CHAPTER 132 - Planning and Pantsing

It had all come down to this. My future relationship with the Poketch Company rode on this entire battle. I stared at the Poketch Watch I wore on my wrist and took a deep breath. Craig had recommended me and had put his full faith in my capabilities after witnessing my battle with Candice. I couldn't afford to flounder here.

"Welcome, challenger," Fantina started. "This will be a five-on-five battle with… two switch-ins allowed. I reserve the right to use any Pokemon in battle, and try to not kill my ghosts. Send out your Pokemon."

I grabbed Electabuzz's Pokeball and held it tight. I had mulled over my first choice over and over throughout the last week, and my only two options had been either him or Jellicent. Buddy would have been a safer choice, with his regenerative abilities being as strong as they were, and they'd allow me to scout any kind of illusions Fantina might employ. What ended up tipping the scales, however, was the fact that Electabuzz had a very important job that only he was capable of.

And it was related to, but was not his ability to sense ghosts.

With a smile, I sent out honey, who whirred his arms around, generating sparks of electricity all over his body.

Fantina sent out a Haunter.

Most ghosts' forms were hazy and made out of a smoke-like substance, at least while their bodies were not solidified. Haunter was different. I nervously bit my lip as the ghost type oozed up from the floor and slowly took form. The ghost type bulged and bubbled while two smaller hands separated themselves from the main body, secreting poison that dripped onto the floor. Purple, noxious fumes exuded from its body, and a gaping, empty mouth slowly opened, forming into a sinister grin.

Haunter opened its eyes and began to laugh.

A laugh that sent shivers down my spine. The sound was deep and guttural, but it sounded like it was inhaling instead of exhaling. Like a laugh slowed down and played in reverse. Even honey had lost his usual grin by now.

"Disappear," Fantina said.

Haunter cackled and phased out of existence immediately. She was pulling no punches, just like with Denzel and Cecilia. I took a deep breath and began to count.

Five seconds was about correct, according to the footage I watched.

"Discharge, make it quick!" I yelled.

With a defiant scream, Electabuzz clapped his hands and immediately sent out a low-powered surge of electricity all around him. Haunter's body hissed and popped, and the ghost type stared on with fury as the Discharge ran through his body despite him being invisible.

"Night Shade, and get back," Fantina said.

A ghostly copy of Haunter appeared in front of the poison type and flew toward Electabuzz.

"Thundershock," I said.

Another low-powered electric attack hurtled toward the shade, creating a shadowy explosion in between the two Pokemon. There was no need to waste Electabuzz's precious stamina if his attack wasn't going to hit his opponent.

What I was doing here was simple. I was planting a seed in Fantina's mind. She did not yet know that Electabuzz could sense ghosts, but she did know we could counter them. By showing my hand this early, I was signaling that Discharge was the only way that I had found to fight back against their invisibility.

I was luring her into a false sense of security, and hopefully, it'd pay off later if I could catch her by surprise.

"Haunter, Shadow Ball. Delay them."

Two spheres materialized in front of Haunter's hands. One flew at terrifying speed toward Electabuzz, and the other was more powerful, but slower.

"Now get in there and Curse."

There it was, I thought as I saw the poison type disappear. Curse was Haunter's most bothersome move. By delaying the two Shadow Balls, Fantina was countering my Discharge tactic, since honey would have to sit still to use it, and doing it twice in a row that fast was beyond his capabilities. I couldn't counter both attacks, and there was also the fact that Haunter was approaching to use Curse.

But that was fine. I snapped my fingers.

"Protect!" I yelled.

The first Shadow Ball slammed against a transparent, green barrier, but I knew that Electabuzz wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Haunter was hiding somewhere close, just waiting for the Protect to come down so that he could Curse Electabuzz.

"Now, Discharge again!" I hurriedly ordered.

Honey immediately understood from my tone, and he sent out another low-powered Discharge all around himself. He knew where Haunter was, but he was still acting like he didn't know. In fact, he was acting so well that he was almost convincing me. A strand of poison dripped onto his head, and the ghost cried out in pain from the electric shock.

"Curse," Fantina said again. Haunter's pain-filled screams turned to a burst of joyous laughter as its eyes turned red, and Electabuzz gripped his chest and started coughing up blood.

