thanked her Gyarados in her head as she pressed the option to 'Fight' once more.
Said confidence shrank slightly as the game told her that her Heracross was; 'incapable of using it's own power', meaning that her Pokemon just wasted a turn. Fortunately she was reminded that her opponent was loafing around, so this predicament didn't upset her as much as it would have.
'Not good,' Luna's thoughts began, 'This means that one of Heracross' moves won't work in this battle.' As she finished her thought, she went to the 'Pokemon' option to remind herself of her Pokemons' moves. Her Heracross had the moves; 'Brick Break', 'Megahorn', 'Counter' and 'Rock Slide'. Giving herself a moment, she hoped that it would be 'Counter'. She wouldn't mind so much considering the rest of it's moves were attack moves but the game wouldn't tell what move it was incapable of using. Giving her options of what would happen next, she returned to the previous screen and pressing the 'Fight' option, once again.
The game reminded her once more that Heracross just wasted a turn with the same message. Now, this was troublesome. If she could not land a hit now, who knows what will happen. Slaking gave her an answer by using the move 'Earthquake'. As the animation ended, the sound of a not very effective hit played out. Whilst it lifted her mood slightly, she gritted her teeth as the health bar of Heracross went from it's maximum down to one hundred thirty, meaning that one more hit like that and she could kiss her Heracross goodbye.
She let out a small whimper at this revelation but shook her head to shake any off feeling of dread or defeat that was trying sink in her mind. 'This battle isn't over yet!' her thoughts proclaimed as she pressed the 'Fight' option once more with a new found strength. Her smile returned as her Heracross used the move 'Brick Break'. This was a fighting type move, which would be super effective against a normal type like Slaking. True to the games principles, the super effective noise played out and Luna's smile grew as the health bar for Slaking began to diminish.
It was going...
Going...
Going...
...
"NO!" Luna yelled in frustration as the health bar only had a sliver of health left. Fortunately, the game reminded her that Slaking was 'loafing around' so she took this chance to take a deep breath to calm her nerves. After ward she quickly pressed the 'Fight' option, eager to finish off Slaking now.
The game was kind to her, it seemed, as Heracross used 'Brick Break' once more, and this time finished off Slaking for certain.
'Alright,' her thoughts began, 'Just one more and victory is ours. We can do this, we can--' her thoughts were cut off and her eyes widened in shock as her Spenser's final Pokemon was revealed to be the legendary water type to the Johto dog trio - Suicune.
She was not expecting this but this also allowed her to take in the circumstances of this situation. She had two Pokemon and her opponent had one - a legendary. If she could topple this last Pokemon, then all her efforts will have been worth it. This was, indeed, her last opponent - and she was going to win!
Pressing the button once more, she watched as her opponent used the move 'Calm Mind'. This move raised Suicune's special attack and special defence by one stage, proving Suicune to be more of an increasing challenge. Heracross used the move 'Brick Break' and Luna watched as Suicune's health bar only went down to just over three quarters of it's maximum. Two or three more hits and it would be defeated.
Not wasting any time, she pressed the button again and watched as Suicune used the move 'Surf'. This move was one of the strongest water type moves any Pokemon could use. An animation of large wave of water sweeping Heracross from under it's bipedal feet played and her smile went away as Heracross fainted after the attack. It was now or never, it would be a one on one battle from this point on. She nodded with pride as she sent out her last Pokemon - Magneton.
Luna placed her faith in her final choice as the anticipation shuddered through her hooves and sweat began to form once more from her forehead. Pressing the 'Fight' option once again, she knew that Suicune would go first as it used 'Surf' again. Magneton's health decreased from two hundred and seventy to one hundred and twenty nine. This was not going well. One more hit like that and she will lose and will be forced to go through the patience-wearing task of gaining the amount of wins to face Spenser for the gold - again. That thought alone made Luna grind her teeth with a mixture of fear and frustration as she waited for her Magneton to make the next move.
After a long pregnant pause, Magneton used the move 'Thunder'. She watched in awe as the animation of the move played out as three thunder strikes along with a fourth larger strike landed on Suicune, confirming that it would indeed do damage to Suicune. Considering that 'Thunder' is one of the strongest electric type attacks, along with the fact that it will be super effective against Suicune, this was sure to do a lot of damage.
Luna held her breath as time seemed to slow down, watching the health beginning to lower, hearing nothing but her heart beat.
It was going...
Going...
Into the yellow zone and still going...
Going...
Going...
Luna's eyes widened as it went into the red area and was still decreasing.
Going...
...
...
