I glared out across the stage as Brendan took his position. The idiot was waving out to the crowd like a damn show Ponyta. Quite a few spectators had filled the stands and all any of them could do was stroke ass hat’s already inflated ego.

I needed to make sure they were cheering my name by the time we left the arena. No way in hell was I losing round two.

“Kick his ass, Lea!” May shouted.

At least I had one fan. The ref raised both flags into the air, and the crowd quieted down.

“This will be a one-on-one match with no time limit. Are both trainers ready?”

I nodded, and Brendan gave the ref a thumbs up.

“On the count of three, then. One.” I took a second to look over the arena. It was as plain and barren as could be, Emilie didn’t have much to work with. “Two.” He’d probably send out Mudkip again. I pulled up Joern’s ball. I had been neglecting him a bit. “Three.” I released Joern and smiled at the familiar shade of blue that appeared on the other side.

“Marsh.”

Any and all joy I had at being right faded after taking in how much bigger that shade of blue had gotten.

“Marshtomp, Mud Shot.” And he’s trying to take the initiative.

Fine with me.

“Joern, just tank it and tag it with a Leech Seed,” I ordered.

I smiled at the swear I heard from the other end of the arena. Joern rotated his leaf and launched the attack under Marshtomp’s Mud Shot. Joern skidded backwards from the force of the mud as the seed bounced along the ground. It implanted itself in Marshtomp’s thigh as his own attack ended.

“You good, Joern?” I asked.

“Tad!” An enthusiastic cry met my call as Joern rose to full height. The fact that his full height was less than a foot made the scene more adorable than anything, but I was happy my Pokémon was feeling good.

“Then use Razor Leaf,” I ordered.

“Use Water Gun on the ground and slide out of the way. Get close and Tackle them,” Ass Hat ordered.

Fuck, that’s a fast frog. The leaves impacted the ground where Marshtomp had been, and I had to think fast.

“Jump and Water gun to propel yourself backwards. Tag the overgrown frog if you can,” I said.

Joern opened his mouth, jumped, and fired. I had to fight back a laugh as Marshtomp ran, headfirst, into the stream. I knew it wouldn’t do much damage, but damn that was funny.

“Don’t get up, just go deeper. Dig.” And just like that, he disappeared.

“Joern, can you sense where your Leech Seed is?”

Joern shook his head.

Well, that sucked. Honestly, kind of impressed the Marshtomp dug down so quickly with how muddy the field... was... getting. “Joern, Water Gun the field, rapid fire. Make the whole damn thing a marsh.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the referee groan.

“TAD!” Joern obliged me and coated the field with water. The dirt very quickly started to shift and cake together into a big mud filled mess.

“Marshtomp, come up now while it’s distracted.”

The mud directly beneath Joern bulged, and Marshtomp shot out from the ground and slammed into Joern with way more force than I was expecting. Joern got shot into the air.

“Joern!” I shouted.

“Tad.” Joern fired a water gun in the air to right himself, and the mud softened his landing. He looked tired, but not that bad off. He was sporting a bruise on his underside, but as the vines around Marshtomp pulsed, Joern’s bruise started to fade.

“Marshtomp, close the distance and finish this with Bite.” I smirked when the Marshtomp started to sink as he tried to move. “Marshtomp?” The Marshtomp flailed as he sunk further back underground, the mud falling into the hole he had made when he emerged from the ground. The whole arena was an uneven, muck filled mess, thanks to his tunneling and Joern’s water volley.

He was a sitting duck.

“Joern, let him have it. Razor Leaf, full blast.” Checkmate.

“Water Gun, deflect them,” Brendan shouted.

The leaves shredded through the water as if it was paper and struck true. Marshtomp held firm, and for a second, I half thought it’d survive the onslaught, only for it to lean back and pass out half a second before the end of the volley. The referee raised his flag toward me.

“Marshtomp is unable to battle, Lea and Joern are the winners.” I smiled as I heard a faint sound of clapping. Really, you were all so vocal before. I recalled Joern and rushed over to the stands.

“Did I do good?” I asked.

“You’re terrifying, you know that right?” May quipped, shaking her head.

“Stop, you’re making me blush. I couldn’t lose in front of my adoring fans, after all,” I said with a smile.