I recalled him. I couldn't afford to have him take that much damage, especially when I'd need him later down the line. As it stood, I could have surprised Fantina with a powerful Thunderbolt that might have almost taken Haunter down, but I needed to keep my cards close to my chest. I was thinking long-term here.

I grabbed Tangrowth's Pokeball and released him. With him, I could simply go with brute strength. The grass type's vines wriggled anxiously as he stared at Haunter, who responded with a mocking laugh. Sending out a grass type against a poison type might have seemed unwise, but I knew from my hours of studying that the only poison type move this Haunter had was—

"Fill the arena with Smog!"

Haunter quite literally vomited, spitting out both poisonous liquid and Smog out of his mouth.

"Bind, just like we practiced!" I yelled.

Haunter was a ghost, but its body was quite a bit more solid than most, which was why it was slower both to disappear and travel while it was invisible. Drakloak, for example, could do so in barely two seconds, but Haunter needed five, which was only slightly slower than Dhelmise when it used Phantom Force. Tangrowth quickly flexed as a thin layer of darkness surrounded the six vines that shot out of his body, wrapping around the ghost type as it kept using Smog. I inhaled sharply when I realized that the poison was so corrosive that the vines were melting off, as if they had been dipped in Acid.

Still, it was enough to slow Haunter down, and Tangrowth diligently replaced the destroyed vines with new ones, quickly reaching fifteen in number.

Our practice had paid off. Bind by itself wouldn't have affected Haunter, but with a little bit of dark type energy, it worked. Thank Arceus for Chase and his Flamethrower for giving me the idea.

"Knock Off!"

Two out of the dozen vines let go of the ghost, straightened, and became truly dark. This wasn't like our makeshift tactic to slow Haunter, this was a move that would pack a real punch. Tangrowth slapped Haunter with both, and the poison type flew away, turning into goo as it fell on the ground.

"Get in there and keep hitting it with Knock Off!" I screamed, pointing toward Haunter.

It was starting to regather itself now, just like Jellicent had done against Zweilous, but I knew from experience that that process took energy and time.

And I also knew there could be trickery involved. As Tangrowth kept smacking the goo around with Knock Off before it could reform, I kept my eyes sharp, watching every single corner of the arena. Haunter hadn't done this in any of the videos I had watched, but I could never be too sure—

And certainly enough, there it was. Haunter was slowly reforming in the corner at my side of the battlefield while Tangrowth was focusing on bait.

"Angel, get back! The real body's here!" I yelled.

The grass type turned, and I saw that his face had been sprayed with poison from hitting Haunter too much. Tangrowth propelled himself with his vines and ran toward Haunter, but the ghost type had been too far to catch. He flew into the air and disappeared too quickly.

What I hadn't expected was for the supposed bait he had been hitting to also form into a coherent body. There were two of them.

Was this a new illusion I hadn't seen in any videos? A new trick that Fantina had taught her Haunter?

Or had this always been in her arsenal, and this was the challenge she was issuing to me?

There was no way to find out. I knew the plan would go off the rails at some point either way, now it was all about minimizing my mistakes and not letting the fight snowball out of control.

Which one was the real one?

"Haunter, attack," Fantina said.

Attack? What the hell did that even mean?! One of the Haunters started sending out Shadow Balls toward Tangrowth while the other disappeared. I suspected that Curse was coming, but Tangrowth was strong enough to withstand it, at least at the start. The damage would slowly stack up over time, but I could always switch again—

"Above you, angel!" I warned.

Haunter reappeared, and its eyes turned crimson. Tangrowth shrugged off two Shadow Balls from the other one in the distance and hit the Haunter above him away with Knock Off, but he'd be slowly afflicted by Curse. He winced, and his vines wriggled erratically from the pain.

"Hit the Shadow Balls before they get to you," I said.

He caused the next Shadow Ball to explode early by hitting them with vines. He was too big to dodge, so he'd still take some amount of damage from the blast, but this was better than taking damage for free. He propelled himself forward, hunting the Haunter he had just hit away.

