“In maintaining my apparent superiority, I once again claim my second badge in less knockouts than either of you.” Wally stole a French fry off my plate as he finished gloating and popped it in his mouth before I even opened mine. He was lucky the cafeteria food in the center was free.

“I haven’t even gotten my second badge yet, you moron.” May chucked a wadded-up napkin at Wally before smiling my way. “You did, however, do much better than Lea.”

I pouted before sliding my plate away from my mooching friends. “You’re both terrible people.” I pouted. “Good match, by the way, Green knight.”

A bit of red creeped up Wally’s cheeks. “Look, there was a spot on the application for a ring name, and I thought it sounded cool. On brand, in fact.”

I chuckled before taking a bite of my sandwich, passing a fry to Emilie before looking at Wally with a grin. “I’m just glad you didn't go full geek and put down something stupid like Darth Frère or something.”

“He thought about it, Gawain threatened not to fight if they went in under the pretense of a dark knight,” Emilie said, her voice muffled by random chewing. “That’s got to be a new level of low, right? Something so bad Gawain wants no part of it?”

“Sounds pretty bad to me.” I nodded my head before taking another bite of my sandwich. “Honestly, Wally, what kind of apprentice would give the game away like that. For shame.”

“Would y’all quit torturing the poor boy and let him enjoy his win,” Wayne said as he took his seat at the table, a large tray of food in his hands.

“Amazing that you still have room considering the two of you horded an entire box of pocky during the match,” May muttered.

Jasmine just smiled before taking her seat next to Wayne. “Aren’t you a bit warm in that scarf, May? They got the heat cranked up pretty high in here, and I imagine that can’t make it too easy to eat.”

May glared at the dark haired narc before slowly pulling down the front of her scarf and popping a chip in her mouth. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Wayne leaned down and clapped Wally on the back, almost forcing my friend into the table. “Ignore your friends teasing and take pride in that fight. That Kirlia’s something else.”

“Thanks! I was worried for a bit there. I wasn’t expecting such a varied selection of fighters for the second badge. That was harder than I thought it would be.” Wally smiled at the giant before reaching for a cookie off Wayne’s tray.

“Touch my dessert and I will touch you in ways that you cannot be untouched from,” Jasmine threatened.

Wally’s hand quickly receded to his side of the table.

May shuffled in her seat a bit as she looked around the room.

“May...?” I asked.

“Okay, so... you didn’t hear this from me." May beckoned us closer in a hushed tone. “But Gym leaders usually up the difficulty for more talented trainers. They like to have fun too, after all, and the gym challenge is in fact supposed to be challenging. You almost swept your first gym, so Brawly stepped on the gas a bit and picked a slightly stronger line up.”

I laughed. “What the hell would they have sent against me if I just took my first badge like a good little girl?”

Emilie snickered.

May glowered at me as she reached all the way across the table and snatched a part of my sandwich. “You probably would’ve gotten four aces. Which would still probably be easier than what you’re going to deal-” May stopped talking as the scarf she had been wearing slowly slipped down.

A bright, angry looking bruise made itself known on the side of May’s neck for what felt like a fraction of a second before May blurred. Her body turning the bruise away from the rest of us as she grabbed the scarf and tightly rewrapped her neck, a bright red glow dusting her face.

“Huh, May are you alright? You look like you got mauled.” Wally got up and started to make her way over to May.

Wayne just started laughing as Jasmine gave me an appraising look.

“Oh, she got mauled alright,” Jasmine said with a smirk.

May got up from her seat and made it a point to keep her chair between herself and Wally. “I’m fine, Wally. Really.”

“Are you sure? That looked like it hurt. I probably-”

“I SAID I’M FINE!” May hissed.

Wally froze, looking at May worriedly before going back to his spot and reclaiming his seat. Wayne leaned over before whispering something in Wally’s ear, causing the boy to blush bright red.

“Oh.” Wally went back to his own food, refusing to look at anyone at the table.

“I’m-”

“I TOLD YOU TO STOP APOLOGIZING!” May shouted.

Were her teeth always that sharp? I don’t think they were.

May brought my sandwich to her mouth before freezing. “Ah, fuck it.” She ripped her scarf off and inhaled her meal. “Your match is going to be hard as fuck, you ready for it? You’re scheduled for right after we get done with lunch.”

“Meh, I’ll be fine,” I said, doing my best to ignore the heat in my own cheeks. “Three out of four of my Pokémon are advantaged here, and the fourth one is Joern.” I just needed them to ignore how stiff I was, how fidgety my leg was being, the fact that I hadn’t eaten most of my fries...

Who was I kidding here?

Sergei started beeping, and my gaze shifted across the table to stare at the annoying little piece of shit, announcing to the world that we had to go back to the beach for my match. Legends, why was I so stressed about this? This was the highlight of Rustboro!

Hell, it’s just a fucking gym battle, the worst thing I could do is lose!

“And that’s lunch. You ready to kick some ass, babe?” May asked.

I’m better at hiding my nerves than I thought, apparently.

“Me and Lea will dump everyone’s trays and then we can hit.” Emilie lifted her hands up, and all the uneaten food and trays formed up into a neat little stack in front of me.

I subtly glared at my starter for volunteering me to be everyone’s buss girl before standing up and grabbing the stack. Legends above, even with other people eating off of my plate I still had shit I hadn’t touched. Why the hell did it feel like I wanted to throw up? I turned away from the group as they got up, noticing May start to stretch as I did so. She seemed so relaxed.

Emilie pulled my head over close. “Who came up with the plan to turn arena five into an aquarium?”

“I-”

“Answer the question,” Emilie said, her tone sharp.

