Emilia said something, but whatever it was, it was lost in the roar of the crowd screaming for their hero. Even the booming of the announcer was overcome by their enthusiasm.

Selena Oak ignored it all, staring directly at Ace Trainer Til. She was a slightly older version of Emilia, just a little shorter, and a lot more serious. She was wearing a tight blue jumpsuit with a strap of pokeballs around her chest. She raised a hand and the crowd’s tumult rose to new levels. She brought it down with a single stroke.

The crowd went silent.

Instantly.

The change was so sudden it caused Cashe to stumble back into his seat. His ears rang with the silence. He could hear a pin drop, if he wanted. But even that much noise would be too much. The crowd would never allow it.

“The format for today’s battle will be six versus six, double battles,” the announcer spoke after letting the silence reign for a good thirty seconds. Lights slowly returned to the arena, “Our contestants will have one minute to prepare.”

Cashe leaned back in his seat as the crowd began to murmur once again. He turned to Selena, “That cashier was a fan of Selena?”

“Probably,” Emilia grinned.

“Probably?” Cashe said.

“Shhh!” The hush came from one of the teenagers in the box. He was glaring angrily at them and pointing to the stage. Cashe turned his head back.

Selena had two pokeballs in her hands. One was dark, a ultraball or a duskball. The second was a plain pokeball.

Til had selected two as well. Both were different shades of blue. Til tossed his pokeballs forward.

Two pokemon appeared, one, a large green frog, standing three feet tall. It had a wide grin on it’s face and a spot of yellow on its belly. A Politoed.

The other was more humanoid, though not by much. It was round and thick with muscle, with blue skin and a hypnotic swirl patterned on its chest. Its arms and chest were scarred from battle. It was taller than the Politoed, standing at almost five feet tall. A Poliwrath.

“And there we have it, folks, Ace Trainer Til’s classic combination,” the announcer shouted, the crowd’s cheer rising again.

Cashe squinted, “Is it raining in there?”

“Til has a rain team,” Emilia said, “Politoed has Drizzle and Poliwrath has Swift Swim.”

Cashe nodded. It was hard to tell, because the rain was appearing from nowhere, the arena did not cloud over, or even darken except for the slight haze caused by the rain.

Across from Til, Selena smiled. She threw both her pokeballs into the area simultaneously, with an almost casual ease in her movement.

Both cracked open, and Cashe swore he could hear a hiss, even at this distance, even with the crowd roaring its approval of her pokemon.

The first to emerge was a Hippowdon.

It was enormous. A monster.

As it emerged from its pokeball it landed on the stage next to Selene and the whole Gym shifted, just a bit. The monster was double her height, standing at least nine feet tall, and twice as long, thick with muscle. If Til’s Poliwrath looked scarred from battling pokemon, Selena’s Hippowdon was scarred from battling an army. Not one inch of its skin was not crisscrossed with a history of scars, pale white things on its dark hide - the monster looked like it fought a mountain of blades. And won.

Sand began to stream from the ports on its back, soon clogging the air with whipping debris. The monster opened its mouth wide and Cashe blanched. That thing could swallow him whole and not notice. It had tusks bigger than his torso.

It faced its opponents and roared.

Even over the crowd, Cashe heard it. Its deep bellowing shook the Gym more than its entrance had, all but silencing the crowd. It was so loud it jostled Cashe in his seat and he saw several people in the audience stumble to the ground.

What the hell?

“Impressive, isn’t she?” Emilia said, “I remember when she was just a Hippopotas, Selena used to let me ride on her back.”

“Used to?”

Emilia shook her head, “Too dangerous. Hippowdon has…temper issues.”

Jesus Christ. Cashe shivered in place. If that was just one of her pokemon…

Wait, where was the second?

Cashe had to search to find it, but when he did it was just as intimidating.

Selena’s second pokemon was an Excadrill. But it wasn’t its size that was intimidating. The Excadrill was a small, mole pokemon, only about two feet tall and positively miniscule beside the hulking Hippowdon. It had a large, drill-like blade on its head that gleamed, even through the sand and ran, as well as a pair of viscous claws on each hand. All three were unmistakably steel and undoubtedly razor sharp. But that wasn’t what made the Excadrill intimidating.

It was pristine.

There was not a scratch on Excadrill, anywhere. No scars nor ruffled fur, no dents or chips in its claws. Excadrill looked like it had never once seen battle, despite Cashe knowing for a fact it had. It was untouched.