Like I had been thinking before, I could always switch, but that meant that Togetic wouldn't be able to use Wish—

But I had dealt with this before! Plans needed to be adaptable! If I fell into the sunk-cost fallacy problem again, I was risking a loss! Tangrowth Knocked Off the Haunter, who was fleeing for dear life, but he wasn't leaving him enough time to turn invisible. If I had to guess, the real one was the one who was safely away from the fight, only fighting with Shadow Balls.

"Haunter, Smog," Fantina said.

Or Smog, now. I winced.

And then recalled Tangrowth. Long term, I probably could have won this, but I knew that wouldn't be the right thing to do. Electabuzz or Jellicent would be fine here, but Jellicent's abilities to float would mean that I'd be able to hit the real one easier.

I sent out buddy, who took to the air with a short Water Sport. The water type tilted his head as he stared at the two Haunter— one of which was still filling the arena with Smog.

And then his eyes shone so brightly that I could see them through his head. That was hatred.

"Calm down, bud," I breathed out. "Stay sharp. Get close and hit the real one with Shadow Ball. It's the one using Smog."

Jellicent narrowly avoided a Shadow Ball with Water Sport, and then stared at me to shake his head. For a moment, I feared that he just wouldn't listen to me, but I understood what he meant after a second. That wasn't the real one.

Jellicent summoned a huge cloud above the Haunter using Smog, and raindrops fell like bullets, penetrating through its body and turning it to mush. He took a Shadow Ball to the face before nimbly flying backward out of the poison's range, but Haunter quickly followed with one of its fists wreathed in shadows.

"Water Pulse, get him off you!" I yelled.

The water type instantly spat out a huge ring of water that was so highly pressurized that a part of Haunter's body disintegrated.

It was both of them. Both of them were real, and one had just fainted. It was only now that I noticed that they were both slightly smaller than the original one had been, and Fantina must have seen the realization on my face, because she immediately stopped her hands-off approach.

"Curse before you faint," she simply said.

The Haunter that had been hit by Brine surged forward, its body deforming until it looked just like a flying, poisonous liquid. It had taken in so much water from Brine that it appeared bloated. Meanwhile, the remains of the second Haunter joined the first one, bringing it back to its original size.

"Jellicent, Shadow Ball!"

He absolutely could not be hit by Curse here. I was out of switches, and even though he'd be able to last longer than the others with Recover, the damage would eventually outpace his regeneration. The water type gathered an immense amount of ghostly energy and let out a deep, booming sound as he sent the attack flying toward the misshapen Haunter.

The ghost laughed one last time as it exploded. Fantina waited for the remaining parts of his body to gather again to recall him.

"Haunter is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your second Pokemon," the referee said.

I exhaled and felt my body relax slightly. Haunter was a tough Pokemon to beat, and despite having to use two switches, I had done so without losing anyone or taking substantial damage. I ordered Jellicent to Recover as Fantina sent out a… a what?

My ears tingled as I heard grains of sand shift on the floor. The sand slowly coalesced into a sand castle, and eagerly wiggled. I waited for a sound to come. A sound that I had expected to be disturbing, just like every other ghost Fantina usually sent out.

There was nothing. Just silence and the sound of wind blowing against the sand. And for some reason, that unnerved me a lot more.

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Palossand was the toughest thing my team could have faced. Despite being a ground type, the fact that it was made out of sand made it excellent at soaking in water, especially with the Water Compaction ability. It also knew the attack Giga Drain, which meant that Jellicent was done for if he ever got too close.

Not that I was planning on doing so anyway. I had made a contingency plan for each of my Pokemon, just in case they'd face Palossand. Togetic and Electabuzz would have been screwed, while Tangrowth might have won eventually, but he had taken some damage from Curse and other attacks. Jellicent, however, had a straightforward way to win.

"Sandstorm," Fantina lazily ordered.

Palossand silently moved its towers around, and a Sandstorm soon overtook the entire arena, hampering my visibility so much that I could barely see Jellicent anymore, and Palossand was also impossible for me to find. I already knew that this was coming. This was how Palossand fought. It isolated trainers from their Pokemon, and if they weren't used to fighting independently, then they'd be screwed. Fantina already tended to have a hands-off approach to her battles, so she wouldn't be affected at all.

It wasn't a problem for Jellicent, who would be able to sense him and maneuver quickly, which was why he was in the most advantageous position to take it down.

