Erika had been studying Falkner's team composition for a while now, and this was the first time she'd ever felt at a loss. His skarmory just countered her specialization too well.

Both her pokemon would have to fight against a double elemental disadvantage, and their grass type attacks would do little to no damage against the skarmory. Although Mordred was powerful, and by Erika's estimate had already reached second-badge strength after forming a starter bond with her, he still wouldn't be able to overcome such a daunting elemental disadvantage, and that was under the assumption that the skarmory was at most peak first badge. Furthermore, the skarmory maintained aerial superiority, so Erika wouldn't even be able to hurt it unless she figured out a way to ground it.

I'll have to go back and think about it more. Victory wasn't out of Erika's grasp yet. She only needed to put her brain to work to find a winning strategy…

Or, she could cheat. An unbidden hand reached into her pocket, pulling out a slim fire stone which Erika had purchased yesterday from the Grand Verdant's shopping center out of novelty. It was quite a pretty stone, and Erika thought it might be useful when it came to camping. She supposed it was quite luxurious to use an evolutionary stone as a heating device, but the heat source never ran out and worked under rainy conditions.

Now however, the fire stone was about to find a new purpose.

The key to victory, Erika mused.

Erika had promised herself long ago that she would become greatness personified, that she would seize destiny by the reins and force the world to bow to her… no matter the cost. Whether it was by hook or by crook, by fair means or foul, Erika WOULD win. There was no doubt about that, and Erika didn't doubt the methods she would have to use this time.

Sabotage.

Falkner's next opponent was a fire specialist named Rohan, and he appeared to have a sizable temper problem. While he was fairly skilled, Erika knew he wouldn't be a match for his next opponent. Erika had gone over VODs of his fights and concluded that Rohan was extremely volatile, and a sore loser to boot.

Left alone, perhaps this might not be a problem.

But I can encourage it and make it a problem, Erika thought ferociously. I'll give him the fire stone anonymously as a last resort to use. When Rohan is inevitably pressured to the edge by Falkner, given his personality, he'll use the fire stone to forcefully evolve his growlithe into an arcanine and defeat Falkner. Then, I'll be free to keep advancing without meeting Falkner.

Of course, this plan meant that Erika would have to fight Rohan next instead of Falkner, but she was confident she had the means to deal with a forcefully evolved arcanine, as compared to a skarmory trained by a scion of a prominent flying type clan.

Erika knew Mordred would be alarmed by her plan. He was too moral for something like this, so she had left his pokeball in storage while she snuck off to enact her plan.

The RSG organizers kept a tight lock on the pokeballs of all contestants which were being healed in the pokemon center, but trainer belongings weren't nearly as well supervised, especially considering that this was a non-badge tournament.

Not like it's really a non-badge tier tournament anymore, Erika thought wryly. There are many abnormal contestants in the latter rounds who seem to all be at first-badge strength, and I'm carrying a snivy that has enough raw power to qualify for the second badge through brute force.

Erika quite literally waltzed past the security officer standing at the entrance to the locker rooms since she was a contestant and allowed inside. Wow. Their security is really shit.

Apart from the one lazy guard manning the entrance to the locker rooms, there weren't even security cameras inside. Erika used her extensive experience in pillaging to determine that there really weren't any cameras before she proceeded with her plan. It's not worth it to install security cameras, really. Oberlin Stadium is only used for small local or little league tournaments, and who's gonna steal from a junior contestant? They probably don't even have shit to steal.

Still, for the sake of caution, Erika made sure to examine the walls and ceilings thoroughly until she was satisfied it was truly clear of cameras.

The locks in the locker rooms of the contestants were old models which Erika was highly familiar with, and she only needed to wiggle her hairpin within the mechanical locks a few times to disengage it. This is so nostalgic. The flat end of the hairpin goes into the top of the lock, you bend it, push it in, fold again until it's against the lock, then wiggle until the inner pins of the lock release. Just like old times.

Erika unlatched the lock and swung open the locker door to reveal Rohan's backpack, and prepared to shove the fire stone inside inside a location which Rohan would notice.

Then, Erika hesitated suddenly.

Gwen was still by her side, and she hadn't said a word yet , presumably out of her nearly fanatical loyalty to her. However, Erika could feel the disappointment radiating from her second pokemon. Their bond wasn't strong enough to express coherent sentences like Mordred's, but it was still enough for Erika to understand some of Gwen's intent.

'Growlithe… suffers…'

Indeed, the growlithe would suffer. Being forced to evolve so young would inevitably stunt its growth and prevent it from reaching its full potential, it would essentially become crippled. Rohan's reputation would go down the drain, and his future career would go up in smoke.