It was terrifying.

“And our Leader starts with Excadrill and Hippowdon!” The announcer shouted above the roar of the crowd, “Many foes have fallen to this pair alone! How will Ace Trainer Til fair?”

“Is it still raining in there?” Cashe said.

Emilia didn’t look away from the stage, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

That answered that, then. Unlike the games, opposing weather conditions didn’t seem to override each other.

A Pokemon League Official was talking to Til, a second to Selena. As soon as they were done, both hurried out of the arena.

“It looks like we are on our way,” the announcer boomed, “When the Official lowers his hand, the battle will begin!”

A third Official, standing outside, but at the midway point of the battlefield had his hand raised over his head.

“Who do you think-”

“Selena.”

“Even with the type-”

“Yes.”

Cashe nodded. He couldn’t see her losing either.

The Official’s hand swiped down. The battle had begun.

***

Excadrill exploded from where it stood. With the veil of sand and rain, Cashe didn’t even register it moved until it was already colliding with the Politoed. The giant frog pokemon didn’t have a chance to dodge, the Excadrill bursting from beneath the ground an instant after it disappeared.

Excadrill slammed into Politoed, sending it sprawling across the field and slamming into the psychic barriers erected by the Claydol. To Cashe’s eye that should have been the end of it right there, but Politoed somehow weathered the blow, firing out a stream of water at Excadrill even as it tumbled through the air after hitting the barriers.

Poliwrath was not standing still either. It erupted in motion before Politoed was hit, charging towards Excadrill, a glowing, tan energy coalescing around its fist. It was about to land a devastating strike, perfectly timed to hit in the half second Excadrill needed to orient itself after delivering its attack.

But Selena was clearly aware of the vulnerability as well. Even as Poliwrath moved, an enormous boulder began to form above it. Hippowdon’s Rock Tomb put Omanyte’s to shame, the boulder it created was the size of a bus. It came crashing down right beside Excadrill, threatening to crush it and the Poliwrath in one fell swoop.

But Excadrill didn’t flinch. Neither did the Poliwrath. Instead, Poliwrath redirected its punch, aiming instead for the boulder. It was a ridiculous move, the stone was a thousand times the size of the small pokemon. But Til didn’t care. Neither did Poliwrath.

The boulder exploded into a cloud of dust, whipped away in an instant by the whirling sandstorm. As it cleared, Cashe saw Politoed’s attack clip Excadrill and send it spinning. It skid across the battlefield, using the momentum generated by the hit to create space between it and Til’s pokemon.

The first clash was over in under a second. The crowd screamed. The announcer was shouting but Cashe could barely hear it. He was on his feet, roaring with the crowd. Beside him, Emilia was shouting expletives at Til.

The Hippowdon bellowed in frustration, again drowning out all other noise in the Gym. It stomped its feet and charged the Poliwrath. In the corner, the Politoed was climbing to its feet. It was obviously injured from the Excadrill’s blow. Blood seeped from a wound on its chest, but it fought on, focusing, taking a second to focus a blast of water at the charging Hippowdon.

The blast hit, just as Poliwrath dodged out of the way of Hippowdon’s enormous, stomping feet. The blast scored into Hippowdon’s side, tearing the pokemon’s flesh apart, surely adding another scar to the collection.

But it was a costly blow. The move left it open to Excadrill’s next attack, and the Politoed didn’t stand a chance. Excadrill disappeared in another burst of movement too fast to see. It slammed, head first, into Politoed, widening the gash on its chest and putting it down for the count.

Across the stage, Til grimaced, even while still shouting instructions to Poliwrath, and returned Politoed to its pokeball. He tossed another out as Hippowdon and Poliwrath continued to fight.

Things were not going well for Hippowdon. The Poliwrath was much faster than Hippowdon and was easily evading its attacks. Worse still, Hippowdon had left a gaping wound for Poliwrath to take advantage of, and it wasted no time doing so.

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With a blast of water, Poliwrath shot itself at Hippowdon, slamming directly into its wound and tearing at it with another great surge of water.

With a tremendous roar, Hippowdon collapsed onto its knees.

It looked like the end for Hippowdon. Poliwrath was perched on its back, winding up another hit. It’s fist glowed blue and crashed down into the Hippowdon with a surge of water.