"Keep moving and hit it with Shadow Ball!" I yelled, hoping that buddy would hear me through the Sandstorm. "Recover when you can, and watch out for Hypnosis!"

If Fantina was ordering her Pokemon to do anything, then she was unintelligible. I anxiously gripped my pants as explosions rang out in the storm. I had never fought like this. Not seeing what my Pokemon were doing was making my anxiety shoot up to dangerous levels, but I could only place my trust in Jellicent and hope he would succeed. He had all the resources he needed to win.

So while he was fighting for me, I would look ahead and fight for my team. While he bought me time and dealt with Palossand, I would remake my remaining plan from the top down to account for the lack of Wish and switching.

On the fly.

—

Jellicent felt drowsy for the first time in his entire life as he stared in Palossand's general direction. Hypnosis was the attack Grace had warned him about, and he had to fight his own instincts to look away and fly off. The water type felt a deep hatred whenever he could sense Palossand, and it was affecting his quick thinking and judgment. He had felt it when fighting against Zweilous as well, but Grace had been there to talk to him and keep him aware of his actions.

She was no longer there. Jellicent felt the entire side of his face disintegrate— a deeply uncomfortable feeling that he stopped with Recover. The Sandstorm was affecting his maneuverability with Water Sport, and it was also affecting his aiming. The storm was so strong that it caused any Shadow Balls or Poison Stings to drift in the wind and miss, and Grace had warned him not to use water type moves. Hex would be usable, but then he would get hit with Giga Drain. Meanwhile, Palossand easily predicted how the wind would affect his attacks and aimed them perfectly. The water type spat out a Water Pulse to intercept another Shadow Ball, causing it to explode close to his face. He Recovered again. He felt the Palossand's form loosen as it writhed away from him, no longer in its sandcastle form.

He was in a dilemma, but he could not afford to wait. Grace would hate for him to simply get hit and dish out nothing in return.

Jellicent turned his levitation off and felt his body loosen as he dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding another Shadow Ball. He narrowly stopped himself just a few feet off the floor and propelled himself forward with another Water Sport. The earth opened up below him and churned out hot, molten rocks, but he managed to zigzag around them due to how telegraphed Earth Power was.

He would rather get hit by Giga Drain and deal damage than do nothing. Or was it his instinct screaming at him to murder this Palossand and atomize it until it was nothing but inanimate sand that had brought him to this decision?

When the water type reached Palossand, he stared into its hollow, white eyes that sat in the windows of its castle for a single moment, and he could tell that the feeling of hatred was mutual. Yet they were both attempting to hold it back. Both going against their desires.

They had both been trained with love, hadn't they?

Jellicent let out a booming sound as he hit Palossand with a point-blank Shadow Ball, and the sand castle shivered as he began to drain his energy. The water type immediately started to Recover, all the while, he was showering the ground type with Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball. There was no pain, just a slight discomfort. Jellicent did not even realize that his body was currently withering faster than he could Recover due to Giga Drain.

The only thing was filled his mind was taking down Palossand.

Jellicent screamed louder and louder, and Palossand's body shivered in anger as it silently raged, its two pale eyes contracting in anger. The two Pokemon would fight until one would be left standing.

—

I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Jellicent let out an ear-piercing, deep scream.

"Buddy?!" I hesitantly screamed.

The scream kept going on and on until the Sandstorm started to slowly subside. I wiped the sweat off my hands and waited with bated breath. He wasn't screaming anymore, and the Sandstorm was slowly disappearing, so that must have meant that he won.

I gasped when I saw the state Jellicent was in. His entire body was shriveled, his eyes were a pale red instead of how vibrant they usually were, and he was lying face-up on the floor. Palossand had been flattened, and only sand remained where he had stood.

"Palossand is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your third Pokemon."

Jellicent could still theoretically battle, but he barely had the energy to even float. He had done such a good job, taking out Palossand on his own like that. No one else on the team would have been able to take him out alone.

"I'm withdrawing my Pokemon out of the fight," I told the referee. He nodded and announced that Jellicent was unable to battle.

Fantina sent out her Pokemon.

It was a single, red eye at first, just floating in the dim room, but then a pale skull appeared in front of it, followed by gray, wispy cloth. A Duskull. The sound of cold wind filled my ears as the ghost type rose into the sky.

