The explosion happened so quickly that I only had time to shout “Pr—” before it engulfed Titan and the battlefield.

In front of me, the barriers that protected the trainers flared into life before glowing red ominously. The stadium barriers then glowed orange before slowly filtering back. The crowd gasped and screamed in shock before calming down. Then people began to shout their outrage.

I scowled in Will’s direction but couldn’t see him due to the smoke that still wafted over the battlefield.

“Boo that man!” shouted someone in the crowd, which made me crack a smile as people stood and booed Will.

He merely huffed. “Is turn about not fair play? Gym Leader Brock used a similar tactic against Champion Lance’s Charizard.”

This line of logic didn’t win him any fans from the crowd. His own loyalists seemed to be getting into a few scuffles with others around them, but I could see Jackson was already racing to break up the fight. Oddly, Brawly was at his side, and the pair quickly calmed things down as I turned my attention to the field.

While the dust was fading away, a sandstorm was building. I smirked as a rumbling growl echoed, heralding that my Ace wasn’t out of the fight. If anything he was committed and deadly serious now.

The storm grew again, and then a large body tumbled out as though it had been tossed. Exeggutor flopped like a rag doll, its fronds singed, and its heads all lolled limply on short necks.

Dennis raised his flag. “Exeggutor is unable to battle! The match is now three to three!”

That got the crowd to stop booing. They took up a cheer quickly. “Ti-tan! Ti-tan!”

Rachel stood at the front of the crowd with a megaphone raised to her mouth leading the cheers.

I gave them a nod of appreciation and turned my attention back to Will.

Alright, he had Slowking, Alakazam, and Jynx left; who would he send out next? I noted that the Psychic Terrain had dissipated. Apparently, explosions were able to destroy terrain moves like that.

It also got rid of the Stealth Rocks Gawain had left behind. As Will considered his best option, a Sandstorm built up on the battlefield, forcing Will to act quickly.

“Go Alakazam!” shouted Will, interrupting the celebrations.

The Ace of Will’s team once again appeared, but this time he did so in the middle section. With Titan standing in the rear section of Will’s side of the field, that was the widest space that Will could get for his pokemon when sending him out.

Not unless he wanted to give me a close engagement. It was either that or give me time that I would use to have Titan slowly walk back to my side of the field. All while he passively created a proper Sandstorm.

“Miracle Eye!” said Will, getting off the much-needed move to allow direct damage with Psychic moves.

“Stone Edge!” I replied. A huge slab of rock rose and launched itself at Alakazam at ballistic speeds. Just before it could hit, Alakazam used Teleport.

I huffed in annoyance as Alakazam appeared before me, increasing the distance that Titan had to cross. Will was giving his pokemon as much space as he could, obviously leery of Titan’s Dark Pulse.

I glowered down at Alakazam as it waved a spoon cheekily at Titan.

Titan snarled as I considered my options. I needed to saturate the field to stop Alakazam from escaping with Teleport. A taller task than usual thanks to Will getting off another Psychic Terrain with his Slowking’s sacrifice play.

I’d need to break the field with another Sandstorm, which would take time, or I’d need to use Dark Pulse a lot.

“Walk forward and hold the DP Titan!” I said. He nodded and marched forward, his form building up dark energy to the point where it started flickering off him like dancing flames as he advanced. His steps left black footprints that burned into the Psychic Terrain.

“Use Psybeam,” Will said.

I blinked in surprise; that move would see Alakazam commit to a stationary attack and… I narrowed my eyes. Will hadn’t shown himself to be a fool. He had set trap after trap with his moves. He was setting up for a Disable I was sure of it. Perhaps to trip Titan up if he tried for Giga Impact.

“Discharge your Dark Pulse into it,” I ordered, causing Titan to erupt.

His Dark Pulse slammed into the oncoming attack and washed it away.

Titan snorted in contempt at the Alakazam, and the Alakazam bristled.

“Again!” ordered Will, now more confident in his option to hit from afar with his pokemon, having it fire off another Psybeam.

“Dig dip,” I said. Titan responded to the order by sinking shallowly into the ground and popping up slightly to the side.

“Telekinesis,” Will said, only instead of having the move target his own pokemon a glow appeared around Titan.