But somehow, in that half second, Excadrill was there. The moment Poliwrath delivered the devastating blow to Hippowdon, Excadrill collided with Poliwrath, this time feet first. Poliwrath was sent sprawling just as Hippowdon took its final blow.

Cashe found himself screaming with the crowd in shock as Selena switched out Hippowdon and Excadrill, despite the latter barely being injured.

“She can’t bring Excadrill back now,” Emilia shouted.

Cashe almost asked why take Excadrill out at all, but he quickly understood. With Hippowdon down, the sandstorm was clearing. Excadrill would be left as an easy target for Poliwrath, as rain was still pelting the battlefield.

That was because Til’s third pokemon was Pelipper. The pokemon was large, loosely resembling a pelican, but with a three foot mouth and gigantic pouch. The Pelipper instantly took off upon entering the battlefield and the Poliwrath got to its feet. Blood, from both Hippowdon’s wound and Excadrill’s devastating attack, mixed with rain and flowed down its chest. It flexed and let out a morbid cry.

Across the field, Selena tossed out two more pokemon. The first towered, just as tall as Hippowdon. It appeared to be made of layers of sedimentary rock under a pile of rock salt. It was bipedal and humanoid, but its enormous arms were so long they almost touched the ground while it stood. A Garganacl.

Keeping with the theme, Selena’s next pokemon was much smaller than Garganacl. A pokemon resembling a giant blue and green slug appeared next to it. The slug was around three feet tall and moved slowly, but stared down its opponents with a determined look on its face. It was a Gastrodon.

“It’s over now,” Emilia said, grinning down at the little slug.

“Over?”

“You’ll see.”

Gastrodon and Garganacl lept into motion. Well, leapt was a bit of a stretch, given their speed compared to the previous pokemon, but they started to move right away, at any rate.

Gastrodon began throwing rocks into the air using some form of telekinesis, trying to hit Pelipper. The rocks barely came close. Cashe was confused until he realized the rocks weren’t falling to the ground like he thought. They were floating and disappearing in the air.

Stealth Rock was set up.

Til and Poliwrath wasted no time either. While Pelipper was dodging the ever increasing amount of airborne rocks, Poliwrath charged Garganacl. Garganacl raised a giant fist and salt crystals formed in mid air, all around Poliwrath, even as it shot forward. Poliwrath spun and spat a spout of water from its mouth, desperately trying to avoid the salt, attempting to dissolve the crystals before they could collide with its body. Most were hit with the water and disappeared. Others dissolved in the downpour of rain. But a few made it through. Poliwrath shuddered in pain at their contact, the crystals slipping through its skin and dissolving in its body.

Poliwrath continued its charge, despite taking the hit, its speed boosted significantly by its Swift Swim ability. Garganacl raised another fist, making no attempt to dodge. Cashe braced for the impact.

Poliwrath’s fist again glowed with blue energy and slammed into Garganacl. It was a huge hit. All the power of the Poliwrath was concentrated into its fist as it crashed into Garganacl. An explosion of steam and dust erupted around them and the crowd held its breath. In the battle of rock versus water, everyone knew who would lose.

The dust slowly cleared.

Garganacl’s hand was resting on Poliwrath. Its entire towering figure was uninjured. Cashe furrowed his brow. A thin line of bright blue energy was streaming from the Poliwrath and into Gastrodon. Cashe’s eyes widened. Gastrodon had Storm Drain. It would redirect water type attacks and use their energy to boost its own abilities.

Garganacl raised its fist and the Poliwrath with it, salt crystals now forming all around the smaller pokemon and driving into its skin. Poliwrath screamed in pain. It was over. Garganacl tossed the blue pokemon and turned towards the Pelipper.

Salt crystals began to form around it as well, but the Pelliper was having a much harder time dodging them. The air was now thick with invisible stones, Gastrodon never having stopped tossing them into the air. As Pelipper tried to dodge, it slammed into stone after stone. None did a significant amount of damage, but each hit slowed it down, forcing the poor bird onto the ground where it was pelted by salt crystals. It cried in agony as it joined Poliwrath.

Across the field Selena smiled, a smug expression on her face. With barely any effort she had flipped the battle on its head. And now the rain was beginning to clear.

Ace Trainer Til snarled something at her, lost to the crowd. He took two more pokeballs from his waist, tossing them into the battle.