I braced myself. The eye was the same. The same as Dusknoir's.

But I knew myself, so I had meticulously prepared for this. I had forced myself to watch videos, over and over, getting panic attacks that my Pokemon helped me to deal with until what I felt was no longer crippling dread that stopped me from even thinking, but just terror.

I could work with terror.

Still, seeing the real thing was a lot worse than I had expected with the days I had spent analyzing the footage, but that also meant Duskull was the Pokemon I knew the most about. I swallowed as I sent honey back into the field, who wiped the blood from the Curse from his mouth.

"Disappear," Fantina said. An order she always gave with Duskull. What was coming next was a non-vocal Shadow Sneak, and then Will-O-Wisp.

See, in the beginning, I had believed Duskull to be an unstoppable force like Dusknoir had seemed to me all those months ago, but watching the footage had made me realize that it was weak.

I knew everything.

"Protect," I simply said.

Fantina's eye twitched as Duskull reappeared before ramming skull-first into Electabuzz's Protect. The impact from the Shadow Sneak was so strong that the ghost type was repelled a few feet, and that was what we needed.

"Thunderbolt!" I ordered.

The electric type yelled, bringing his hands forward and electrocuting Duskull with a powerful Thunderbolt. The ghost type's eye flickered, and the cloth on its body smoked as it cried out in pain.

Duskull's cry of pain, in this instance, was the sound of a strong gust of wind.

"Again!" I yelled right as Electabuzz stopped his first Thunderbolt.

"Dodge with Shadow Sneak."

Duskull was too quick, and avoided the Thunderbolt by a large margin. The electric attack continued forward until it hit Fantina's side of the barrier, and Duskull disappeared into the shadows.

Now was the time to reveal that Electabuzz could sense ghosts. If we could catch Fantina off-guard before she switched, then I'd be in the best position possible.

"Go get him," I said, but Electabuzz's antennas twitched. It was a code we had prepared beforehand, and he now knew that he needed to reveal his ability. Meanwhile, to Fantina, it would just be a vague attack with no meaning.

Honey broke into a run so quick that he became a blur, and I assumed that he was going toward Duskull's general direction.

Then he clapped his hands, slid on the floor as he stopped in place, and his fur sparked. I grinned as a Thunderbolt hit directly where Duskull was, and the ghost was forced to reappear. Duskull's goal was to hamper opponents with Will-O-Wisp before switching out. It wasn't a good attacker, so I knew that Fantina had wanted to switch out as soon as Electabuzz had been hit by the attack. It would have been impossible to dodge for long. Protect would work once, but honey couldn't use the move that many times, and he had to wait a long time in between uses.

Duskull's eye flickered off as it fell to the floor, and Electabuzz used Thunderbolt on it one last time for good measure. I had caught Fantina off-guard. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she had just been more expressive than she had been all day.

I was winning.

"Duskull is unable to battle. Fantina, send out your fourth Pokemon."

Now was when it would get interesting. Fantina had two Pokemon left and two switches, and while Jellicent had been fighting Palossand one-on-one, I had been thinking about who she could possibly send out against me.

There were two Pokemon I thought she'd use. The first one was Lampent, because she knew I had Tangrowth waiting in the back, and it would be a powerful Pokemon to take him down, but she wouldn't use it now. She'd wait until I had him out.

The second one I thought she'd use to deal with honey was Shedinja, because she didn't know he could use Fire Punch. And even if he could, getting in range to hit the damn thing would be nearly impossible. Wonder Guard meant that nothing else we had would be able to even hit it.

With the information she currently had, those two made the most sense to me.

I groaned when she sent out her Doublade. Predicting it correctly would have been so damn satisfying, but I had been wrong yet again. I'd need to improvise for this one, but that was fine. Fire Punch was still clearly an unknown to Fantina, especially since she sent out a steel type—

"Swords Dance."

—Excuse me?

Swords Dance?

Both swords unsheathed themselves, and their steel blade shimmered after doing a short flip. Swords Dance was a notoriously difficult move to learn, and Doublade hadn't had it in any of the videos I saw. How many times was I going to get tripped up by the same fucking problem? Gym Pokemon progressed too, just like mine did!

"Slash."