“Dark Pulse!” I ordered, breaking the telekinetic grip on Titan instantly.

“Rock Throw,” I said quickly, looking to capitalise on the failed move from Alakazam.

Titan didn’t flinch with having the much weaker move called for. Typically it was merely a step stone for a pokemon to learn that usually built up until a pokemon learnt Stone Edge. It was also faster to send out with Titan used to the heavier strain of Stone Edge.

Almost a hundred small-sized rocks rose up and fired off at the now levitating Alakazam.

I wasn’t surprised when a Psychic was the answer to deny it. It raised its spoons and its entire body gained a blue glow before the entire barrage of rocks slowed before stopping. During the time it took for Alakazam to control the rocks, however, there was an opportunity.

“Rock Tomb!” I barked at Titan. Titan smirked and stomped his foot.

“Avoid it!” Will barked, making Alakazam drop the hundreds of rocks about the battlefield as his pokemon instead focused on hovering up.

It barely avoided having its leg locked into the ground, as instead a trio of stones snapped onto its leg. It cried out before clashing its spoons together in annoyance.

My eyes locked onto the three stones that formed a small trailing link, like a chain that dragged on the ground despite Alakazam’s levitation trick.

Perfect.

“Sandstorm,” I ordered, knowing fully what was about to play out.

Will straightened, gaining a look of anticipation. “Recover,” he ordered as the sands whipped up properly and began to cloud the battlefield.

I didn’t say anything, instead, I focused on the energy I was sharing with Titan. I wasn’t able to give orders through our bond just yet, but I knew Titan could be trusted to know what to do now.

His large form vanished into the Sandstorm, at home in the whipping winds and low visibility. I continued to remain silent.

“Alakazam! Use Psychic Terrain!” Will ordered. He must have been hoping to clear the field from Titan’s Sandstorm.

Long seconds ticked by, and then a box of psychic energy erupted, sweeping away the Sandstorm. Will’s smirk flashed toward me, only to falter when he realised Titan wasn’t in sight.

“What? No!” he said, right as Titan erupted from beneath Alakazam to Crunch into Alakazam’s leg.

Titan rose up with a feral grin that matched my own. Then, without prompting, he whipped his head back and forth to slam Alakazam into the ground repeatedly.

“Nooo!” Will screamed. “Focus Blast! NOW!” he roared in desperation.

Alakazam glowed blue for a moment, and Titan paused at the tension only to growl and bite down harder.

I thought I heard a crack for a moment, only for Alakazam’s hand to shoot out and into Titan’s face.

From point-blank range, Alakazam unleashed a powerful blast of energy that slammed into Titan causing him to buckle and groan.

In doing so, he released Alakazam, and the pokemon scrambled back fearfully to escape Titan.

I grimaced. That had been a super-effective move, and it had rattled Titan.

“DP!” I ordered, knowing that Alakazam was still within range.

“Tel- Focus Blast again!” Will said, almost retreating before deciding to commit.

Titan erupted in a blast of dark energy, only to be met by a pulse of fighting-type energy that blew through the Dark Pulse and knocked Titan back. Titan tottered, and my heart sank.

He’d taken a Self Destruct to the face and two Focus Blasts, and it was just enough to see him fall.

He hit the ground, and it hurt watching him fight to keep his eyes open. I could feel the energy I was feeding him flickering, as the connection faltered before fading as his energy dimmed and his eyes shut in defeat.

I raised his greatball and returned him, feeling a self-consuming darkness start to take over.

Will had come into this match prepared to face me. He’d had a multitude of strategies; horrible, no good, cheap strategies perhaps, but strategies nonetheless. And he was wearing me down.

I looked at his Alakazam only to realise it wasn’t standing properly. I frowned as I saw blood trickling down its leg. I flicked my gaze up to Will, but he merely glared back, unwilling to recall the rather obviously injured pokemon.

Ah, right. He’d ordered that with some of his scouting trainers, hadn’t he?

I selected my next pokeball as Dennis called out the score as three to four.

I tried pulling on my rock energy, only to find myself scraping the bottom of a proverbial barrel.

Shit. I’d been pushing it with all the pokemon I’d been empowering, hadn’t I?

Dark energy came easily, but right now it was threatening to take hold and have me give up.