“Me.” I clicked my mouth shut as soon as the word left my mouth.

“Who marched down to the Rustboro public school and demanded to kick Roxanne’s ass in person?” May waved her hands forward, gesturing to me to keep moving as she whispered harshly into my ear.

“Me.” My voice felt a bit more confident this time.

“Who-”

“I get it, Emilie.” I cut her off. “I know being scared about this is stupid, I just” I froze, trying to think of how to describe it. “I don’t want to let people down.”

“Mon amie, the only thing that’ll happen if we lose is we’ll get made fun of for like a day. Maybe get one I told you so.” Emilie sighed before glaring at me. “Doesn’t matter though, because we’re kicking Brawly’s ass. I ain’t scared of no fighting types.”

“Right...” I muttered.

“Look, this is the fun part of the journey, remember? No high stakes. So, just let loose, and have fun.” Emilie smiled at me. “Can’t be a champion if we let something as silly as a little gym challenge spook us.”

I returned the grin, before dumping our tray into the trash. “Suppose you’re right.”

“Good, because I was about to start quoting battle memes off the internet to get you to move.” Emilie scrunched up her nose. “Really didn’t want to resort to that.”

“Ooh, what were we cooking?” I asked eagerly.

“...The cream of the crop speech Crasher Wake made back in his Wrestling days.” Emilie muttered shyly, a blush lighting up her cheeks.

I actively started giggling. “I can’t see you committing. I’m sorry. I also don’t think you’re unhinged enough to make it work.”

“Whatever, we can watch a few meme videos after the fight, for now though,” Emilie whacked the back of my head. “Ya, mule.”

"Yes, ma’am.” I pulled my Haori a bit tighter before turning around and hustling back to the group.

----------------------------------------

The sand crunched below my feet as I stared across the blank, sandy field. The field that had been made at the start of the day had been redrawn, and a faint glimmer let me know the psychic barrier was already in place.

Brawly was smiling. Wider and happier than I had seen all morning. “I’ve been looking forward to this! It’s not every day I get square off against a swell like this. My three badge team’s been itching for this fight since Roxy first called and complained.”

“Can we limit the surfer lingo, please. I don’t know what most of it means and being called a swell makes me uncomfortable.” I asked as politely as I could. Brawly fell forward and twitched. “Sorry?”

“Nah... It’s fine. I can be a normie for a bit.” Now looking deflated, Brawly shifted his gaze towards the ref. “You can go ahead and count us off.”

The ref nodded once before turning to look out into the crowd. There were even more people than there had been during Wally’s match. “Alright then, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Pokemon of all shapes and sizes, we’ve got one hell of a match up for you today.” The ref lifted his flag up my way. “Hailing from Petalburg, we’ve got the woman that can’t say no to a challenge. Fighting for what is functionally her third badge, let’s give it up for Lea, the Jade Witch.”

I instantly turned and glared daggers at my girlfriend, who looked incredibly smug as the crowd started to clap. Damn, that was loud. Deafening, even. Fuck I was going to be saddled with that now, wasn’t I?

Emilie was staring up at me with stars in her eyes. “So cool.” She froze, before looking at me with narrowed eyes. “You can come up with that, but you call my ultimate attack the Emilienator.”

Meh, I guess it could be worse.

“And on the other side, now sporting a much more reasonable number of winter coats, we have the bastion of battling on this island. The brawler, the don, the boss that wonders why I do so much improv when all his written intros sound like this-”

“Just start the damn match,” Brawly ordered, cradling a poke ball in his left hand.

Right, uh. I should probably have someone ready. I quickly grabbed a ball off my belt.

“Everybody’s a critic. Brandishing a team that maybe gets to see the light of day once every few months or so, let’s give it up for our gym leader, Braaawwwlyyyy.” The ref raised his other flag towards the gym leader and the crowd exploded in sound.

“Deep breaths,” Emilie muttered into my ear.

“I’m fine,” I replied. Clutching Joern’s poke ball. “The nerves from earlier are gone, I think. I feel way better now that I’m out here.”

Emilie smiled at me. “Good, then let’s kick his ass.”

“Now then, for the boring part. This will be a four on four match, with one switch allowed for the both of you. Understood?” The ref looked between the two of us as we nodded. “In that case.” The ref raised both flags above his head. “Release on my count. One.”

I gripped Joern’s ball and leaned forward slightly, a smile on my face.

“Two.”

Brawly returned the smile as he lifted his ball into the air.

“Three!” The ref brought his flags down in front of him, and the arena exploded in white light.

“Lombre.” Joern gave me a wave before hopping backwards towards me, I assumed to put distance between himself and...

Oh fuck.

“Hera.” A giant blue bug with a massive horn hovered just above the sand, his beating wings pushing a cloud outwards with every flap. He shot a cocky grin my way as Joern started to very subtly sway his hips.

“Heracross vs Lombre. You may begin!” The ref shouted.

“Aerial Ace,” Brawly ordered calmly, a smug grin adorning his features.

The blue stag disappeared, his wings buzzing louder than any hive, before reappearing directly into Joern. His horn slammed into Joern’s chest, sending him backwards into the barrier behind him with a sickening crunch.

“Lom!” Joern clutched his chest as he slid down, taking a knee before quickly getting back on his feet.

“Now Bug Bite while you’re close, bring the pain, I don’t want to see a cloud in that sky,” Brawly ordered.

“Avoid like we practiced, Joern.” I countered, hoping Joern would be fast enough to keep up with the stupid bug type.

The Heracross started chittering, his mouth looking unnatural as he brought his fangs to bear.

“Lom.” Joern squared up his shoulders and stood up to his full height, sliding out of the way at the last possible second into a dip and he rose up with a sway of his hips.

