CHAPTER 97 - Predicting the Unpredictable

“Buy me some time,” I said. I knew very little about Glalie as a Pokemon, so I needed Frillish to stall to fish out its moves all while I kept my eyes on Candice, trying to notice any change in her behavior as I had tried against Gardenia, but failed.

This time, I would succeed.

Frillish wasted no time and sent out a Bubblebeam toward the hovering Glalie.

“Frost Breath!” Candice ordered.

The ice type blew cold air toward the Bubblebeam, causing the move to freeze mid-air and miss entirely. Without Candice’s direction, Glalie started to float toward Frillish as fast as it could. I stared at her, and she wasn’t panicking at this development at all. That meant that Glalie was more of an independent fighter.

“Shadow Ball,” I calmly said. That move couldn’t be frozen, so how would Glalie counter it?

Frillish gathered shadows in front of his mouth, molded it into a ball, and sent it toward the approaching Glalie. The ice type summoned a thin barrier, blocking the incoming Shadow Ball.

Frost Breath, Protect, I thought. What else?

“Now, Freeze Dry!” Candice yelled.

“Run away.”

Frillish’s tentacle began to freeze, but the water type hurriedly used Water Sport to get out of Glalie’s range. Our opponent was faster than he was, but with Water Sport, we’d be slightly quicker to get around.

“Water Pulse, then go around,” I said.

Now lower to the ground, Frillish spat out an enormous Water Pulse at Glalie, who inhaled sharply and used Frost Breath to freeze the attack again. Frillish was already speedily circling around the ice type, and I waited until he reached Glalie’s side.

“Bubblebeam again,” I said. There was no need to speed things up yet.

Unable to turn quick enough to freeze the attack, Glalie was forced into using another Protect to stop the Water Pulse from hitting. I stared at Candice again, and I saw that she was still sporting an expression bordering on excitement and neutrality. Glalie seemed to be adept at using Protect, and it wasn’t tiring after blocking a move twice.

“Ice Shard!” Candice ordered. Despite Frillish’s best efforts, a few of the sharp shards tore into his body. I wouldn’t ask for him to use Recover. Not yet. There was no need to reveal my hand, and the damage had been surface level at best.

Freeze Dry, Ice Shard, I thought. That was four now. I had a pretty good picture of how Glalie fought. It wasn’t the best attacker, but it made up for its deficiencies by being able to use Protect many times during a battle. It wasn’t the fastest, either. It was an all-rounder, like I had predicted.

Now, it was time to go on the offensive.

“Night Shade!” I yelled out.

Frillish noticed my change in tone immediately and understood what I was going for. A shadowy clone appeared in front of him and rushed toward Glalie, who once more Protected. I had noticed something, first in Gardenia’s gym battle against Louis, and now here. Pokemon that used Protect couldn’t use the move in quick succession. I was going to use that to my advantage and finish Glalie off quickly.

“Hex it!” I grinned.

Frillish’s eyes glinted, and smoke started to emanate from Glalie’s body. The ice type shivered and convulsed in the air, but we weren’t done.

“Ugh, she’s got us figured out! Forget the fancy strats. Just get in there and Freeze Dry!” Candice yelled.

“Shadow Ball,” I ordered.

Glalie pushed through the pain from the Hex and just flew toward Frillish, just taking the Shadow Ball head-on. The water type once again escaped with Water Sport, but a few Ice Shards hit the back of his head and tore through one of his tentacles. Thankfully he lowered the damage by using Acid Armor without me needing to command it.

“Water Pulse! Keep retreating!” I said.

Still running away from Glalie with Water Sport, Frillish spat out three Water Pulses in quick succession, which were all frozen by the ice type. This was bad. I needed to take it down quickly, or the next part of the plan wouldn’t work. Hex was barely out of range from Freeze Dry, so using that without taking damage was too risky. Every water type move would be countered by Frost Breath, so all I had left was Poison Sting, Hex, Night Shade, and Shadow Ball.

“Shadow Ball again,” I said. No need to reveal Poison Sting if it wasn’t needed. Frillish nodded, but gathering the energy needed for the ghost type move made him slow down. Glalie immediately started to freeze his body, but had to stop when the Shadow Ball hit its face. “Again! Make it stronger!”

This time, Frillish waited, gathering as much energy as he could, akin to Togetic’s Fairy Wind, but faster. The Shadow Ball grew so big that it was bigger than Glalie itself, but another Freeze Dry had practically frozen Frillish’s entire body over.

“Protect!” Candice said.