I worked my jaw back and forth, I hadn’t been able to finish up the link that would allow Jorm to mega evolve, but in the future, if I planned to use it, I would either need to use it earlier or be very sparing in linking and empowering my pokemon.

Still, using that energy kept a lot of my pokemon in the fight longer than they would have otherwise lasted.

No, stop.

I needed to reset.

I slammed my hands together and closed out the world.

Forget the score.

Forget everything that Will had done.

Forget the world and just focus on my hands and the space in front of me.

I broke my hands apart and inhaled.

And clarity returned to me. The world expanded, and I knew I needed to pick myself up and fight.

“Let’s go Brock!” shouted Yolanda from the stands.

“Come on!” “You can do it!” “Bring it home!” The crowd started to chant their own support, and I felt myself buoyed upward as Will scowled.

I selected my next pokeball and hurled it out. “Go Jormungandr!” I said releasing my second last pokemon, but also the best option I had against Alakazam. Especially with how damaged Shrek must have been holding back the Exeggutor until Gawain could fight it off.

I ran through a number of methods in my head and considered the field. It was torn up in a lot of different areas and loosened. That would help with how much easier moves like Stone Edge could be.

“Alakazam! Recover!” shouted Will gleefully. The crowd found something new to boo Will over, and I held in a scowl.

“Stone Edge,” I ordered in reply, not allowing myself to stop and fall into despair.

Alakazam shone slightly as energy swept through him to recover the damage from the earlier match with Titan. Alakazam stood only to wince as its left leg touched the ground.

Jorm slapped his tail, and a few large stones rose up before launching themselves straight at Alakazam as he groaned with pain. The pokemon brandished his spoons, and I watched as the boulders were controlled with Psychic once more.

“Dig dip into the ground and come up with Rock Tomb,” I said, deciding to hammer at Alakazam’s weak point.

Jorm buried himself instead of enduring or attempting another exchange of attacks.

Thanks to the Recover and the Psychic against the Stone Edge, Will hadn’t yet moved his pokemon.

More notably, he hadn’t moved his Alakazam out of the region that Titan had blown up with his last Dark Pulse.

Jorm popped up and glared at Alakazam as rocks shot up from the ground and snapped around Alakazam’s legs.

Alakazam cried out in pain as the same leg Titan had brutalised earlier was struck. I allowed myself a small smile.

“Use Psychic! Lift that giant snake!” Will ordered.

His Alakazam raised its spoons angrily, and psychic energy built up around Jormungandr, lifting him slowly into the air. I could see him writhing in pain as Alakazam applied pressure to him.

He wouldn’t have been able to do this with Knight or Titan, thanks to their Dark Pulse. I chomped my teeth together before deciding to bet on Jorm.

“Jorm! Call up your dark energy like you want to use Crunch, but hold it!” Jorm growled through the pain and dark energy building up around his head. “Hold it!” I shouted, “Hold it! Now Roar and release it!” I shouted.

Jormungandr roared, and a small pulse of dark energy rippled out of him, causing the Psychic hold to fade.

I punched the air as he landed to glower across at Alakazam, who was annoyed with Jorm having escaped his clutches. I nodded. It was an ad-hoc way to teach Dark Pulse; I had barely gotten started on it with Jorm in the lead-up to this match as special attacks weren’t as strong for him as physical moves like Crunch and his new combination move.

“Dragonsbreath!” I shouted, causing Jorm to unleash a torrent of blue fire.

“Teleport!” shouted Will only to hiss as the move failed due to the Rock Tomb and the Dark Pulse from earlier in the match.

I blinked in surprise at Will not using Psychic for this.

I’d been expecting him to try and control it like I’d seen Sabrina do a number of times with her pokemon. Yes, she found it tougher to manage than Flamethrower or Thunder but she could still do it… Perhaps Will couldn’t? Dragonsbreath washed over Alakazam.

By now it was starting to be glaringly obvious that Sabrina and Will were very different in how they practised and used their Psychic prowess.

“Again!” I said to Jorm, more than happy to punish Alakazam.

“Focus Blast!” Will screamed, making my pokemon break off his own attack to weave his body like a snake, avoiding the attack perfectly.