Heracross flew forward and banked course, coming in for a second pass. “Hera-”

Joern spun, his body brushing up against the beetle as he passed. Joern ended with a flourish, before bringing his arms down into the stag, sending him into the ground.

“Cross!” Sand exploded as Heracross crash landed into the darkening beach.

Holy shit that was fast.

Joern raised his fist into the air and grinned down at the Bug type as rain started to fall.

“Creative dance moves you got there,” Brawly said.

“Thanks, we’ve been practicing.” I beamed at the praise. “Water Pulse.”

“Aerial Ace again, blunt the force this time,” Brawly countered.

That same buzzing from earlier filled my ears as sand exploded outward from the ground. Heracross slammed his shoulder into Joern, breaking his concentration and sending the water attack skyward.

“Now grab him and Struggle Bug!” Brawly ordered.

“Leech Seed and Ingrain,” I countered as the Heracross pulled Joern close and started shaking, his body glowing red as the vibrations became more intense.

That was new.

The seed dipped down off Joern’s leaf and bloomed into a menagerie of vines and leaves, but Joern failed to follow through on the Ingrain as Heracross’s move began in earnest. Joern opened his mouth wide as the attack dug into my grass type, but no sound came out.

“Now-”

“Return.” I said, cutting off Brawly’s command by returning Joern.

I didn’t care if I burned my switch, this match up looked ass. Joern can heal up a bit on something that didn’t spam bug and flying type attacks. Let's see now... Bug and Fighting type.

I mean how can I not? “Apollo, you’re up.”

“Gull!” Apollo let out a battle cry as he flew above the field.

“And the Jade Witch-”

“Return.” Brawly called Heracross back before the ref could pick up steam.

Rude.

“Rude,” the ref said, unknowingly agreeing with me.

“Yeah, yeah. You’ll get over it.” Brawly dragged Heracross’s poke ball down and clipped it to his belt. He pulled up a new ball before grinning my way. “That’s one hearty Pokémon you got there. I don’t know of a lot of grass types that can stand up to an onslaught like that.”

I smirked, happy to hear the praise. “Thanks, I’m sad Heracross didn’t get a chance to play with Apollo, though.”

Brawly laughed. “I’m sure you are. Medicham, you’re up.”

A bright light slowly shifted into a tall, bipedal Pokémon with red leg warmers. He calmly took in the field before raising his left leg up and bringing his hands together.

“That thing looks wicked,” I whispered, giving the fighting type an appraising look.

“It’s also a psychic type,” Emilie whispered into my ear.

I froze, before leaning back from the suddenly more imposing mon that stood in front of me. “Uh, am I-”

“He’s ninety percent fighting type and ten percent psychic monk, don’t worry.” Emilie smiled reasurringly at me. “I think I have more psychic chops then this species.”

“Says the most badass Ralts from Route 110,” I countered before staring back at the opponent in front of me.

“Are you two ready to commit acts of violence against each other yet, or should I bust out the comedy routine?” the ref asked, glaring at the two of us.

“Anything but that,” Brawly said. He leaned back from the ref at the threat.

Said ref lifted both flags into the air. “Medicham vs Wingull. Begin!”

“Aerial Ace,” I ordered frame one.

Apollo disappeared in a much quieter hum and slammed into Medicham with an audible crack, his beak driving into the fighting type’s chest.

“Confusion to hold it, don’t let it get away,” Brawly ordered.

“Wing Attack to break his focus. If he wants to hang out, let him,” I countered with a grin. If Brawly thought he could trip Apollo up with something like that, he had another thing coming.

Apollo’s wings glowed white, and he leaned into the force of Medicham’s psychic hold before slamming his wings home.

Brawly grinned. “Thunder Punch.”

Fuck! “Aerial Ace away, now!” I shouted.

Apollo disappeared before the second word even left my mouth. An electric fist discharged into the wet sands below, kicking up an explosion upwards as Medicham leapt backwards. Well, sandy mud, hones-

Wait a minute.

“Air Cutter and keep your distance, Apollo. I don’t want you eating a taser fist.” I also needed to stall a bit.

“Mess with his flight patterns Medicham, and stay ahead of the blades. Bring him back to you,” Brawly ordered.

I was moderately surprised he was giving verbal commands to a psychic Pokémon. Maybe Medicham didn’t have the mental chops to maintain a psychic dialogue?

Apollo’s flight path barely changed, despite the fact that he was glowing bright blue. He brought his wings up before beating them both down simultaneously, firing the first volley of concentrated air at the focusing Fighting type.

“Holy...” My mouth dropped open as Medicham leaped over the attack, sailing over the assault and throwing himself at Apollo, his fist crackling with power.

Apollo disappeared once again, before reappearing behind Medicham and slamming him downward, his wing slamming into the airborne fighting type with aplomb before forcing the fighting type into the earth with a resounding thud. “Gull!”

“Excellent work, Apollo,” I said, smiling down at the field.

Apollo dipped down a bit as he sent me a salute before beating his wings and banking upwards, a smug grin on his face.

Medicham slowly pulled himself out of the ground, sand lightly caked to his body as he glared up at Apollo. He raised his hand and a dark orb started to form, an ethereal hiss filling the air as it grew in size. The Shadow Ball shot through the air and whispers tickled my ears as the attack rose up higher.

Apollo banked to the left and the noise almost became deafening as the ball left the barrier.

“What the fuck is that noise?” I complained, my hands pressed tightly against my ears as the sounds slowly started to fade as the attack faded out.

Emilie’s eyes pinched as she looked at me with a frown. “What noise?”