A giant, purple and gray ball of spikes appeared on the battlefield, floating just off the ground, looking like some sort of mutated pufferfish. Next to it, an enormous ice-coated bear rose to its feet. It bellowed as it collided with the invisible stone in the air.

“Til’s strategy is done,” Emilia said, “He was relying on the rain to speed his pokemon up, but Selena just took out his last rain setter, and there’s no way she lets him get a Rain Dance off.”

Cashe stared down at the two pokemon, Overqwil and Beartic. He wasn’t even aware Beartic could have Swift Swim as an ability. The crowd seemed to agree with Emilia’s assessment of the battle, however. The desperate energy had become subdued and the announcer’s voice could once again be hear above the din.

“Ace Trainer Til is in a tricky spot!” He was saying, “ Can Beartic and Overqwil stand a chance against Selena’s potent combination?”

As if answering the question, Beartic shot off from its place, emerald green energy flaring from it in its wake. It sped straight towards Gastrodon, the slower pokemon hustling to get out of its way.

“Oh, and it looks like Beartic knows Trailblaze!” The announcer's voice cut through the crowd, "This could be devastating for Gastrodon. But it looks like Garganacl wants to interfere!”

Garganacl shoved its huge fists into the earth, lifting an enormous amount of dirt and stone and hurling it at Beartic in a desperate attempt to force it off its path.

But Overqwil was not idle. As Garganacle made its move, Overqwil flared its quills and an enormous barrage of poisonous barbs flew towards the rocks, intercepting them in an explosion of dirt and stone.

Beartic continued, unfettered, emerald green energy enveloping it as it met Gastrodon head on. Gastrodon was in the process of building up a gigantic pillar of water. As Beartic closed, Gastrodon hurled it at Beartic in a vicious torrent, but it was too late. Beartic dodged to the side and the attack missed, flying by its shoulder.

Beartic slammed into Gastrodon, claws sticking viciously at the slug. The blow was devastating, the hulking Beartic tearing easily through Gastrodon’s flesh. Gastrodon was thrown back in a spray of water and blood. It rose slowly to its feet, but it was too late. Overqwil’s barrage of poisonous barbs had continued, and they were right on target, falling into the injured Gastrodon with deadly accuracy.

For the first time in the fight, Selena frowned, returning Gastrodon to its ball. She barked at Garganacl. Garganacl stomped its foot. Then the other. Again and again.

The arena began to shake.

Not just the stage, but the entire Gym felt the pressure of Garganacl’s Earthquake. Beartic leaped into the air, somehow avoiding the worst of the attack as the ground cracked and ruptured around it. Entire sections of the stage exploded in showers of dirt and sand, but Beartic held on.

The same could not be said of Overqwil.

The lack of rain severely restricted Overqwuil’s movements, and it couldn’t even attempt to get into the air. The super effective attack was devastating. Ground ruptured beneath the toxic fish pokemon, and it slammed into the dirt, crushing several of its quills with a heart-wrenching crack. Worse, the ground bulged just beside where the Overqwil crashed. Everyone knew what it meant. Overqwil was about to go down in an explosion of rock and dust.

But just an instant before it happened, Til shouted. Selena blanched. A dark shadow stretched across the battlefield. Selena screamed an order at Garganacl, even as she tossed out another pokeball.

But it was too late. Midway through Earthquake, Garganacl did not have the ability to dodge. The shadow hit it.

The ground exploded.

Overqwil fainted.

The shadow around Garganacl darkened and ghostly energy exploded from the rock salt pokemon.

“DESTINY BOND! Selena did not see that coming! Til has turned the tables once again! Both trainers are down to their final two pokemon!” The announcer thundered above the crowd.

Selena grimaced and threw out her final pokemon. Til mirrored her movement.

Til’s final pokemon revealed itself to be a battle-scarred Swampert. The pokemon flexed when it entered the battlefield, adding its roar to the crowd.

“And there it is, Til’s oldest partner and first pokemon, Swampert! What final pokemon has Selena chosen in response?”

Two figures emerged.

They were of similar size. The first stood six feet tall, body made of dark green rock. It stood like Godzilla, hulking and menacing, back rough with craggy stone, a long tail whipping back and forth, kicking up a sandstorm.

Beside it was an even larger figure. It looked misshapen, wrong. A Frankenstein’s monster of fish mixed with a dragon.

“Tyranitar and Dracovish!” The announcer screamed.