This gave Will time to break off the Rock Tomb trapping his pokemon; once again, however, an anklet of rock surrounded his pokemon’s leg weighing it down and occasionally crumbling…

“Close in and end it Alakazam!” Will shouted, leaning forward with a flourish.

“Iron Tail!” I said as his pokemon charged forward in close, fist reared back, only for Jorm to meet him with a rising Iron Tail that caught him in the side and slammed him, sending him sailing away.

He still got off the Focus Blast however, causing Jorm to fall back as the super-effective move seemed to put him down.

“Yes!” Will cried, raising his hands for applause only for most of the crowd to boo him.

I crossed my arms and eyed Jorm. He cracked open his eye and sneakily glanced at me. I eyed the distance between Jorm and Alakazam. It was too far to make a sneak strike, but I had other options.

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I nodded. “Dig down and lick your wounds,” I said, cutting through Will’s early celebration as Jorm hurled himself into the ground.

“Shit!” Will cried out. “Focus Blast into the ground!” he ordered to his Alakazam, only for it to do nothing but crater the ground.

Will cursed and furrowed his brow in thought, only to hiss in annoyance as his eyes caught sight of the trailing chain of Rock underneath his pokemon. “Alakazam hover!” When that caused some of the rock to break off, Will clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Tch! Return!” he ordered, returning his Alakazam to his pokeball after inspecting the ground and not seeing Jormungandr coming up.

There was a short pause as Will waited, but nothing popped back up. Will scowled at me, but I merely smiled enigmatically.

“Go… Slowking,” Will said, sending out his pokemon.

“Slooooooooooooooooooow,” said the pokemon as it yawned. I frowned, noticing straight away that it was, if anything, slightly better off than it had been when it was sent into the pokeball.

That drew a frown. Had Will used a potion, or was this an ability of Slowking at play?

“Sleep Talk,” I said, not willing to wait and give Will any more time.

Will twitched; he must have known what that move meant, as in the next moment Jormungandr shot out of the ground and loomed over Slowking, only to then disgorge a huge gout of blue flame.

I grinned. Damn, it was nice getting to pull off that combination! I could see why Lance wanted to copy that flaming chicken so much now.

Slowking barely got a barrier raised in time to block the attack, while Will scowled.

Jormungandr blinked and shook himself, returning to being fully awake. Its eyes shot to its foe, and he growled as he realised that Alakazam was no longer before him.

I didn’t let it bother me. “Dark Pulse,” I said with relish, knowing my pokemon was fully capable of it now.

“Water Gun!” Will ordered, even as Jorm ignited dark energy. I could feel everyone in the crowd draw in a breath of anticipation as they leaned forward. Jormungandr exploded into his Dark Pulse, roaring as he’d learned to explode the darkness out.

Slowking stumbled, only to yawn and fire out a final blast of water that splashed over Jorm, knocking him back and causing him to groan and fall back. He shook himself off, however, and rose. On the other side, Slowking toppled, and I punched the air.

“That’s it, Jorm! Let’s go!” I shouted, causing the rest of the crowd to rise up with me and cheer. The air surged with the sudden lift in mood and I felt my dark mood vanish as I saw the way forward.

I could do this.

I felt my own heart pounding furiously as everyone realised that with that, I’d reclaimed the lead with two pokemon left to Will’s final,Jynx.

Will didn’t let me rest, though, as he returned his pokemon quickly and sent out Jynx. “Focus Blast!” he snapped out, causing his Jynx to raise its webbed hand and punch forward.

“Protect!” I shouted. Jorm barely got off the Protect. The cheers that had started to come vanished in the face of the rapid exchange of moves. I felt myself leaning forward, trying to anticipate what would happen next.

My heart thundered as I inspected the battlefield. Both pokemon must have been on their last legs.

“Future Sight!” Will ordered as his pokemon waited. I swallowed and watched as the Protect began to break apart.

Just as Jorm’s large, rocky head was visible, I punched a fist forward. “Rock Throw!” I cried out, hoping to get out a fast, if weaker, move against Jynx.

“Psychic!” Will screamed as the rocks shot forward. Jynx raised its hands, and I scowled as the entire wave of rocks was held in place. Jynx leered and swept her hand back, hammering Jorm with his own rocks.