“You didn’t hear that? It was-” The words died on my lips as the whispering returned, louder and more oppressive than before. My hands did nothing to block the madness out as two more Shadow Balls formed in either hand. “Dodge out of the way and Water Gun. Full force!”

The spectral noise makers once again went wide of my agile little sailor and Apollo leaned back and let a massive water bullet fly from his mouth. The damn thing looked bigger than Apollo, how the fuck did that come out of my bird?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Medicham strained to move, and I grinned as the sand firmly held him in place. I didn’t quite understand why or how, but I had seen more than enough cheesy ruins adventure anime to recognize quicksand when I saw it.

The Water Gun hit it's mark and the force from the impact was so loud that I leaned back from the arena.

“Medicham, are you alright?” Brawly shouted through the waning downpour as Medicham tried to pull himself up. His legs were solidly submerged in the pit, and the force of the water attack had pushed the lower half of his waist and his hands into the sludge filled stage hazard our arena had become.

“Refresh the rain. Don’t let it stop falling,” I ordered.

Legends above, this was perfect. I didn’t exactly know what else was on Brawly’s squad, but I imagined a decent number of fighting types needed to use the ground to fight on. Considering three of my four pokemon could deal with this with zero issue, I just had to deal with Heracross and I’d be set.

Water poured off of Apollo’s wings in waves as he beat them into the clouds above. As the storm started to reassert itself, a brilliant white light shined down from on high, and I gazed up at my water foul in awe as his form grew. His wings grew, both in length and in size. His beak expanded downward before shifting in shape to meet his growing form.

“Pelliper!” Apollo shouted, announcing his change to the world, and the storm surged, becoming more potent under Apollo’s presence.

“Fantastic! I knew you were close, but wow! Congratulations, Apollo!” I shouted with glee. “Now Air Cutter, full power.”

Apollo nodded and beat his new wings towards the ground. What I had thought would be a small, moderately powerful blade of compressed air morphed into a massive air sickle, easily eclipsing Skarmory’s best shots by miles as it screamed through the sky.

Medicham, still glued in place, managed to pull an arm out of the arena. Another Shadow Ball formed in his hand, and I sighed in relief as the whispering ball was obliterated against Apollo’s attack. The air blade cleaved into both Medicham and the ground, causing a small explosion on contact and kicking up a decent amount of the goop Brawly’s fighting type was stuck in.

The chaos revealed a passed out Pokémon, half submerged in the quicksand with swirling eyes and a small gash on his chest.

“And thanks to an incredible stroke of strategy by the warrior of weather, Brawly’s Medicham is unable to battle.” The ref raised a flag Brawly’s way. “Will the illustrious gym leader of Dewford please send out their next Pokémon.

Medicham was already getting pulled back into his ball by the time the ref finished.

“You do know I’m the one that signs your paychecks, right?” Brawly asked.

The ref remained tight lipped with his flag still raised.

Brawly sighed. “Can’t find good reliable help these days.” He looked up at me and grinned. “Congrats. I’ve seen quite a few evolutions on this beach, but I never get tired of it. It’s always a great sight to see.” He lifted another poke ball into the air.

“Even if you lose a mon because of it?” I asked.

“Meh, Medicham will be avenged.” Brawly waved towards the field. “Though I do have to ask, was this intentional, or accidental. Because I’m going to be honest, this is incredibly rude, and severely limiting.”

“Yeah, I wish I could say I planned this, but I didn’t. Still though, we take happy accidents.” I grinned widely at the gym leader.

“Will the gym leader please stop stalling and send out their next Pokémon?” the ref asked in a long, suffering tone.

“You’re harshing my vibes and I don’t appreciate it.” Brawly glared before grabbing a new ball from his belt. “Hawlucha, you’re up!”

A Pokémon I had never seen before took to the skies, his wings trailing back like a cape in the rain as he slowly lost altitude.

“Don’t land, the ground is currently hazardous to our health,” Brawly ordered.

The mini luchador rapidly flapped his arms before locking his gaze with mine. In an instant, he all but teleported across the field, stopping right right in front of me. The bird looked me up and down before sneering and flying back.

Did I just get judged? I think that little shit was making fun of me!

“Hawlucha, calm down would you, the round hasn’t even started yet.” Brawly groaned as Hawlucha gave a weak chuckle and scratched behind his head.

How the hell was he maintaining altitude while doing that?

The ref cleared his throat and Gym Leader and Pokémon alike snapped to attention. “Pelliper vs Hawlucha. Begin!”

Hawlucha disappeared as soon as the round was called and slammed his wing into Apollo. That... was that Aerial Ace? I didn’t hear anything. Is this thing just... that fast naturally? What the hell?

Apollo winced slightly, but otherwise tanked the hit without too much issue. Hawlucha brought up a single clawed foot in an attempt to land a roundhouse kick, but Apollo beat his wings and a large gust of wind beat him back and sent a veritable cascade of rain his way for his trouble.

“Don’t react.” Emilie whispered from my shoulder. “Apollo wants you to leave this to him for a bit.”

I hesitantly nodded very stiffly. “Any reason why?”

“This Hawlucha is... very uppity. Apollo really doesn’t like him,” Emilie muttered. “He wants to teach him some manners."

I chuckled a bit. “Tell him he’s good to discipline the child as he sees fit.”

“You two do know you can talk freely as long as you’re not giving advice to Lea, right?” Brawly asked.

Both of us froze. Busted.

Brawly laughed. “Hell, advice is probably fine, too. It’s been a minute since a talking Pokémon's been on this beach. I’m surprised a Ralts would even bother.”

“It’s rude to invasively poke into people’s heads without asking.” Emilie shouted across the field.