I bit the inside of my lip as I watched the Shadow Ball approach Glalie, who stopped its Freeze Dry to summon the protective barrier.

Impact.

The Shadow Ball broke the Protect down and cracked Glalie’s icy shell. The ice type fell to the ground and fainted.

“Glalie is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your second Pokemon.”

“Good job, buddy,” I said. He turned back and nodded. His body was half frozen, and he had seen better days, but he had done it.

“Man, I really thought I had ya,” she said. “I don’t think you’ll be good enough to—”

Focus! I screamed internally at myself. Don’t listen to her taunts. It was just me. Just me. Now, had I succeeded in taking out Glalie fast enough? I smiled when I saw that Candice wasn’t sending out her next Pokemon immediately. She was thinking. She hadn’t expected that huge Shadow Ball, and it had rattled her. Candice was sporting a slight frown now, and when she grabbed her next Pokeball, her hold on it was less tight.

My smile grew into a grin when I saw what she released next. A bright blue Sealeo lazily hopped onto the field. Candice was in an erratic mood. That meant that her choice of Pokemon could be changed. By taking out her Glalie as fast as I had, I had ensured that she would want to switch up her strategy and opt for a more defensive battler, and I couldn’t have hoped for a better choice.

For now, at least, I was controlling the flow of the battle.

I quickly stopped myself from immediately switching out from Frillish, however. He was hurt, but still in a fine state to battle. I still needed to ensure that Sealeo had nothing to hurt my next choice. My only switch of the battle.

“I wanted to be nice and let you start, but if you aren’t going to do anything, I will! Brine!” Candice yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I still needed to get faster at thinking.

“Dodge and Poison Sting!” I yelled, finally revealing the move.

A small cloud appeared where Frillish had just been, and rain dropped with such pressure that it created a small plume of snow on the ground. I looked at Candice and saw that she was complaining about something. I wasn’t really learning anything new on that front, so I focused back on the battle and smiled when I saw that small, purple needles had buried themselves into Sealeo’s hide.

“Aurora Beam!” Candice yelled.

I grimaced when I saw that Frillish had been too close to dodge this time, and a multicolored beam hit his chest. He was on his last legs now, and he had bought enough time to reveal two moves. I grabbed his Pokeball and recalled him. Now, I knew from past battles that Candice didn’t switch, so there was only one good answer to this Sealeo.

“You did amazing,” I said before releasing Electabuzz. “You’re up, hon.”

The electric type cackled as electricity buzzed around his body, and his fur stood on end. He was excited to finally be in a gym battle again.

“No holds barred,” I grinned. “Thunderbolt.”

“Stop it! Aurora Beam!” Candice ordered.

Electabuzz clapped his hands together as thunder crackled and rumbled around his body. The smell of ozone filled my nostrils as my hair started to stand upright. Sealeo sent out another beam of multicolored energy, and it made it about halfway through the arena before Electabuzz was done charging up.

With a gleeful scream, the electric type extended his hands forward, and a colossal Thunderbolt surged forward, completely overpowering Sealeo’s Aurora Beam and hitting the water type. Sealeo convulsed, writhing on the ground as countless volts coursed through his body. After fifteen seconds, Electabuzz ceased the attack, panting slightly, and Sealeo was already down, its body smoking and burned.

“Sealeo is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your third Pokemon!” The referee said.

“Fuck yes,” I muttered, pumping a fist. “That was perfect.”

“Buzz!” My Pokemon laughed proudly.

My excitement petered out when I looked at Candice. She was… angry? In all of the videos I had watched, I had never seen her face like this. But why now? It couldn’t be because I was winning— Cecilia had won harder than I had even after Candice had started taking her seriously and actually battling. Was it because I had caught her off-guard? In the high-level battling videos I watched of her, a lot of her challengers had done so. So why me?

With a deep-set frown, Candice sent out a Jynx. The ice type wiggled its hips and made a face, puckering its lips. In other circumstances, this would have been hilarious, but I couldn’t get distracted. Electabuzz was bad at stalling to bait out moves, so I needed to go on the offensive right away for this one.

“Thunderbolt again,” I said. Jynx was a psychic type, so going anywhere near it would probably mean a loss, especially with how frail Electabuzz was. He clapped his hands once more, sending out a Thunderbolt slightly weaker than the last.

“Psychic,” Candice said. Her now calm demeanor was unsettling me, but I knew there was anger behind that placid tone.