“Di—” I started to say, only for a lash of psychic energy to come into play and hammer Jorm into the ground. He toppled with a low groan before falling silent.

I exhaled and shook my head. Damn it, we’d been close there. Will shifted, and I saw his throat bobble. He must have known how close it was, given how nervous he looked.

I returned Jorm, and looked at his pokeball. “You did great out there, buddy,” I said to him before putting his pokeball away.

I then raised my last hope with Shrek’s ultraball.

Five to five. Both of us had used all of our pokemon.

Both pokemon were on their last legs with what they’d had to face.

I was frankly amazed that Jynx had been able to last as long as it had with Gawain hammering it earlier. I hadn’t been expecting it to be strong enough to defend itself with Psychic like it had.

All I needed was a final push.

“Go Shrek!” I bellowed, hurling out my last pokemon.

“Swampert!” Shrek bellowed as he landed; unlike with Jorm, there was still a sizeable gap between the two pokemon.

I drew what I had from my own energy reserves, struggling to keep them neutrally aligned. Swampert perked up at the minuscule amount of energy and croaked aggressively. It must have helped a little, as he seemed ready to throw down.

Jynx raised her hand in readiness, and I decided to force the issue.

“Surf!” I ordered, knowing that I needed to get Shrek in close where he was strongest.

“Future Sight!” Will ordered. His pokemon put a hand to its forehead.

I clenched my teeth, wondering if I couldn’t have made the most of that hesitation on his part. I shook off my dark thoughts and instead committed myself as Shrek rode the wave.

“Ice Beam!” Will ordered as the wave surged forth.

The beam lanced out and froze the front wave at the halfway point, causing it to buckle and collapse under its own weight. It wouldn’t reach Jynx.

But that hadn’t been the goal; it was merely to close with her.

“Leap!” I shouted to Shrek, causing him to hurl himself up a fist raised in readiness.

“Psychic! Catch it!” Will bellowed, his hand upraised, and his eyes glowing as his pokemon copied him. Psychic force grasped Shrek and held him in the air, where he struggled.

Part of me wanted to cry foul, but I knew if I hesitated and waited for an official ruling, the match would be lost.

Instead, I decided to act. I’d just have to trust that Hypnotoad would have shown off enough against her mate that Shrek would have picked up a few things.

“Darkest Lariat!” I roared, trying to will it into being.

“SWAMPERT!” shouted Shrek as the psychic energy built up around him only to unravel as dark energy blew out of him. He began to spin through the air, his fists circling as he continued his descent onto Jynx.

Jynx reared back and tried to hop out of danger. Shrek landed and cried out as a psychic bolt of energy slammed into his side, causing him to falter.

Despite this, he twisted limply, and I could only watch as he used the momentum from Future Sight to throw himself into Jynx, his fist slamming home into her throat once again.

Jynx squawked in shock and pain before being knocked flying as the Darkest Lariat carried through, hurling her out of the field.

She tumbled end over end before falling to the ground limp.

“GET UP!” screamed Will to his pokemon.

I looked at Shrek and found him face down and out of energy.

“Get up!” roared Will, but his pokemon remained unresponsive. Will put one hand to his forehead and held the other out.

“Challenger Will! The pokemon can only return to the field and stand under its own power to be considered battle ready!” Dennis suddenly said sternly.

Will twitched in annoyance and shot him what appeared to be a murderous look, but he dropped his hands.

Dennis inspected both pokemon. Then he licked his lips and swallowed as he raised his hand and made a chopping action with his fingers spread wide. At the end of each chop, another finger dropped. Behind him, a countdown flashed out on the screen.

I licked my lips, knowing in my heart that Shrek had nothing left in the tank. I felt at my own reserves, knowing that I too had nothing else to commit.

I felt my vision darken, and I clenched my teeth and inhaled sharply, knowing I’d dug deeper than I ever had to etch out what I could.

I could only watch as Will cried for his pokemon to stand as Dennis counted down.

Three. The Jynx twitched and shuddered.

Two. It rolled onto its face and glared up at Shrek, who lay on his side.

One. Jynx collapsed fully.

“Both pokemon are unable to battle! This match between Will and Brock is therefore ruled a draw!” Dennis shouted.