I split my focus a bit as I tried to both pay attention to the fight and listen to the conversation. It wasn’t every day you got to strike up a conversation with a Gym Leader.

Apollo gained altitude and let gravity do a bit of work as he dived toward Hawlucha with grey colored wings. Damn, he really didn’t like this Hawlucha if he was breaking out Steel Wing.

“Fair enough, fair enough. You’re a lot more courteous than most.” Brawly shivered. “You should really try to... press that lesson when you go up against Tate and Liza. They’re really cavalier about it. Makes me hate our meetings.”

I blushed a bit, happy that he had confidence we would even make it that far. “I’ll keep that in mind. Well, try too at least. We’ve got a long way to go before we get there.”

Hawlucha barely flew out of the way of Apollo’s attack and countered with a dive kick to Apollo’s forehead. He pulled himself up and beat his wings out towards the drenched Hawlucha.

“Eh, you’ll get there. At some point, at least.” Brawly grinned confidently at me.

I leaned back, before frowning as Apollo winced away from the kick. “Shouldn’t you be... directing your Hawlucha?”

Brawly shook his head. “Harley is way too proud to listen to me order her around. I can offer the occasional suggestion, like get above the clouds and beat your wings to dry off.”

Hawlucha flew up. Apollo flew to meet him, but even soaked, Hawlucha was still a bit too fast. Apollo was also moving a bit slower, and I winced at a sudden realization. Pellipers were tougher and hit harder, but they were slower. We’d have to completely change our strategies.

I wondered if that was another reason Apollo asked for freedom to act as he pleased here.

“But yeah, she doesn’t like getting ordered around all that much, and I think she does a decent enough job on her own that I don’t bother.” Brawly said. “I respect her descision making well enough, and I’m guessing you respect your pokemon’s just as much, considering you’ve yet to give a command.”

“Apollo probably knows what he’s doing as a Pelliper better than I would. I trust him to handle this,” I replied.

Apollo beat his wings, and four different wind sickles launched into the storm clouds above. A shout of pain echoed from above and a disheveled Hawlucha dive bombed from on high. Apollo disappeared in a buzz and met the Hawlucha head on. The resulting crack was deafening, but neither pokemon backed down. Electricity started to crackle around Hawlucha’s fist.

“Apollo!” I shouted.

Apollo brought his wing down rather than Aerial Ace away, and fired a massive column of air, reminiscent of Skarmory’s Air Slash from our fight on the cruise, point blank as the Hawlucha rose up and drove his crackling fist into Apollo’s stomach. The sky exploded and sent both Pokémon away and down into the quicksand pit.

Neither moved to pull themselves up and they slammed into the muck below. Neither one moved.

“And in a spectacular display of aerial acrobatics, the skybound match up ends in a draw. Both Pokemon are unable to battle.” The ref raised both flags high into the air. “Since this was a double knock out, both challenger and leader will send out there next mon at the same time. One.”

I breathed a sigh through my nose and lifted up Apollo’s poke ball. I recalled him and grinned down at the poke ball. “You were incredible.” I smiled and looked across the field to see Brawly doing much the same.

“Two.”

I took a second to think as Brawly pulled up his next poke ball. “That’s probably Heracross. I doubt he wants to spring has Ace on me yet.”

Joern would be a terrible pick, Emilie would not appreciate dealing with a bug type. Apollo was down... “Only one choice, then.”

“Three.” The ref repeated his earlier flourish as the arena once again exploded in white light.

I grinned at being right, Heracross flew above the pit, his eyes narrowed as he flexed menacingly at me.

“Where on earth did you find a Honedge in Hoenn?” Brawly’s eyebrows climbed up to the top of his forehead as he took in the spectral sword.

The dark chamber flashed in my head, and I winced. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I grimaced before doing my best to smile at Lucas. “You ready for our first gym battle, Lucas?”

“Honedge! Hon hon edge, Honedge.” Lucas replied, bouncing around in place with every sylable.

“He’s looking forward to it.” Emilie said, a grimace adorning her features.

Lucas turned and glared at her.

“Fine, he wants to... get to the point.” Emilie’s nose turned up as the words left her mouth.

I grinned down at my starter. “You know what, he’s actually way funnier now that I have to listen to him second hand through you.”

Emilie glared at me before turning to the ref. “Oi, start the damn match. I don’t want to deal with either of these two right now and could use a distraction.

“Right!” The ref jumped a bit and lifted both flags into the air. “Honedge vs Heracross. Begin!”

“Knock off!” Brawly shouted.

Why do all of his Pokémon have Dark and Electric moves?

Fighting gym, of course they do. Brawly knows his weaknesses better than anyone. Of course they know dark and electric moves.

“Aerial Ace to counter,” I ordered. Lucas disappeared to the sound of air being cleaved in two before reappearing behind the Heracross, his blade pointing towards the sky as single gash formed on Heracross’s shell. The dark aura faded from his fist as he was shoved backwards, clutching his chest before spinning around towards the phantom blade.

“Hera!” Heracross brought his fist up, glowing once again with a dark aura, and slammed it home into Lucas’s glass eye. Lucas rocketed backwards from the angry bug type before instinctively dropping down and phasing through the ground.

“And of course this thing knows Aerial Ace too.” Brawly groaned. “Going to have to hit it a lot harder than that to push through Heracross’s shell, though."

“Yeah, well-” I froze as I realized something incredible.

Vines. Slowly inching their way around Heracross’s body. He was still SEEDED! That persisted through a recall? I suddenly felt very bad for the Nurse Joy’s out there that tended to pokemon I fought. Those vines were a bitch to get off.

“Close your eyes and focus, Heracross. Honedge will come to you, just be ready to counter.”