“Fan. I think everyone else was here to watch the professor’s son battle.” May sighed. “Bet my rounds are gonna be fun.”

I winced. “Meh, if anyone gets rowdy, send them my way. I’ll beat them up for you.” I puffed myself up as I finished making my promise, and May laughed.

“My hero,” May said sarcastically. “I recorded your match by the way. Figured you’d want video proof of beating your eternal rival.”

“Please don’t call him that,” I begged.

“Just shut up and be happy. That whole bout was great.”

“It was.” I heard from behind me. Great, now I have to deal with his post battle trash talk. Turning around, I leaned back at the offered hand.

“Wasn’t expecting a Lotad. I really wasn’t expecting Leech Seed. How has that thing not evolved yet?” he asked.

Humility and blind praise? From a rival brained chunni?

“Joern probably isn’t that far off. I know I had a massive type advantage here, but that was still a second stage and Joern did fantastically. A bit more experience and training and he’ll be good to go. I just didn’t get to fight with him much in the forest.” I smirked. “This is a much better post-game talk than last time.” I couldn’t help but jab.

Brendan winced. “Sorry about before. Dad... really let me have it for being an idiot, and I was being an idiot.”

Ah, that explained it.

“The woods were also a bit of a humbling experience. Pineco suck.” Brendan explained.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah. They do.” I agreed.

May clapped her hands together.

“Good, we’re all friends now. Don’t forget to give us our winnings.” May’s eyes practically turned into dollar signs when she saw how much we wagered.

Brendan looked like he was in physical pain.

“You’re still good, right?” I asked, surprised at how worried I sounded.

“I’m fine, just sad,” Brendan cried. “I’ll just have to come back tomorrow and grind. Again.”

I shrugged, unsure how to respond to that. It kind of struck me as odd that he didn’t want to battle more. He was probably better than a lot of the people here.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, but I want to get some matches in, and I know Lea wants to go a few more rounds,” May said.

I did? May’s eyes trailed over to me, and I swallowed as the dollar signs hadn’t left.

“Sure thing, May...” I turned to look at Joern. I felt bad for how little action he got while we were in the forest. “You still up for more?”

He nodded once. Joern really wasn’t much for talking, was he?

“Fine, let’s queue up against randos then. Later Brendan.” Damn, I even called him by name. That whole thing was a lot less fun. I missed the trash talk, dammit.

“Take it easy, you two,” Stop being polite, you ass hat!

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

None of the rest of my matches even came close to the level of challenge Brendan brought to the table. May was right, most zero-badge trainers really did suck.

“Apollo, Aerial Ace. Just put it out of its misery,” I ordered, bored out of my mind.

I smirked as Apollo disappeared and slammed into the Poochyena at max speed and pulled up to take to the skies once more as the he went down. Endurance training really had paid off.

‘I feel kind of bad picking on cannon fodder like this, Cap,’ Apollo said.

‘Would you rather face May’s wrath if we don’t feed her avarice?’ I asked.

‘I no longer feel bad about bullying the cannon fodder,’ Apollo replied.

‘Just be happy our endurance training has been paying off.’

“Winner, Lea and Apollo.” The ref raised my flag.

That marked seven wins in a row. At some point this place had to have some kind of slaughter rule, right? Where if I win too many in a row, they’d throw me into a harder bracket or give me something stronger. This was... kind of boring, and probably not helping my Pokémon that much either. Joern got bored after four rounds, and I think Apollo was getting close.

“Um... Excuse me?” Huh? Why was the Ref flagging me? Did I do something wrong?

“What’s up?” I asked nervously.

“Well, you seemed kind of bored, so... alright, there’s a hidden challenge you can get here at the Battle Factory. After seven wins in a row, you’re allowed to challenge a... special trainer that runs the facility. If you think you’re up for it, of course,” he said.

Score, there is a slaughter rule. “Sign me up! My team could use a workout after that warm-up.”

The ref looked me up and down before tapping on his earpiece.

“Alright, I’ve got a challenger.” A pause. “Who am-? This is the Ref for the zero-badge bracket.” Another pause. “What do you mean you’re not sure? She beat seven trainers in a row, and before that she faced off against a friend of hers with a rather impressive looking Marshtomp.”

Well, I wouldn’t really call us... friends.

The Ref looked my way. “You have three battle-fit Pokémon, right?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, she’s good to go.” One final pause. “Noland will be down in a moment.”