I felt a wave of exhaustion run through me. I wanted to growl at the end result. Instead, I focused on something small. Instead of raging at the result, I smiled at the aghast look on Will’s face. It was something small, but it helped.

If this hadn’t been a draw, I might have enjoyed it more, but as it was I wasn’t sure I could even enjoy that result. That match lacked so much of what I enjoyed about pokemon matches.

It wasn’t a loss but… I couldn’t help but feel like it was, in my heart.

A draw.

That hadn’t been the result I wanted. I wanted to crush Will, smash him with my team and show the world that he was nothing more than an up-jumped thug.

Instead, the world would consider us equals on technicalities and rules lawyering.

The podiums descended, and I felt myself shudder at the movement. I raised Shrek’s Ultraball and returned him.

I then looked over to Will and found him staring at me. He didn’t move from his podium.

This was supposed to be the part where we walked across and shook each other's hands.

Neither of us made a move to do so.

A stir went through the crowd. They weren’t surprised; they knew something was going on here.

They knew there would be bad blood with this fight playing out like it had, but I don’t think one of them realised the depth of how much I loathed Will in that moment. Movement from my family made me grimace. I saw Suzie lowering her banner and looking at me, trying to understand what was going on.

I held in a sigh, straightening my back. I would need to be the bigger man and show my family the right way to do things.

I’d just have to ignore the overwhelming urge to sucker punch Will.

I marched across the ruined battlefield, ignoring the various points where my pokemon had fallen to cheap tricks. I raised a hand, and he stared at it for a long moment.

Then he clasped his hand in mine.

I clenched his hand as hard as I could and was pleased to see him flinch and whimper.

I leaned in close. “You’re a cheap piece of work, you know that? I want you to know that you will never belong, as one of the best in the League,” I whispered to him.

“That isn’t up to you!” he hissed. “And I might not have won, but I’ve shown that I’m just as good!” He snarled as he straightened.

“You call this a win?” I said, with a raised eyebrow.

Will’s lips twitched downward before he sniffed. “I will make it work for me. It isn’t a loss, Gym Leader.” He ripped his hand out of my grasp and turned to storm off.

I glared at his back, I wasn’t done with him, not by half. Some part of me knew I couldn’t simply let him walk away.

“I’m going to want a rematch!” I said loudly. My words carried through the entire arena.

He faltered, and I felt a warmth in my heart knowing he was scared.

The crowd stirred, having heard my declaration. This wasn’t the Gym circuit after all, and I wasn’t just bound here despite the perception of being locked to Pewter. I could leave.

Will remained quiet for a long moment.

He sniffed and flicked his cape theatrically. “We’ll have to see about that! You might not be worth my time soon enough!” he said, readopting his aloof persona. He walked towards the group of people that had been cheering for him the entire match.

They welcomed him like he’d just won instead of being fought to a draw.

I turned to my own fans. I shot them a weak smile, and they rose as one to roar their approval. It washed over me. I didn’t feel like their champion. I felt like a guy who had just barely not lost. That might have been enough for them, but it sickened me. Still, I had to be an example.

I licked my lips and straightened my spine. I then noticed that a number of people were eyeing the group that had welcomed Will. With the looks and gestures being exchanged, there was a risk a fight might break out—not an orderly, sanctioned fight, but a melee.

I turned and glanced over at the group closest to Will. If this wasn’t my gym, I might just let the feelings fester. It looked like the crowd was one spark away from hurling more than just abuse at Will.

I gestured to Dennis, and he tossed me a microphone that I fumbled before raising to my mouth. I waved to get the crowd’s attention and then tapped the microphone. “Uhh testing, testing one-two? This thing on?” I said playing up the clueless teen as the speakers boomed. The crowd focused on me.

“Well, that certainly wasn’t how we expected this match to go! But it was a tough battle, that was for sure wasn’t it?” I said, rubbing the back of my head and forcing myself to keep smiling.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their support here today! We’ve come a long way since I began as Gym Leader and much of that progress starts from people like yourselves that help support us!”

I made a show of clapping my hands. I wanted to rage or throw up. Or just lay down and have a nap. I was that tired. I just wanted today to be over. Maybe tomorrow I’d wake up and I’d learn today was just a dream?

Sadly, that wasn’t how life worked. I knew I just wanted distance from this event. Time and space were the usual answers, and with this being my home, time would be my only option.