Heracross nodded and closed his eyes, his body tense. A shadowy blade sprung up from the ground and Heracross casually flew just out of reach. This process seemed to repeat for a while too. A black blade would rise up from the ground, always just a half second too late to tag the focusing Heracross as he zipped around the arena.

These attacks were nearly instantaneous, how was the damn thing dodging?

“Now counter with Knock Off!” Brawly shouted.

“Aerial Ace out of the ground this time. Meet him head on,” I ordered, glaring at the bug.

The muck exploded upwards as Lucas slammed his blade against Heracross’s attack. The two attacks held each other at bay, and a small crackling sound filled the air as Lucas started to giggle.

A black spectral blade rose up from the ground behind Heracross, and ran him through.

Heracross screamed, his face twisted in agony as Lucas’s floated backwards to reveal his shadow still connected with the ground below.

I stared on in worry as the astral blade pulled back into the ground and Heracross started to float downwards, clutching his chest. Despite the fact that it had just been run through, no wound was left behind.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“It’s better if you don’t question how ghosts do what they do.” Emilie said.

“Are you good to keep going, Heracross?” Brawly asked, concern tinting his voice as the Heracross brought his fists into his palm aggressively.

“Herrra,” Heracross growled, before disappearing in a buzz of familiar sound and slamming into Lucas, full force.

Lucas looked bored as it floated backwards, away from the force of the attack.

“Return the favor, Lucas, aim for the spot you targeted before,” I ordered as the rain slowly started to weaken.

Fuck.

“Honedge.” Lucas disappeared once again, this time appearing a solid fifteen feet forward through the Heracross, and an angry red line appeared on Heracross’s chest as he fell down into the bog. The cut looked fairly shallow, but the attack hit home.

Heracross fell forward into the bog, and a red line tagged the bug type almost instantly.

“Heracross is unable to battle.” the ref shouted, waving his flag my way. “Honedge is the winner of this round, putting Lea at an incredible three to one lead. Will our gym leader find a way to claw back from this?”

“We’re certainly going to try!” Brawly shouted, his fist held up into the air with a single poke ball at the ready as he grinned up at the clearing sky.

The rain came to a full stop as the clouds began to dissolve into the air. The sun shone onto the arena for the first time since the start of the battle.

“This is going to be fun.” The fact that Brawly didn’t sound nervous at all was freaking me the fuck out. “Haven’t had to claw back from this big of a deficit in a while, I am pumped.” He lifted the ball up and enlarged it in his palm. “Gallade, you’re up!”

I’m sorry, WHAT!

My heart jumped into my throat as what could only be described as a knight of the realm formed opposite of me. His feet glowing as sand pulled up from the ground and formed a mini platform to stand on. Green blades juted out from his arms and a look of hunger crossed his features as he looked my way.

No. As he looked Emilie’s way.

“He liked what he saw from Roxanne’s battle.” Emilie muttered, her voice sounding as terrified as I felt. “He wants to test me.”

I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat. How was something this terrifying in the three badge bracket? I was staring down Gawain’s future, trained by a gym leader.

“Are both of you ready?” The ref asked.

“No,” I muttered as that familiar cloying darkness played with my mind.

“Miss Sakai-”

Brawly lifted his hands up and the ref paused. “Take your time. I’m not in any hurry.

“I’m sorry, uh. Give me a second.” I took a deep breath, trying and failing to think calming thoughts. I just-

“Visualize the rain falling against a glass door.” Emilie chanted off in a soothing voice. “Think of the world dissolving away and focus on my voice, okay? We’re in a gym battle. Not the cave, and not the wild. Breathe in... and breathe out. You’re safe.”

I complied, and felt my body start to relax as the world started to calm down around me. “I... I think I’m good.”

Brawly nodded.

“In that case, Honedge vs Gallade.” The ref brought his flags down. “You may begin!”

“Aerial Ace,” I ordered, my voice shaking slightly.

Lucas disappeared, and I gaped at the scene in front of me.

In that split second, less than a second even, Gallade had brought his arm up to meet Lucas’s assault and held the bladed pokemon back with his own, mini arm blade. Their edges met in midair as Lucas shook in place, his spectral body struggling to maintain the lock. Gallade slowly brought up his other arm, and the much longer blade glowed purple in the afternoon sun.

“Phase through and go to ground! Get out of there now!” I shouted frantically.

Lucas phased through Gallade’s bladed arm before sinking into the beach below, narrowly avoiding a Knock off as Gallade pounded his fist into the ground.

I felt myself sag at the brief reprieve. Going in close was suicide, got it. Good to know. Fuck, that was Lucas’s whole kit. Brawly hadn’t given any orders, so either he wasn’t taking this fight seriously enough or he was giving mental orders. Neither option was good for me, because it didn’t give me any kind of warning, and-

The arena was levitating.

Wet sand and water rose from the ground at a quickening rate, and soon, I could see the outline of the box that was the underground part of the barrier. Among the floating masses of sand and water that were quickly being separated, I could see Lucas gaze up in awe at the floating constructs.

“Aerial Ace while he’s focusing!” This would be our one shot to land a meaningful hit. All I had to-

My heart stopped when Gallade once again brought his blade up to meet Lucas’s edge. The sand started to float back towards the ground, but the massive body of water that had fallen onto the arena over the course of this fight remained airborne. Gallade’s eyes glowed with an etheral blue light, and the mass disappeared. I heard a massive splash a good ways off shore and gulped.

Multitasking, antipersonal teleportation, a mental connection, and matter manipulation on a scale that broke my brain. Legends above we were fucked. Lucas floated away from the monster before us, and the light emanating from Gallade’s eyes shifted from blue to red.