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled, sweeping my arm. I needed to force her to switch out here. The move was quick to use, but it drained a lot of energy from the user, meaning that they wouldn't be able to use it over and over.

The two swords separated, causing the Thunderbolt to just fly in between them, and then they rushed toward Electabuzz.

"Discharge in front," I continued after clicking my tongue.

He had two, maybe three more Protects left in him, and I wanted to exhaust all options before using one of them. Electabuzz nodded, and electricity flew out of his body, this time only going toward the Doublade. The swords didn't seem as easily affected by pain as her other Pokemon had been though, since they just took the attack head-on and kept flying toward Electabuzz.

"Protect!" I begrudgingly ordered.

The thin, green barrier appeared in front of the electric type, stopping the first Sword from Slashing at him.

But the second one broke through the Protect and tore across honey's chest, leaving a thick gash.

"Fire Punch before it gets away!" I hissed. I hadn't accounted for the fact that two, Swords Dance boosted attacks might be enough to break through Protect.

After a single spark, fire engulfed Electabuzz's fist, and he hit the steel type away from him with a defiant scream. His scream turned into a cry when the other sword slashed across his arm. I ground my teeth as I watched Electabuzz fight was essentially a one-against-two. He sometimes managed to hit the swords away, but they kept overwhelming him with fast, nimble attacks. Discharge wouldn't be enough to fight them off, either.

I ordered him to use another Protect to buy himself another few precious seconds, but he was done for. Electabuzz fell to the ground with deep, bloody gashes and cuts all over his fur.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your third Pokemon."

Doublade was too much of a threat, and princess wouldn't work well against them. She could only restrain one at a time, and they could maneuver in the air a lot better than she could. It would just be a waste to use her now.

I grabbed Tangrowth's Pokeball and sent him out, and I stared at Fantina.

Switch into Lampent. You want to switch, don't you? I thought. Come on, Tangrowth's a grass type, and bulky enough to fight your damn swords.

I relaxed when she did recall her Doublade, and smiled when a Lampent appeared on the field. I had been half correct, at the very least. Its sinister, purple flame shone brightly in the dimly lit arena, and its two emotionless yellow eyes stared at Tangrowth.

Now, the situation might have seemed like it was deteriorating, but I knew from experience that Tangrowth was capable of withstanding many fire type attacks, especially when he hadn't taken that much damage just yet, and Fantina was underestimating him. The problem stemmed from—

"Disappear," Fantina said again.

From that, and now, I had no way for my Pokemon to figure out where Lampent was.

How could I—

Suddenly, something lit up inside of me. A potential opportunity, and a potential disaster.

First came the opportunity.

"Tangrowth, start Power Whipping all around you!" I yelled.

Angel extended vines all around himself, smashing the air in order to try to catch Lampent wherever it was. Knock Off would have been better here, but he wasn't capable of using that many. Two at a time was his maximum, and that dark Bind might have been a good idea, but Power Whip was just faster.

The floor cracked, kicking up dust and rocks as vines crashed against the ground.

"Will-O-Wisp."

There it was. The potential disaster. The fire type appeared to Tangrowth's left, and a series of flaming, purple orbs that filled my ears with giggled flew toward Tangrowth, who couldn't even hope to dodge the homing flames. Just Tangrowth getting burned wouldn't actually be the main problem. Even with his attack power lowered, he packed such a punch that I believed his Knock Off would be able to deal with Lampent if we restrained him.

Well, I couldn't waste an opportunity to attack. It was too late to stay on the defensive and think.

"Get him and Bind!" I yelled.

A thin layer of darkness wreathed Tangrowth's vines, and he held Lampent in place.

"Burning Jealousy," Fantina said.

Lampent's hollow eyes suddenly raged with such intensity that I felt my legs shiver, and everything around it caught fire. The ground, Tangrowth, his vines, and even Lampent itself burned away in a fierce, purple flame. Angel's vine withered away, but we had time for—

Fantina recalled her Lampent, using her last switch of the battle. She released her Doublade again, and I held my breath. She might have thought that angel would have outlasted her ghost.

And honestly, she might have been correct.

I squinted at Doublade, anticipating the worst…

"Aerial Ace," she ordered.

I exhaled, releasing all of the tension I felt.

No more Swords Dance. This was still okay.