I had thought Electabuzz’s Thunderbolt to be too fast to divert, but Jynx was apparently good enough to do so. Its eyes shone as it diverted the move to its right, and the electricity only grazed its arm.

“Sing,” Candice ordered.

I felt my heart drop. “Don’t let it! Thunderbolt!”

Before Jynx could even begin to Sing, Electabuzz fired another attack, forcing it to divert it with Psychic once more. Since it was slightly distracted, the electric attack hit Jynx’s chest. We were stuck in a dilemma. I couldn’t make Electabuzz approach, but Candice couldn’t put him to sleep, otherwise Jynx would take a Thunderbolt, and I already knew she wouldn’t be capable of resisting many of those.

The problem was that Electabuzz would tire out first. It was time to switch things up.

“E-Swift,” I breathed out.

A dozen stars appeared above Electabuzz, and he infused them with electric energy before sending them off toward Jynx, but I wasn’t done.

“Thunderbolt again.”

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Another Thunderbolt burst through the barrage of stars, forcing Candice to make a choice. Either she could use an ice move to freeze Swift, or she could divert Thunderbolt with Psychic. There were too many stars for Jynx to ever hope to dodge everything. Candice grimaced.

I had caught that wince. That fray in her thought process. That second of doubt that I knew all too well.

“Psychic,” Candice winced, opting to get hit by Swift.

I smiled. It was too late. Somehow, Candice had gotten so annoyed at me that she had waited too long to give the command, and Jynx was hit by both attacks. It had gone how I had hoped for, but… what was going on? Candice was an emotional person, but she wasn’t the type to get affected this badly. I considered asking her what was wrong, but she let out a frustrated groan and immediately gave out her next order.

“You’re pissing me off! We’re going all out! Jynx, get up there and grab some trees on the way!” She yelled.

Some trees? My palms started to sweat as Jynx immediately broke into a sprint, swaying her arms like she was a professional athlete. A Pokemon like that had no right being that fast. Its eyes shone as it tore four entire trees from the floor, sending them flying toward Electabuzz. I bit my lip, thinking as fast as I could. How could I counter this?

Electabuzz didn’t need my order to start dodging. He weaved to the right, avoiding the first tree, and narrowly ducked under the next one. The next two were trickier. A spark appeared on his fist, and it burst into flames. He punched the bark head-on, stopping the tree in its tracks—

“Behind you!” I yelled.

I felt panic creep up when one of the trees he had dodged came back and hit Electabuzz’s back. Jynx was almost up to him now.

“You’ve got to attack!” I said, steeling myself. “Thunderbolt and run up as well!”

Electabuzz’s best form of defense was his incredible offensive capabilities. He started to run, hoping to overwhelm Jynx’s Psychic with his Thunderbolt so that he could approach. Behind him, the trees followed, getting ever closer. A Thunderbolt was barely deflected, but the next hit Jynx’s face, causing her to drop the tree trunks she carried with a huge crash as they drifted across the snow.

“Fire Punch!” I ordered.

Flames wreathed around both of honey’s fists, and he used the small window that his Thunderbolt had opened and started hammering at Jynx. He punched it in the lip before quickly moving on to its gut, going so fast that he was lifting it off the ground. He screamed, bringing his fists together and punching Jynx away before sending another Thunderbolt at the ice type. It didn’t get up. I sighed in relief. I had almost lost control here, and who knew what that would have caused. I needed to keep my wits about me no matter what.

“Jynx is unable to battle! Leader Candice, please send out—

“I get it already!” She interrupted. Her expression was downright sinister now, and it was actually scaring me. I had somehow made a gym leader hate me. She grabbed her last Pokeball and sent out a Galarian Darmanitan, who slammed its fists against the ground.

Electabuzz was so tired that I knew winning this fight was impossible, but I still needed to use him to at least figure out how this Darmanitan fought—

“Work Up!” Candice yelled, extending her arm.

Damn it, she wasn’t leaving me any time to think anymore. The Darmanitan’s muscles bulged, and it slammed its fists against its chest with a menacing cry.

“Thunderbolt!” I said. Battling a Worked Up Darmanitan up close when Electabuzz was this weak would be—

“Avalanche!” She screamed.

From this far? The ground rumbled under Electabuzz, who desperately tried to run away, but it was to no avail. Snow washed over him like a wave at incredible speed, and he cried out as he was buried underground. The volume was higher than what Cece’s Zweilous had had to deal with too.

“Electabuzz is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your second Pokemon,” the referee said, eyeing Candice with anger.

“Good job, hon,” I said, recalling him through the snow.