He moved. Infinitely faster than I could ever dream of keeping up with or tracking, Gallade glided across the battlefield, pulled back a glowing white fist, and slammed it into my ghost type.

How the fuck did that work!?

Lucas was blown back, slamming into the barrier. His blade stabbed into the shoal as his tassel flowed limply in the wind.

Down in one punch.

“Honedge is unable to battle.” The ref announced the result with what felt like the finality of a death sentence.

I stared at the field and slowly lifted Lucas’s poke ball, my heart hammering in my chest at the beatdown I just witnessed.

“Foresight into Drain Punch,” Emilie muttered, her voice sounding far away. “We’ve had him for three days, and he’s barely been trained.”

I wasn’t sure which of us she was trying to reassure.

“For a first battle, he did great.” Emilie nodded to herself before smiling at me. Joern barely got tagged while he was out and I'm still fresh. We CAN win this.”

I nodded and grabbed Joern’s ball. “Stop freaking out. Got it.”

Joern formed in front of me and glared at the empty skies before starting to dance, probably eager to get as much of a head start from this as he could. Gallade leaned forward.

“Gallade vs Lombre. Begin!” The ref hurriedly announced.

Gallade started moving before the word even left his mouth. Joern shimmied his hips, before rotating. He brought his hands together while he was facing me and charged a massive Water Pulse in the split second he turned toward me. He launched it at the now airborne Gallade, firing point blank and beating the overwhelming psychic type back as water exploded out across the arena.

Gallade appeared on the opposite side of the field, slightly drenched but otherwise fine. His eyes glowed and the sand started to move and shift beneath Joern’s feet.

Joern jumped as the ground tried to grab him and landed a few feet away in a flourish, landing in the writhing mass of a field our arena had become. Sand snaked up and grabbed the grass type, pinning it to the shifting beach as clouds started to form once more. Joern was slammed downward, face first into the sand as the first few drops of a new rainstorm started to fall.

Gallade rushed across the field once again and jumped. He all but touched my artificial clouds before bringing his legs down on my pinned Pokémon.

“Grab him once he lands and Absorb. Set up Ingrain, and Leech Seed if you can.” I found my voice for the first time in this fight. Joern was doing his best, and it was incredible. I needed to snap out of this.

Joern gasped as Gallade’s leg slammed into Joern’s stomach, but despite that, he forced his arms through the sand, took hold of Gallade, and turned. Gallade lost his balance and faceplanted into the sand as roots and vines started push from Joern’s feet into the ground beneath him. He was sucking in air rapidly as he struggled to focus on his opponent, and he rotated a seed around on his head before lobbing it at his downed opponent.

Gallade teleported out of Joern’s grip, and the shot missed.

“Fuck!” I shouted.

“Language,” Brawly said with a smile, speaking for the first time since the fight began.

Joern focused a ball of water and blasted a Water Pulse directly behind him as Gallade reappeared in front of shockwave.

“Fuck!” Brawly shouted.

I laughed. "You do realize that my team trains against each other, right?” I asked as Gallade was thrown backwards by the massive torrent. “We’re used to how psychic’s fight. Gallade might be several magnitudes more annoying than anything else we’ve had to deal with up till now.”

Emilie punched my arm and glared at me.

“That we’ve had to fight seriously.” I quickly corrected.

Emilie huffed and looked away from me.

“But we’re not completely out of our depth.”

“Fair.” Brawly smiled as his Gallade teleported in front of him.

He winced as he landed, before slowly rising to his full height and staring across the field. Joern met his gaze with a cocky grin as he rose up to his full height, looking far healthier than he had before.

“You shouldn’t mind some of your own tricks being thrown back at you, then,” Brawly said.

Gallade slowly started to lift into the air as a massive amount of sand levitated towards him. The growing ball of sand twisted and morphed before slowly taking shape into more defined features. Two sand replicas of Gallade flanked the original. “Well, with some minor tweaks, of course.”

“Sand clones. Great. One of them wasn’t annoying enough. Blast them with Water Pulse, full power. I don’t care how strong the Gallade is, sand is sand,” I ordered, my voice firm and confident in the falling rain storm.

Joern complied and brought his hands up. The two sand clones split from the pack going left and right as Gallade jumped above the attack and descended on Joern in another dive kick. Joern swished his head around and another seed was launched toward the descending menace. He teleported away, and both sand clones rushed my rooted teammate. One slammed his fist into Joern’s head while the other one drove a kick into Joern’s stomach.

Joern rotated away from the hits, and the force of the attacks pulled him out of the ground. I sighed. Sand really didn’t make for the best material to try and ground yourself. Joern rolled twice across the ground before catching himself. Both sand clones were on him instantly and Joern threw another Water Pulse out. The sand clones ran face first into the attack and dissolved instantly.

They reformed on either side of Joern and took another swing. Joern ducked under the haymaker only to get swept by a low sweep and face planted into the sand. I felt like we were getting no where fast. I needed to...

Joern was starting to sink. The ground was starting to get overly saturated again, the floor was quickly starting to return to the bog it had once been.

“Go under, Joern, and wait for your moment. I know this is probably a bit different to the ponds you’re used to, but it’s better than being above ground and dealing with the three stooges,” I shouted.

Joern complied dove deeper into the muck. The two clones disappeared as Gallade turned his gaze downward. His eyes once again glowed with an ethereal blue light, and he raised a hand out towards the ground. He focused for a while, and I looked on, confused, as nothing happened.

“Joern’s a piece of work, I want you to know that. Not many pokemon can resist Gallade’s confusion,” Brawly complained.