And then Tyranitar began to change. It glowed, white light escaping from it as cracks formed in its body. It roared, a trumpeting sound of power and triumph escaping its ferocious maw.

Across the battlefield, Swampert was undergoing a similar change. It grew as light flared around it, adding hundreds of pounds of muscle in an instant, swelling into the form of a brutal beast.

The light around Tyranitar died down, revealing its form. It had grown several feet and now towered over even the Dracovish. Huge, jagged spikes spiraled from its back, its chest glowing with harsh, red energy.

“Mega Evolutions,” Cashe breathed. His voice was lost to the roaring of the crowd.

Swampert burst into action, charging towards the Tyranitar. Beartic joined it, both pokemon charging to take out the threat Tyranitar represented.

But Cashe knew it was the wrong move.

Tyranitar held firm as its opponents approached, but Dracovish moved. It disappeared into the swirling sand, crossing the arena almost as quickly as Excadrill had, its mouth glowing with a murderous blue aura.

It hit Beartic well before either pokemon could reach Tyranitar, and with one strike, it was over. Dracovish’s Fishious Rend - the only move it could possibly be using - devastated Beartic in an eruption of water, blood, and ice. Beartic was caught in Dracovish’s jaws and the fossil pokemon began to whip its head back and forth, going for maximum damage. It was over.

Til knew it as well, recalling Beartic before Dracovish had a chance to maim it beyond recovery.

As Beartic disappeared from Dracvish’s jaws, Swampert clashed with Tyranitar. The stadium rumbled again, as Swampert released its own savage Earthquake. It hit Tyranitar, but the enormous rock type weathered the blow, even as the ground was shifting around it.

Tyranitar fought back, closing the distance and meeting with Swampert, throwing them both to the ground and stopping Swampert’s destructive Earthquake. It wrestled the massive mudfish pokemon into a submissive position and bit down on its shoulder and neck with a devastating Crunch.

Earthquake abated, Dracovish all but flew across the battlefield, latching its own jaws around the struggling Swampert and entering into a brutal tugging match with its partner.

Ace Trainer Til recalled his pokemon, bowing his head in an expression of woe and defeat.

The crowd erupted in cheers. Selena waved to her adoring fans.

Cashe fell back into his seat.

“Holy shit.”

***

Daryl looked down at the little town from the seat of the flying taxi. It was hard to imagine that the cluster of a few dozen buildings had produced four Indigo League Champions. Maybe there was something in the water.

Across from him, Connie was bouncing in her seat, eager to get out of the taxi after spending the majority of the last week stuck inside.

“What’s got you so excited?” Daryl said as the taxi began its descent.

“I finally get to meet Professor Oak!” Connie said, her voice giddy. She brought a hand to her mouth to contain her nervous giggles, “He’s been my favorite since I was little!”

“Really? You didn’t want to cheer for a champion from your own region?” Daryl said. He didn’t really care. When he was a kid, the only thing he liked about pokemon was that some of them were dinosaurs.

“Ew, no!” Connie shook her head, her silver hair billowing with the wind, “Steven Stone was already so old. Blue was so dreamy.”

“Well, he’s going to be old now,” Daryl muttered grumpily. Girls always went for the good looking, mysterious, powerful, successful, dreamy-eyed types, with the pretty smiles and the famous last names. Daryl frowned and thought about it for a second. Maybe girls had a point.

As he reexamined his entire worldview, Corviknight brought the pair down at the foot of a hill. Connie and Daryl piled out of the taxi, leaving their luggage behind. They would only be out of the taxi for a short while, and they would be flying to their next destination as soon as they found out where the dimensional interloper was headed.

“It’s a gorgeous little town,” Connie said as they trudged up the hill to Oak’s lab, “I wouldn’t mind finding a place like this when I grow old and retire.”

“It’s not bad,” Daryl admitted. It was true, though. The town was surrounded by nature and quiet. A small beach sat in the distance, the ocean sparkling with the afternoon sun. Green hills and open fields showed children playing, laughter on their lips.

As they rounded the hill, a large, tan pokemon sped through the air, leaving the area of the lab and flying off into the distance. Daryl watched it go, spotting someone on its back.

“Did that look like Blue’s Dragonite?” Connie said.

“Yes,” Daryl said, suddenly feeling much better, though he didn’t know why, “Yes, it did.”

*****