Despite my feelings on the matter, I couldn’t act out. Not here, not now. I had to be an adult. My eyes landed on Flint, who was watching me with the rest of my family, and I felt old feelings and memories stirring within me.

I needed to do what was right.

This moment felt so similar to back then… When I’d worked out that despite all my efforts, he’d still walked out on us. All my expectations and efforts… only to come up short.

I shook my head and considered what else I needed to do.

“I’d also like to extend a round of thanks to my staff; they put in a lot of work. Rachel, thanks for hyping up the match!” This got some heartfelt cheers, with Rachel waving to the crowd and shooting me a nod. Understanding what I was doing, she flicked her eyes to the referee’s podium, and I nodded.

“I’d also like to thank Dennis. His job today was much harder than a lot of others today. He had to remain impartial in a situation that I’m sure many of us would have struggled with. Dennis showed that he is a man of integrity, and I salute him for that. Please give him a round of applause.” I led the clap and was glad to hear that the applause drowned out the few people still annoyed enough to shout at him.

He smiled weakly at me and nodded in thanks. I thumped my chest twice with a fist and pointed at him, causing him to smile a bit easier. I turned back to the crowd and made some other comments.

“Thank you once again for your support today! I’ll turn it over to our MC Rachel, to see you home! Good night, folks!” I said, switching off the microphone and walking away.

“Gym Leader Brock! Do you think this match was a valid reflection of your skill!?” shouted one reporter who had raced to the edge of the fencing. Others were quickly at their side, microphones poised in attack position.

Questions were being hurled out so quickly that it became a wave of undecipherable noise.

I waved my hand and shook my head. “No comment; I need to see to my pokemon,” I said, delaying the issue of giving a press conference to future Brock. Instead, I marched into the medical bay.

It felt like I was retreating to lick my wounds, and in a way, I was.

I stared at the injured forms of Tide and Knight. I handed off the other pokeballs to Chansey, just barely avoiding her grabbing me. I waved her off and instead marched out the back to the reserve.

I marched up to the closest boulder that was free of any pokemon and put my fist to it. I wanted to punch it to smithereens.

But I was just too damn tired.

I instead sat against it, feeling old in a way I hadn’t for years. Not since that punk kid came in and challenged me with extremely powerful pokemon. I’d lost my starting Onix that day. I rubbed my face and sighed.

When I finished rubbing my face, I wasn’t surprised to find Sabrina standing close. “Hey Sabrina,” I said tiredly.

She nodded. “You did well, Brock. Despite Will’s tactics, scouting, and extremely dishonourable methods, you clawed your way back into the fight.”

I nodded, intellectually able to accept the words even as my heart rejected them. “Yeah...” I said.

Sabrina tilted her head. “You don’t feel that way, though, do you?”

I smiled, pleased, despite myself, that she understood me.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think I can feel that way.” I ran a hand through my hair, dislodging some rocks and dust that I hadn’t noticed had gotten into it during the fight. “I should have won… I should have been better. I had so many chances.”

She stepped closer. “You were incredible out there.” She knelt down and cupped my face.

“For all intents and purposes, I lost. Will’s not going to—” I said, looking away from her only to be cut off.

“No!” she said, forcing me to look at her. “He is not going to slip away from you. You are not going to let him. You said it yourself! He will have to have a rematch with you! The crowd will expect it with you saying it how you did.”

I blinked. Right, I had said that. Hadn’t I? I blinked, I must be more tired than I thought. Damn, my head was feeling slow.

Sabrina tapped my cheek to restore my focus. “And this battle didn’t just end as a win or a loss, Brock. It has not cast you down. There is no question in the minds of the people that matter who is the better trainer. The manner in which you fight matters, you told me that years ago, remember?”

I chuckled. “It’s hard dating a girl so smart she remembers everything you say well enough to use it against you,” I said in mock defeat.

Sabrina giggled, “It helps that you sometimes said very wise things.” She held my gaze. “Brock. Everyone knows what Will is like now. And that is thanks to you.”

“I think I would have rather beaten him… I could have.”

“And everyone that matters will know that. They are also warned of Will because you went first,” she said patiently.