“Should I just...” I pointed back to the other side of the arena and the ref nodded. I hurried back to my spot. The double doors behind the other side of the arena opened, and a tall man in a white, sleeveless coat walked through. He wore a red beanie, and just... looked exceedingly unimpressed.

“Alright, so... fair warning here. I don’t usually fight at this level. Most of the people in the zero-badge arena kind of...” Noland trailed off.

“Suck?” I supplied. I knew my friends and I were slight outliers.

“I was going to be nicer about it, but yeah. I’m not really sure if the mons I picked out for this are... of an appropriate level of strength. You still sure you wanna go?” he asked.

“Well, I’m down for a challenge, but the ref never really explained what was at stake here,” I said.

Noland turned and gave the ref a bit of an unimpressed stare.

“Well, I didn’t know how you wanted to handle prizing for something like this. You usually don’t come to my arena.” The ref hastily explained.

“Fair enough. Alright, a win here gets you a clean five thousand credits, a bronze symbol, and a TM of your choice available in the specialty shop we have in back. Oh, and I guess you’ll gain access to the specialty shop.”

That sounded better than what I'd get if I took down the gym. I started salivating at the prospect of getting a TM for free. Especially a reusable one. Those things were stupidly expensive.

“Anything happen if I lose?” I asked.

“Well, a trainer battle is a trainer battle, isn’t it. The factory will claim your winnings from the sanctioned battles you took part in today.” Wait, why did he specify sanctioned? Oh.

“So, my first battle against my friend...”

“Would not be included,” Noland confirmed.

Well, that made this super easy.

“Bring it. My team and I will beat anything you throw at us.” I shouted in glee. Oh, this was going to be so much fun. “Three on three, right?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yup, but first.” Noland pulled something from his coat and threw it across the arena.

It slipped through my fingers as I tried to catch it and I fell backwards, landing on my ass. I could hear Emilie chuckling in my mind as she levitated the envelope to me.

“Why does everyone think I'm coordinated?” I complained as I opened the envelope and pulled out a set of six cards, each with a different Pokémon on it. “What the hell are these?”

“An added layer of difficulty for me. You, my dear, get to pick two of my Pokémon. Choose wisely.” Noland explained.

I stared down at the cards and thought for a second. I recognized four Pokémon on these cards. Duskull was a recurring character on Mystery Dungeon, and I definitely wanted to fight one, for no other reason than to see a ghost type. They were so cool.

Elektrike and Ralts were out, though. I’d probably still end up facing the damn Elektrike. Noland still got to pick one of his teammates, after all. I knew what a well-trained Ralts could do. I did not want to deal with that.

The last Pokémon I recognized was a Zigzagoon.

I looked at the last two cards and took in the features of the Pokémon staring back at me. The first was a weird, purple, gremlin looking thing with diamonds for eyes. He looked like the type to start some trouble, and that probably meant he was really annoying to fight. The second was a yellow furred girl with an absolutely massive mouth coming out of the top of her head. I know the mouth was probably supposed to be intimidating, but honestly, the whole Pokémon looked kind of goofy to me. A single written word on the cards distinguished both of them as Sableye and Mawile.

I tapped both Mawile’s and Duskull’s card, and Emilie levitated them both back over to Noland. He smiled.

“Interesting choices, Ref, you want to sound us off?”

“Sure thing, boss. This will be a three-on-three fight with one allowed substitution. Both trainers will release their Pokémon on three. One.” Alright, I’d need to set the stage a bit for Emilie to be at her best, plus she’s fresh, so she’ll probably be last. “Two.” I think Apollo would be the best bet to start, just cause he’s fast and can dodge stupid crap if he has to. I can switch if I need to. “Three.” I released Apollo and Mawile formed on the opposite side. Alright, good. If Noland was releasing her first, it couldn’t be that strong, right?

“Mawile.” The rather intimidating Pokémon looked across the field at Apollo, before turning around, yelling at her trainer with her hand on her hip.

“Look, she beat seven in a row, and apparently, she impressed the ref enough to give her a chance. She can’t be that bad,” Noland placated.

I took this as a perfect opportunity to pull out my poke dex and scan the thing.