The two swords left their scabbards and began flying toward Tangrowth, and streaks of air formed at their tips. Angel was still burning, and the flames were chewing through his vines, he had been burned by Will-O-Wisp, but he could still fight.

"Bind one, and Knock Off the other!" I yelled.

The advantage of Aerial Ace was that the move seldom missed. It couldn't be deflected unless the power disparity was immense, and the move's user would almost always reach its target.

The disadvantage was that the move was not flexible. It was hilariously telegraphed, and Tangrowth could use it to his advantage. The first Doublade just cut through the three vines Tangrowth sent to Bind it, so he decided to tie as many vines as he could into a huge braid. The Doublade bounced against the tied-up vines, and Tangrowth quickly unwound them and wrapped them around the steel type.

He had been too slow to stop the other sword, however, and it buried itself deep inside of the grass type's body.

Now that the first sword was restrained, Tangrowth slapped the second one away with his hand wrapped with Knock Off, and then smashed the first one all over the floor. I grinned when the first sword fainted, going limp on the ground, but my smile slipped when I remembered what move was coming next.

"Tangrowth Ancient Power in front of you!"

"Retaliate."

Retaliate was Doublade's gimmick, and it would deal a lot more damage when one of the swords had fainted. The last remaining sword's eyes flashed with anger, and he blurred toward Tangrowth, who raised a barrier in front of him.

Doublade tore through Ancient Power and then penetrated through the grass type's entire body before falling onto the floor and fainting.

"Doublade is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your last Pokemon."

Tangrowth was on the verge of fainting, but I sent him an apologetic look, and he responded with two slow blinks. Princess could deal with Lampent, but I would rather give her as much help as possible.

Fantina released her Lampent and immediately ordered it to use Fire Spin. Burning Jealousy could only be used at close range, and Fire Spin was the second best fire type attack it owned.

Still, at this stage, a simple Fire Spin could take angel down.

"Ancient Power," I said.

The grass type sluggishly raised another rock, sent it toward Lampent, and the ghost type easily dodged.

Yeah, I figured.

The flames finished Tangrowth off.

"Tangrowth is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your fourth Pokemon."

Well, in my case, this was my last. I sent out princess, who announced her presence with a cheerful chirp. A heavy contrast to the horrible sounds that ghost types usually let out of their mouths.

"Start off with Wish," I ordered, just in case. Togetic tightly shut her eyes, and a bright light escaped from her body and flew through the gym's roof.

"Disappear and Shadow Ball," Fantina said.

Ghost type attacks couldn't be redirected by Psychic or Extrasensory, so I'd probably have to take that hit.

"Fairy Wind, keep it constant," I continued. Even though he was invisible, Lampent would still get hurt.

The ghost type appeared behind Togetic with a Shadow Ball already loaded, and hit her in the back. Her head whirled almost one hundred and eighty degrees, and she ignored the pain with a cute grin. Her eyes shone brightly, locking Lampent in place.

That's my girl, I grinned as I felt pride swell up in my chest. "Psychic!"

Princess laughed, and then smashed Lampent against the floor with such speeds that I barely saw him move. The control was still lacking, but the power was there, and power was what we needed to win.

"Will-O-Wisp," Fantina commanded.

"Ancient Power, drills!"

A drill lodged itself inside of Lampent's lamplight, interrupting his attack, and Togetic continued her onslaught, grabbing the ghost type and sending him flying against Kadabra's barrier. The light inside of Lampent flickered as its eyes became fainter and fainter.

He was on the other side of the arena now. That was how powerful Psychic could be against unprepared opponents.

"Ancient Power," I said again.

I saw Fantina raise an eyebrow, and I smiled.

Yes, from this far.

Ten drills emerged already formed from the ground and flew toward Lampent, who was barely cognizant enough to even float. The first two tore through both of its arm-like appendages, pinning him to the floor, and the last eight stabbed him right in the head with surgical precision. Its flame went out, and its yellow eyes paled.

"Lampent is unable to battle. Victory goes to the challenger."

I recalled princess after congratulating her and shivered in excitement as the spectators let loose a thunderous applause. It was like everything just clicked during the battle in a way I had never felt before. An impressive victory was what I had needed, and an impressive victory was what I got.

Four against five.