She put a hand on my chest. “The first Gym has been wrongly considered the weakest because the idea is not considered properly. The ones who go first are often the best of us all, and you proved that today,” she said with such honest conviction that I had to stop feeling so down.

I chuckled. “You really have gotten better at people.”

“I was always better at you,” she said earnestly. I leaned forward and kissed her.

She kissed me back, and for a moment, I forgot all about what had happened or why I was there. I was simply a boy giving the girl he loved a heartfelt kiss.

When we broke apart, I smiled at her. “Love you,” I said.

“And I, you,” she said.

She then flicked her eyes at the back door and sighed. “I kept them back while you got the anger out of your system. The others want to check in on you.” Her eyes flicked to the stone at my back, and she frowned. “But perhaps I should have them take you to bed if you’re this tired…”

I glanced at the door and, in doing so, caused it to swing wide, with my family spilling out with my friends and colleagues. Yolanda reached me first and led with her shoulder; she hugged me so hard. I braced myself with rock energy but made sure to take a step back lest she hurt herself on me.

“You were amazing!” she said up to me with watery eyes, only for the next sibling to hit me and repeat the words. Then the rest of my family hit me, and I allowed myself to tumble to the ground with a laugh as they all desperately tried to hug and comfort me.

I chuckled and smiled as they pointed out the tense or cool moments. This was new for me.

Before… If I had lost in a meaningful manner, I’d never had my friends and family around me like this. It was new, and rather nice.

Sabrina alone had seen me at my worst. During the early days, as I assumed the mantle of Gym Leader and caretaker, the feeling of failure had sometimes mounted high and threatened to crush me.

I shot my hand out and dragged her into the hug, and she came willingly.

When I eventually disentangled myself, I shared smiles and handshakes with the others. Brawly clapped me on the shoulder and offered commiserations and congratulations in equal part.

Gary even siddled up to me. “That guy was a piece of work; I’m sure Gramps will have more than a thing or two to say about him, but when I’m Champion, I’ll make sure to stop punks like that!” he said haughtily.

I chuckled and bumped fists with him, which seemed to work for him, allowing him to keep his cool guy image.

I was just about to talk with Erika when Dennis stepped up and offered me a letter. “Brock, I think I should—” I glanced at the letter, saw the first line, and tore it up.

“Nah, screw losing you to another Gym. What, are you looking to start a bidding war?” I said to Dennis, gesturing to Sabrina, Erika, and the Hoenn crew in Roxanne, Flannery, and Brawly.

Dennis blinked at me. “Buwhat?” he said cluelessly.

“Dennis,” I said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “I meant what I said in there. I respect the tough decisions you had to make. Your integrity was paramount. When I have you standing in the referee podium, that’s what you need to be. You stuck it out and made this less of a drama than it could have been if you faltered. Instead, you acted like a referee and saw it out.”

I couldn’t grin as I should have, but I managed a soft curl of the lips. “Take a few days off and spend time with Nike and your family. You have nothing to be ashamed of,” I said seriously.

The others agreed loudly, and Rachel appeared at Dennis’ elbow as I let him be. I knew she’d stay with him until he got home and make sure he was in a better headspace.

I glanced around at all the people who had otherwise come out to check on me and knew that this was only a small number of the people who cared. I glanced down at my angrily buzzing transceiver. Lance, Claire, Lorelei, Surge, and Forrest were all trying to call me.

It is a strange situation to know that friends will reveal themselves in your toughest times, not your best.

It felt good to know so many cared.

“Golem!” said Sanchez, reminding me that it wasn’t just humans that cared. I smiled and found my entire healthy pokemon team watching me. Sanchez thumped his chest and then punched his fist into his other hand. Bertha mirrored him, snorting heavily to show she also supported this idea.

I blinked in surprise as a new thought occurred to me. “How soon can I have a rematch?”

Sabrina giggled, and I felt a lightness take hold where only a weight had been present minutes ago.

I’d lost… No, I needed to stop thinking that way. I’d forced a draw, and that wasn’t the end of the world. If the way my pokemon were eying me was any indicator, they were now more motivated than ever to grow stronger.

Another thought occurred to me as I was led back to my room, yawning and nodding as Salvadore gushed about the fight. Sabrina supported me while Yolanda walked on my other side.

How far could I take that motivation?