“Mawile, Fairy and Steel type, horrifyingly strong up close. Known as the carnivorous Pokémon. Well, that’s all sufficiently terrifying. Apollo we’re going to be using hit and run tactics. Do NOT get close to her mouth thing. Keep moving and rapid-fire water gun,” I ordered.

Noland smirked. “Not a bad strategy. Simple, but fairly limiting for me to deal with.”

The Mawile wasn’t even attempting to dodge the water guns.

“Ancient Power, knock it out of the sky,” Noland said, sounding bored.

My mouth gaped as eight boulders rose from the ground and outward in every direction. Not enough time to dodge.

“Aerial Ace to get out of the way, don’t stay close for a follow through,” I ordered.

Noland leaned back at the order. Apollo disappeared from in front of the rocks and slammed, beak first into Mawile. She skidded back a good solid five feet from the force, and Apollo took that time to veer to the right and gain altitude again. He fired a few water guns as he retreated for good measure. Good bird.

“Aerial Ace at your level, this might be fun after all. Mawile, return.” Noland called his teammate back. “I’m not going to waste my time chasing your Wingull around the stadium. I think I have just the thing...” Noland chucked out a poke ball, and an Electrike formed on the other side.

“Yeah, we’re not doing that. Apollo, return. Joern, center stage.” I half knew he wanted to force my switch with his, but it was still better than letting Apollo get zapped, and he’d have a chance to catch his breath. “Kick this off with water gun. Like earlier today.” I hoped he got my meaning. I couldn’t just shout what I wanted here. I smirked as the water guns angled down slightly, soaking the area Electrike dodged from. “Keep firing, just like that.”

“Charge a Thunderbolt while you dodge, Electrike.” The green dog started to crackle.

“Jump when you fire next to dodge,” I ordered.

The little guy propelled himself away as soon as the bolt was let loose. Though Joern dodged the worst of it, the current followed its way through the water, and Joern winced as it took the volts. Electrike dashed forward.

“Now, Thunder Fang.” So fast. Wait. It was close.

“Brace yourself and take it Joern. Leech Seed when it gets close.” Joern stood firm and his leaf glowed a bit as a familiar seed started to form.

“Abort mission, Quick Attack to create distance,” Noland ordered.

The seed impacted the open air where the Electrike used to be, and I sighed. This thing was way too fucking fast. Fuck it, enough with being subtle, this was taking too long.

“Full power Water Gun. Target the field.”

Noland smirked. “Discharge.” Faster than before, Electrike sent out a pulse of electricity. Joern didn’t seem to mind too much, but his Water Gun vaporized before touching the ground.

“Fine, you want to play with spread moves, we’ll play with spread moves. Razor leaf.” I was starting to get worried. Joern was a tanky little guy, but I couldn’t set up seed, and this fight was going for way longer than I was used to.

“Counter with Swift. Don’t let up,” Noland ordered.

Dammit all, do you have an answer for everything? “Don’t stop. Keep up the pressure.”

The leaves and stars met in the air and a dozen little mini explosions filled the sky. Smoke started to fill the battlefield, and I could faintly smell burning leaves.

“Joern!” I shouted.

A stream of water shot out from above and started to rain down and coat the arena. I breathed a sigh, relieved as Joern shot out of the smoke cloud.

The relief was short lived as his body started to convulse with electricity. He was paralyzed.

“Tad.” He barked at me, angry that I was reaching for his ball.

“He’s got spirit, I’ll give him that,” Noland said, grinning at my Pokémon.

The smoke started to clear and Electrike was still standing strong. With one key alteration. A single seed had started to sprout vines that enveloped his person.

“Damn, he was also a busy little plant in that smoke cloud. We need to end this fast Electrike, Quick Attack into Thunder Fang, end him while he can’t move.”

The Electrike boosted its speed and fell flat on its face, his feet falling into the muck that the field was slowly turning into.

“Oh, come on,” Noland complained.

Not so fun not being in control of the fight, is it, ya prick.

“Bring it home, Joern. Razor Leaf.”

No immediate response. Joern was still struggling to move through the paralysis.

“Just keep trying. You got this,” I encouraged.

“Fine, if we can’t move, charge up your best Thunderbolt. Hit it with every volt you’ve got.”

My eyes widened as the Electrike practically glowed yellow. Oh, this was going to hurt.