...
It was a critical hit!
Suicuine's faint cry played out as it feel from the screen. Spenser had been beaten. He appeared on the screen and simply laughed in humility.
"Gwah! Hahahaha!" laughed Spenser as the game screen returned the previous one before the battle began. "Well, that was some display!" Spenser began, "Even fully unleashed, my brethren could not overpower you. You team spirit is truly admirable! Here! Bring me that thing, will you?" he asked his assistant after commending Luna on her victory. She could nothing but smile brightly. The assistant brought her character to face him as he addressed her.
"My, my, if only you could maintain a certain level of decorum..." he commented which didn't phase her one bit, "Gaaah, here! Hurry with that Frontier Pass, you!" he demanded of her. The game then informed her the Spirit Symbols shined in gold on her pass and her smile grew even wider. After receiving the final gold symbol, Spenser brought her characters attention back to him.
"Gwahahah! Come see me time and again! My brethren and I will be waiting!" he happily proclaimed. After which, Luna was brought back to the lobby of the Battle Palace and was given six battle points on her victory. When she was given freedom of her character, she immediately pressed the 'Start' button on her console and chose the 'Save' option on the menu. For the last time, she waited for that oh-so familiar sound as the game informed her that game was saving.
....
....
PING!
It was done. Her progress was saved. If she were to turn off the console and turn it back on she would still have the last gold symbol of the Battle Frontier. As gently as she could she turned off her Game Boy Advance and took in the silence off that filled in the air.
Finally. She had done it. After more than two hundred hours of game play, she had gained all the Pokemon in Pokemon Emerald that she could get without trading, she had defeated the Elite Four and the Champion and earned her spot in the Hall of Fame, she completed all of the Contests at the master level and now she has conquered the Battle Frontier.
Luna took in one large deep breath before giving the chance to celebrate. Only to be interrupted by a knock on the door, which made her jump out of her position. Still keeping her victory smile, she happily trotted over to the door and opened it with her magic, noticing that she still had a kinetic hold on her Game Boy Advance.
As she peered her head through the gap of the door, she saw in front of her was her elder sister and co-founder of Equestria - Celestia. Whom had a warm and motherly like smile plastered on her face as she looked contently at Luna.
"Good evening, Sister." Celestia said with a warm tone.
"Evening, dear sister." Luna replied with a similar tone, the smile still stuck on her face.
"You seem to be in a good mood." Celestia commented.
"Indeed. In fact," Luna pondered as she brought the Game Boy Advance in front of her elder sister's face. "Would you mind holding on to this for a moment, please?" she kindly asked. Celestia looked at the console slightly dumbfounded by this for a moment but smiled once more as it passed.
"Sure." Celestia said bluntly as her horn enveloped in the a yellow hue. Her magic joined with Luna's on the hold of the console. As it joined Luna's magic, the princess of the night released her magic hold on it.
"Thank you, dear sister, we will be only a moment." Luna finished as she returned to her room and closed the door behind her, leaving Celestia to look at her younger sister's console.
'Hmmm.' Celestia's thoughts began, 'It's nice seeing in her a positive mood, I wonder what brought this----'
"YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luna's royal Canterlot voice roared from behind the door, cutting off Celestia's thoughts, making the elder sister flinch back a bit. "WE DID IT! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WE HAVE FINALLY DONE IT!!!!" Luna's victory roar continued on and on. Celestia could hear her sister cheering and beginning to sing a song from behind the door. She could vaguely make out the lyrics of her song. Something about rocking all night and partying every day. After a few minutes of singing and cheering, there was a brief moment of silence. Celestia was more dumbstruck and more curious about this celebration than before.
The door opened once more and Luna brought her entire being out into the hallway. "Shall we head off then?" Luna casually asked Celestia as she turned to her right and began to trot off, leaving Celestia flabbergasted for a moment. The princess of the sun shook her head, returning herself back to reality. She quickly caught up to Luna and began to match her pace as she still held onto the console. Before she could ask, she could barely keep in the nervous chuckle any longer.
"Hehehe," Celestia chuckled as they continued to trot together, "What brought all this on, Luna?"
"A victory for the ages, dear sister." Luna replied calmly as she enveloped her console with magic, Celestia noticed this and released her magic grip on it, bringing in front of her. As they trotted on, Luna turned it over onto it's back and gazed at the game cartridge plugged in the back. The title of the game - 'Pokemon Emerald'. "One that has made all the hours - completely worth it." Luna smiled contently at the game then at her sister who shared the smile as the journeyed down the hall together.
THE END