My eyes widened. Gallade let out a soft cry, probably the first sound since appearing on the field, and started levitating the sand again. I couldn’t help but notice he was pulling the sand up slower this time. Joern slowly became visible a few feet away from Gallade, and a smile spread across my face from ear to ear as I watched vines sprout from Gallade’s chest.

“Gottem!” I shouted. Ooh, both of them look so mad. Now I just need to-

Gallade brought up his hand, and clenched it into a fist.

All of the sand he had been levitating rushed towards Joern. In the blink of an eye, he was engulfed in a sand ball and levitated into the air. Gallade brought his hands together, and a rainbow colored ball formed as he brought Joern closer. The ball bulged as water exploded out from the sand prison and Joern winced in pain as he fell towards the ground.

Joern was... not in good shape. One of his arms was limp and splotches of blistered skin made themselves known now that he was out of the trap. He glared up defiantly at the titan in front of us and fired a jet of water from his mouth. It was dispersed in midair before it even made contact.

Gallade put his hands out in front of him, and the single orb pushed outwards and became a beam. Joern got blasted, point blank, by Psybeam.

The cry of pain reverbeated out and distorted as the rainbow colored beam shot through the arena. I watched in horror as the light slowly faded. Joern stood perfectly still, his mouth agape in undisclosed agony and torment.

“L-Lom...” His voice was small, and his whole body shook.

The fact that he was still conscious was something I could barely comprehend. I floundered as I reached for his ball.

“Lom... Lombre!” Joern threw up his one good arm and focused what had to be every last bit of strength he had left into a single, massive, ball of water and pushed! The Water Pulse was unfocused, messy, and chaotic, but it rocketed out from his hand with the force of a charging Tauros and slammed into Gallade, throwing him back towards the back wall of the psychic barrier. I heard a faint cry of pain echo back my way and stared in awe as the attack continued.

Gallade disappeared, and Joern turned and shot a water gun behind him instinctively. He hit nothing but air, and a drenched, panting, Gallade that was holding his stomach in pain reappeared to his left.

He delivered a single, swift chop to the back of Joern’s neck, and I watched on as the consciousness faded from his eyes as he fell forward.

“Joern is unable to battle.” The ref announced.

I instantly returned him and held the ball close. “That was... insane.” I said into the ball. “Rest for a while. You’ve earned that, and so much more.” I looked across the field at Joern’s handiwork.

Gallade was seeded, bruised, breathing hard, and favoring one leg over the other. One of his sword blades was awkwardly bent, and his head fin was slightly torn.

“You ready?” I asked Emilie.

“If I follow up that performance with a loss, I’m swearing off cookies for a week.” Emilie answered before teleporting into the arena. I nodded once at the ref, and he raised both flags.

“Final round of the fight, Gallade vs Ralts,” the ref called out.

Legends above this match up sounded absurd on paper.

“Begin!”

Gallade disappeared and reappeared behind Emilie, who had already lifted a sand wall between them. A single, dark fist slammed into the wall and sand exploded outwards. Emilie had already disappeared from her spot. I opened my mouth, and realized I didn’t really know how to describe what I wanted her to do. I couldn’t just visualize it anymore.

“Rain ball.” That sounded like a decent description of what she did against Wally the other day. I breathed a sigh of relief as Emilie lifted herself into the air with condensed water and glided across the battlefield, away from a charging Gallade.

“Bad touch.” Emilie shouted after dodging another fist. “Bad touch!” Another missed swing almost tagged her shoulder.

Gallade tripped as one of his feet held into the quick sand, the area around his feet glowing blue as Emilie helped the process along. My starter flew backwards as Gallade threw his hand forward. Four tendrils of sand shot up from the ground and rushed towards her, slinking across the field with practiced precision.

‘Teleport!’ I thought the command and groaned. Emilie disappeared on her own, thankfully, but I needed to be better than that.

The sand below Gallade came to life and started engulfing him. “Sand Burial.” I ordered, hoping she got my meaning from our shared memories. Gallade teleported out as the sand pushed in. He reappeared across the arena holding his chest.

Emilie reappeared in front of me and started pulling more sand up from the ground. “I figured doing this now would save us from hearing your cursed name for the technique.”

“Wait, don’t-” A sand golem formed around her, and she brought a pair of arms up on either side of her. A more defined hand formed on the golem’s left hand, and she beckoned Gallade forward. I cursed. I thought it was a bit early to bring that out, but maybe this would be okay. Gallade looked exhausted.

Three sand tenrils burst from the ground and lashed out at the construct. The sand scattered on contact and barely dented Emilie’s creation. Gallade’s fist started to glow black as the clouds once again began to fade, and Emilie disappeared.

The sand golem exploded as Gallade swung around and backhanded the psychic construct, slamming his blackened fist into my tiny little Ralts. Emilie was launched into the air as her limp body flew across the field in an arc. My brain stopped.

One hit. All it took was one hit.

I couldn’t breathe.

Emilie was laid out in a lump before me. An overwhelming psychic presence pervaded my every sense. A weight settled in my stomach and my limbs trembled before the familiar sensation of losing control.

I couldn’t breathe.

The world around me felt muted and dissonant, and I couldn’t focus. My surroundings distorted into something I recognized quite well. The familiar palm trees rose up around me like pillars, holding up a clear, unyielding sky.

I couldn’t breathe.

I was in the field again. Helpless before a presence my mind couldn’t comprehend. I knew if I turned now, I would see Solrock staring back at me. His cold, unmoving face the picture of all my worst nightmares.

I couldn’t breathe!

“Ralts is unable to battle!” It sounded so distant... Where was that voice coming from? I couldn’t focus... “Gym Leader Brawly is the winner!”

I blacked out.