“Joern, you can do this, just push through it.” Suddenly, Joern stopped moving. I turned to look at him confused. But my fears were put to bed as a faint white light enveloped Joern, and his form started to stand up and grow larger.

“LOMBRE!” Joern shouted to the sky before jumping away, narrowly avoiding a massive bolt of lightning.”

“Now that, was impressive.” Noland smiled. “Win or lose you’re getting something amazing out of this. But don’t think this fight is over.”

My jaw seemed to refuse to work as I stared at Joern in awe. Deciding he didn’t want to wait for either of us to keep up the assault, Joern took this moment to raise both of his arms and a ring of water pushed out from his being, enveloping the stage.

“W-Was that Water Pulse?” I asked, mind ablaze with the possibilities.

“Discharge again, don’t let him bully you.” Noland shouted, and once again most of the water vaporized before it could do much damage, but a small ring still pushed through, and slammed into the Elektrike, knocking it back a good four feet.

“Trike...” He slowly got back to his feet.

“Elektrike, we have one last card to play. Watch your footing and Wild Charge.” Electrike’s entire body glowed yellow.

“Dodge and Razor Leaf, finish it.”

Lombre’s body pulsed as electricity gripped its body.

“Dammit, not now!” I shouted.

Electrike dove into Joern, and the area exploded in a haze of electricity. Once the smoke cleared, neither Pokémon was on his feet.

“Both Pokémon are unable to battle.” The ref declared. “Trainers, send out your next Pokémon.” The ref shouted. I grabbed Apollo’s ball, released him, and hoped... honestly, I didn’t know what I hoped for with the ghost.

A single chill ran up my spine as a shadowy figure started to form on the other side of the field. A large skull stared vacantly at me.

“Duskull.”

“Oh, that is so cool,” I said.

Noland blinked twice. “You’re... not scared?” He asked.

I laughed. “Why would I be? Oh, it looks so wicked. Oh, you have got to tell me where you got him, I want a ghost type. The whole shadowy vibe he’s got going on, he looks bad ass as all hell.” Was... was the skull face blushing. It WAS. “Oh, that blush is so ADORABLE. It’s like a chibi grim reaper.” The white mask got redder as Duskull looked away.

Emilie nudged my head with her fist. ‘We’re in a battle, focus.’

Oh, right.

“Apollo, Water Gun. Keep your distance like before, we don’t know what Duskull’s capable of.”

Apollo nodded, and a few low powered jets of water started pelting Duskull. Well, the area around Duskull, at least. Duskull casually moved between the shots as it floated closer to Apollo.

“Let’s just cripple it from the get-go, Will o’ Wisp. Clip this bird's wings.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. Four blue flames formed around Duskull and started to expand out toward Apollo.

“Douse the fire and gain altitude. Hide in the rafters if you have too, just don’t get hit.”

Apollo easily outpaced the fire, but they lingered, despite getting soaked. Right, ghost flame. Probably different from regular fire. Well, that was going to be annoying.

“I really am getting tired of all this water. Disable.”

And there goes my ranged option. I really needed to expand Apollo’s move pool when I got a chance.

“Fine, hit him hard and fast. Aerial Ace.” I knew I was pushing my luck a bit with this, considering he had already flown away from two of these today, but Apollo was a lot hardier than he had been before Petalburg Woods. I just had to keep faith.

Apollo disappeared and slammed, full force into Duskull.

Something that Duskull seemed moderately okay with, unfortunately. Apollo screamed out in pain as a blue fire finally made contact. Well, that wasn’t good.

“While you’re in close, Wing Attack. Don’t let it get away with doing that to you for free.”

Apollo screeched as it took off, ramming his glowing wings into Duskull as it gained altitude again. Noland grinned.

“Pain Split.”

Every nice thing I said about this Duskull was a fucking lie. Ghost types fucking sucked. Both of our Pokémon glowed with an ethereal haze and Apollo cried out again in pain, as Duskull glowed brighter.

“Now, finish it with Night Shade.”

Tendrils rose from Duskull’s shadow and lashed out toward Apollo.

“Quick Attack to dodge and get in close, then use Wing Attack on the fly by,” I shouted.

Apollo barely dashed around the Night Shade before tagging Duskull again. Even if he did heal off some of it, I knew the Duskull had to still be feeling some damage from those previous hits. This thing couldn’t last forever.