I had a little bit of time to think now. What was going on? It was like Candice had floored the gas pedal from zero to one hundred in the middle of the battle. I knew gym leaders could raise the battle’s difficulty midway through a fight, but I had never seen it to such an extent.

I smiled, licking my dry lips. If this was what she wanted, I’d gladly rise to the challenge. After all, that meant that she thought I could beat her at this level.

I grabbed Tangela’s Pokeball and released him. He plopped down on the snow and stared curiously at his opponent.

Angel had one job, and one job only. That was to Poison Power, Stun Spore, or Leech Seed Darmanitan. Anything other than that was extra. I wasn’t thinking of this single fight. I was thinking long term. I knew I’d have to use my entire team to take this thing down.

“Avalanche!” Candice said again.

“Lift yourself up,” I quickly said.

I had expected that. Darmanitan could apparently affect the entire arena, so it made sense for Candice to keep using the move until it failed. Six vines extended below Tangela, and he sprung himself up, avoiding the deluge of snow behind him. He continued forward, using his vines instead of his feet.

“Icicle Crash!’ Candice yelled.

“Dodge!” I countered.

I inhaled sharply when I saw that it wasn’t a single Icicle that appeared above angel. It was a swarm. Darmanitan slammed a fist against the ground, and they all crashed into his body, creating a plume of snow. I waited with bated breath, standing on my tip-toes to see if Tangela was alright, and I finally exhaled when I saw that he was still going forward.

“Bind it!” I said.

I was under no impression that he would ever be able to keep Darmanitan still, but I just needed to buy time. Tangela shot out a few vines in front of him, and they wrapped around Darmanitan’s arms and legs. The ice type huffed, as if it was laughing, and it simply moved an arm toward itself, bringing Tangela closer.

“Ice Punch,” Candice said.

Ice surrounded both of the Pokemon’s fists as he waited for Tangela to get close enough, but we were already close enough for what I wanted.

“Leech Seed!” I said.

Tangela’s vines writhed, and he shot out a small seed toward Darmanitan. It grew into thorny vines wrapping around his entire body, and no matter how much the ice type tried to tear them apart, they just kept growing.

“Poison Powder!” I said, not letting up.

“Knock it away!” Candice ordered.

Darmanitan’s icy fist hit Tangela’s face, sending him flying, but I smiled when I saw that purple spores had been left in his place. Darmanitan inhaled, and the plan had been completed, which was good, because Tangela was already down.

“Tangela is unable to battle,” the referee hissed, clearly signaling to Candice. “Challenger, send out your third Pokemon.”

I already knew it would have to be princess. She was good enough with Extrasensory to block Icicle Crash above her and above ground so she’d be immune to Avalanche. I grabbed her Pokeball and sent her out. She giggled and clapped, slowly raising her altitude.

“Stay up,” I warned her. “This is a tough one. Stay sharp. Air Cutter!”

Togetic’s wings fluttered, and the air in front of her sharpened, speeding toward the Darmanitan. It tried to dodge, but Air Cutter was too fast. Our practice was paying off.

“Icicle Crash!”

Good, I thought. She was wasting time and energy on something that wouldn’t work.

“You know what to do,” I told Togetic.

Her eyes shone as she happily altered the air above her. The icicles harmlessly slid off to the side, burying themselves in the ground instead of hitting her.

“Avalanche!” Candice continued angrily.

I frowned, and then I understood. Snow jumped from under Togetic as if it had a will of its own.

“Fly up, and Extrasensory under you!” I said.

Togetic listened, altering the path of the Avalanche, but the snow simply went around the Extrasensory and wrapped back around, reaching her. I winced as she was dragged to the ground.

Darmanitan’s control over the move was stronger than I had thought.

“Get in there and Ice Punch!” Candice said.

Darmanitan ran, using its knuckles to propel itself through the snowy ground at surprising speeds. Princess popped her head out of the snow, showing that she was fine, although substantially hurt. She shot me a look, and I gave her a discreet nod.

Stay there.

I would wait until the last possible second… just a little more…

“Ancient Power!” I yelled.

Togetic lifted rocks and earth in front of her, and Darmanitan slammed against it headfirst.

“Push it!” I continued.

Her eyes shone brighter as she propelled the ground forward, taking Darmanitan along with it. I clicked my tongue when the ice type punched it apart with an Ice Punch. He was Leech Seeded and poisoned. When would he go down—

Darmanitan shook as its body began to change shape. The top of its head grew, and its arms retreated into its body, leaving only small hands, and its inoffensive expression turned into an evil, toothy smile. A singular, long flame was burning out of its top half. It bounced around, looking more like a snowman than a Pokemon.