At least, I hoped not.

“Fine, Shadow Sneak, Duskull. Match their speed with yours.”

Duskull’s shadow expanded out and he teleported. From one end of the shadow to the other, he slammed into Apollo with a dark, shadowy aura. Apollo was launched a solid four feet into the air before landing in a heap.

“Apollo!” I shouted.

Apollo slowly dragged itself to its short stubby feet. He was breathing heavily, but he was standing.

“You got one last trick in you?” I asked.

Apollo nodded and kicked off from the ground.

“Let’s make it count then. Aerial Ace, one last time.”

Apollo disappeared.

“Destiny Bond,” Noland shouted.

Honestly, probably unnecessary. I doubted Apollo was getting back up from this regardless. Both Pokémon glowed black as Apollo slammed into Duskull.

Another double knock out.

“So, at the rate we’re going, what happens in the case of a draw?” I asked cheekily.

“Kid, if you fight Mary to a draw with a single Pokémon, I'm treating that as a loss,” Noland quipped as he pulled out a familiar poke ball.

Oh, this thing had a nickname. Goody. “Yeah, well Emilie’s my best, so don’t think you’ll be able to take her down.” I relaxed a bit as the weight I had gotten used to disappeared from my shoulder.

Mawile formed on the opposite side of the arena. She still did not look impressed.

“Wile.”

“Don’t give me that, you’re the last one on the docket. This trainer’s a lot tougher than we thought.”

I blushed a bit at the praise. Damn, I kind of wanted this thing to underestimate us.

‘Is the ground soft enough to work with?’ I quietly asked Emilie.

‘Yeah, I can manipulate this. Won’t be as easy as water, but It’ll work.’

‘Then start pulling it up. Make an improvised Mud Shot and start pulling some back for a mud golem.’

‘D’ accord,’ she agreed.

I smiled. For as much crap as she gave Gawain and Apollo, she was leaning into her name as much as they were.

“Whoa, what the... Mawile, Iron defense, then counter with Ancient Power.” The mud impacted the Mawile with a splat, and although it probably didn’t really do much, she did not look terribly amused when she raised the stones and launched them.

‘Teleport,’ I ordered.

‘Got it, behind and to the left of Mawile.’ Emilie disappeared and the stones harmlessly slipped past her.

‘Keep pulling up mud and stay ahead of her. I don’t want any attacks to connect while we get setup.’ I thought.

“Okay, the fact that you have a mental link this impressive at your stage is terri- are your eyes glowing?!” What?

“Are they?” I asked, slightly puzzled.

“YES!”

“Wile!”

Fuck, I wanted to distract him a little bit longer.

“Right, talk later. Battle now. Jump up and Iron Head. Run it over.”

Mawile jumped and hurtled toward Emilie with the force of a freight train.

‘Catch her,’ I ordered.

Emilie lifted her hands and Mawile rammed face first into a wall of mud that caked around her.

‘Now send her back.’

Emilie flexed and the mud violently shot Mawile backwards. She rolled a couple of times before correcting herself.

Emilie started pulling the mud back toward her, and some of the floating gunk started to shift into something solid. Emilie brought her hands up in front of her and jabbed. The mud fist followed suit.

“Okay, now I’ve seen everything. Mawile, show that wannabe kickboxer what a real punch looks like. Mega Punch.” Mawile pulled back and her fist glowed as she clenched It. The mud fist exploded on contact with the attack. Emilie pulled the mud out of the air, and it started circling her protectively.

‘Oh, if we get hit by one of those, we are just done,’ I fretted.

‘Don’t worry, I'm fine. She hits like a truck but she’s slow. I think that’s why he called her back against Apollo.’

I nodded along. ‘Makes sense. That said, defense isn’t really going to be that helpful here, so don’t worry about making the Emilienator. Just focus on dodging and fire pot shots when you can.’

‘We are not calling it that.’ Emilie said, her voice sounding done with me through the link.

‘But Emili- teleport.’

Emilie disappeared. Mawile slammed a fist into the ground, and mud splashed back into her face. The mud that had been floating around where Emilie condensed and slammed into the Mawile. I smiled as she finally cried out in pain.

‘Finally getting somewhere,’ I chanted.

‘No more jokes, focus on the fight,’ Emilie chastised.

“Damn, I was hoping we could catch you off guard. You psychics always get caught in your own head. It’s like one of the few chances us normal humans can get a drop on you. I’m a bit curious though, you didn’t do this trick with your other two Pokémon, is it something unique to Emilie.”

Wait, he thinks I have psychic abilities?

“Emilie’s doing all the work here. I’m just a normal girl, honest,” I explained.

Noland laughed.

“Honey, I’ve never met a Ralts that can form a mental link this impressive. Most of them are doing good to pick up surface thoughts. No way is Emilie doing ALL of the work. You either have latent mental skills you don’t know about, or you’ve been exposed to an absurd amount of psychic energy and your body’s adapted to it exceedingly well.”

The second one, definitely the second one. I needed to stop the conversation. NOW!

“You want to fight or do you want to talk!” I shouted.

Noland sighed. “Fight. Mawile, Ancient Power.”

‘I hate this attack,’ Emilie complained as she teleported out of the way again.

‘How are you doing?’ I asked. ‘You’ve been teleporting all over the place. That has to be taxing.’

‘I’ll live. Your ‘Endurance training’ was effective.’ Emilie said as she teleported away from another Mega Punch.

I thought about the fight as Mawile’s fists started to glow yet again. Our attacks weren’t doing enough, and Mawile barely looked winded. I needed something bigger. Emilie teleported away again.

“You know, for a fight, you seem to be doing a lot of running,” Noland jeered.

I ignored him, and my gaze shifted to the stones Mawile had sent out with ancient power.

‘Wanna play catch with an angry Mawile?’ I asked.

‘No. I don’t. I don’t think I have much of a choice, though.’ I felt Emilie strain through the connection as she grabbed a rock much larger than any we had lifted before and launched it at the charging Pokémon. Mawile was almost on her...

“Mawile, back step.”

Too late. The large stone slammed into Mawile and sent her tumbling to the left of Emilie.

‘Grab her. Before she can get her bearings,’ I ordered.

Mawile glowed purple and was lifted several meters into the air.

‘Now, slam her down,’ I finished.

The earth splintered with the force Emilie put into that. I gaped as I saw Mawile start to get up.

“How...?”

The Mawile knelt almost immediately and leaned against her knee, panting hard.

‘Yeah... She’s... not... the only one.’ Emilie rasped. ‘I’m spent.’

Mawile shakily started to stand, and I sighed.

‘Okay, screw you. Steel types are so stupid.’ Emilie complained.

‘Say’s the psychic type,’ I mused. ‘What do you think you can do?’

‘I can probably manipulate the mud still. Teleporting is probably also fine. Large stones, and directly grabbing that thing are definitely beyond me, though,’ Emilie said.

‘Well, let’s make us look scarier than we are right now. Grab as much mud as you can and have it float around you. I want to be ready for whatever they have left.’

Emilie’s eyes glowed. ‘Just so you know, after this fight, I’m passing out for a bit.’ Emilie said.

‘I kind of assumed.’

A significantly smaller ring of mud formed around Emilie.

“Alright, that’s enough, I’m willing to call this a draw.” Noland shouted over the arena.

Emilie’s mud ring fell to the floor and Mawile turned and looked at her trainer in disbelief.

“WILE!”

“I don’t want to hear it. The two of you are doing good to stand, you’re in no condition to fight. You'll have the world’s lamest showdown as the two of you hit each other with an attack that would put a Magikarp’s splash to shame, and then you’ll both pass out.” Noland deadpanned. Mawile tapped her wrist, hinting at something.

“We are not going to do that against a zero-badge trainer, are you out of your mind?! We are going to double down on your training, though. Clearly, I’ve been way too lax,” Mawile grumbled.

“So... That’s it then?” I hesitantly asked.

“If you’re good with it?”

I nodded enthusiastically, not eager to push Emilie any harder.

“Good, Ref?” Noland asked.

“Er... right. By mutual agreement, this match between Lea and Noland has ended in a draw.”

I rushed out into the arena and carefully picked Emilie up.

‘Great work.’ I sent that with as much pride as I could. Emilie smiled.

It might not have been a win, but I was still proud of my team. I stared across the arena as Noland recalled Mawile, and chuckled nervously when he fixed me with a smirk.

“Let’s have a chat,” he said.

I hesitantly nodded.