It was also my first time ever seeing a Galarian Darmanitan in this form.

“Belly Drum! We’re going all out!” Candice grinned with her tongue hanging to the side.

“Air Cutter!” I ordered.

Darmanitan slammed its own body with its hands so hard that it hurt itself, but then it grew slightly. Veins popped under its snowy body, and the Pokemon hardened. Togetic ignored it, taking flight and sending another Air Cutter toward the ice type. I gulped when I saw that it barely dealt any damage.

“Finish it off,” Candice said.

Darmanitan yelled, and another Avalanche dragged Togetic to the ground, at least four times as powerful as it had been before the Belly Drum. Using its small appendages, the ice type punched Togetic in the head, defeating her.

“Burn off the Leech Seed,” Candice exhaled. Darmanitan’s body burst into flames for a brief moment, easily dispatching of angel’s attack. It was thankfully still poisoned, however, and weakening fast.

“Togetic is unable to battle… Challenger, please send out your last Pokemon. And sorry,” the referee said.

Sorry? For what? This was exhilarating!

With a slight laugh, I sent out Frillish and immediately set him to work. My win condition was waiting out the poison and never letting Frillish fall onto the ground.

It was time to reveal my trump card. “Reco—”

“Avalanche!”

“Acid Armor!” I hurriedly spoke, changing my order.

Snow hungered after Frillish, quickly rising below him, but the water type changed his state, and he was too gooey to be brought back to the ground. Finally, he managed to use Recover. The tears in his body quickly healed, and he looked almost as good as new. What now? Candice was running out of time.

“Screw it! Work Up and jump!” Candice screamed wildly.

Darmanitan bounced off of the ground, its body somehow enveloped in flames and snow as its fists turned to pure ice.

“Water Pulse!” I yelled, my heart beating against my chest.

Frillish flew backwards, powered by Water Sport as he shot out a Water Pulse. Darmanitan was hit, but he continued flying toward Frillish. I bit the inside of my mouth as the ice type crashed its fist into Frillish, and both of them fell to the ground with a loud crash. I felt sweat drip down my chin as the adrenaline started to drain from my body.

Had it been enough?

Had I won?

Had I lost?

The snow cleared, and Frillish weakly floated up from the ground with his entire bottom half missing.

Darmanitan stayed down.

“D—Darmanitan is unable to battle. Victory goes to the challenger!”

I looked at the ceiling and just breathed for what seemed like ages until I recalled Frillish. He had Recovered again, regenerating much of his body.

I tasted metal in my mouth. Had I bitten it so hard in the heat of battle that I had started to bleed?

I stepped off of the platform as my friends cheered wildly for me. My legs felt like jelly, and I could barely walk straight. My vision was swimming. I wiped sweat off of my forehead. My clothes were so wet that it felt like I had been in a shower, and my heart was pounding so loudly that I felt my pulse up in my ears.

I made it up to Candice, who looked to be in much better shape than I was.

“Congratulations, challenger,” she said awkwardly. Her voice sounded distant. Far away, like it was echoing. My ears were ringing. “Um are you okay? Can you give me your trainer ID and Pokedex?”

“Wha— ah, uh, yeah,” I exhaled. I felt like I just had gone through a triathlon. I handed her my ID and my Pokedex with a shaky hand. “You’re now the owner of the Icicle badge, and I’ve transferred fifteen-thousand Pokedollars into your account. Um, I’ve also given you the Avalanche TM.”

“Right,” I said, shaking my head to focus.

“I’m… I’m sorry I went so hard on you all of the sudden,” she apologized. “Now that the battle’s over, I realized that I let my feelings get in the way. That Darmanitan was nowhere near your level. Honestly, if you lost, I probably would have given you the badge anyway.”

“Your feelings?” I asked as my head pounded.

“Battling you reminded me of battling Gardenia, and we used to have this rivalry, but she’s outgrown me. I can’t beat her anymore,” Candice said with a grimace. “Until I started actually pushing you with Jynx, every time I looked at you… you were just staring at me, not at the battle. You were reading me. She’s a lot more subtle about it, but it’s unnerving how alike you are. I let my feelings get the best of me…”

I smiled at the notion that I was like Gardenia—

Wait, why was I on the ground?

My legs had given up from under me. I heard Candice’s voice in the distance, even though she was right there…

I passed out.