Was it worth it? In order to advance, Erika would need to destroy the lives of two others. Could she honestly go ahead and do it?

I've already done far worse, Erika tried to rationalize. These people don't mean anything. They're just obstacles on my path… they're fodder. I should trample upon them, and use them as stepping stools to assist my climb. Every great trainer has waded through seas of blood and mountains of corpses on their path to greatness - how is this any different?

Yet, despite this, Erika couldn't find it in herself to put the fire stone in Rohan's bag. Her hands trembled under Gwen's judgment.

Rohan is going to be doing this of his own choice, so it's definitely not my fault, Erika asserted to herself calmly. I'm just giving him a present, that's all. If he falls into a desperate situation and decides to use the fire stone to evolve his growlithe, that's his choice. It's not like I'm forcing him into doing it.

Erika's hands didn't budge. She kept deliberating, going back and forth and ruminating over her decision. Why am I still hesitating?

I don't want to disturb the sanctity of my battle with Falkner, Erika realized suddenly. He's an opponent I respect. If he somehow beats Rohan, then I'll have to fight his severely weakened team. It feels… incredibly disrespectful.

Towards someone like Falkner, a fellow youth talent, Erika could freely show her admiration. She admired his skills. She admired his strength. She wanted to have a genuine, heartfelt battle against him, and cheating in such a blatant way wouldn't let her do that. When did I get so sentimental? I wasn't like this before.

Gwen didn't say anything more. However, Erika could see her eyes burning into her body, watching and observing. She felt the disappointment practically radiate from Gwen, like a tangible beam of sadness through their bond of aura. It made the already feeble bond flicker like a candle in the wind, and for a second, Erika thought it might snap.

Obviously, that was an illusion. Gwen was Erika's most loyal pokemon, an unwavering soldier who would charge into hellfire and highwater at her bidding, regardless of the cost. Erika had no doubts as to Gwen's loyalty, for she had personally plucked her out of the butcher shop which would have ended her life, and given her new purpose. Erika owed nothing to Gwen, while Gwen owed everything to her.

So why didn't her damn hand move?

Every time Erika tried to shove the fire stone into the bag, her hands would betray her and tremble. For some strange reason, Erika eventually withdrew her hand and shoved it back into her pocket, and quietly departed from the room. Her heart was thumping erratically, and she was flush with anger.

Erika was furious with herself. I should have done it. Why didn't I do it?

However, through her fragile bond with Gwen, she sensed approval, as if she had done a good thing. Erika suddenly felt slightly queasy, but she forced the nauseous sensation away and stomped back to the waiting room.

Mordred's pokeball was still holstered in a storage compartment, and he remained within, blissfully unaware of what had just transpired. Gwen reached out to Erika through the bond again. 'Did… good…"

"Shut up Gwen!" Erika cursed furiously, throwing her pokeball to the wayside. It clattered to the floor loudly, bouncing off the ground and rolling to a stop. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be feeling guilty right now! You're the reason my plan failed! It's your fault!"

'Your… choice… glad…' Gwen murmured. She tried to nuzzle Erika, but she was shoved away roughly.

Erika snorted and tossed the fire stone to Gwen.

"Since you care so much about this, you might as well have it. Just keep it," Erika said bitterly. "I don't want it anymore."

Erika regretted it slightly when she threw the fire stone to Gwen, because she had been planning to use it as a heat source while camping. However, Erika was much too proud to ask for the fire stone back. Hmph. At worst, I'll just buy another one. It's not like elemental stones are rare! They kind of were rare in actuality, but Erika couldn't bring herself to admit that.

Gwen unfurled one of her leaves to reach down towards the stone, wrapping it up and hiding it. She reached in to hug Erika's leg again, and this time, Erika let her do it briefly before she pushed her away. Erika sat down and let out a loud exhale of exasperation.

"Let's just go and fight our sixth round," Erika muttered. "Forget about it. It's probably better if I use my own strength anyways. Victory isn't worth anything if you don't accomplish it through your own efforts."

Mordred brought himself out of his pokeball as well, looking as if he wanted to ask what had transpired, but Gwen shook her head. Erika recalled them both and stood up glumly, waiting for the sixth round to begin.

There were still a few minutes left, so Erika went over some strategy with Mordred and Gwen. She felt an uncomfortable sensation in the back of her throat, but a few good smacks to her face solved that problem, along with the application of some ice water to refresh herself.

Erika sat down cross legged and meditated for a bit, sinking herself into the world and expanding her perception to encompass the air around her. She reached out and felt for the masses of aura nearby. Although meditation was meant more for training and honing one's sensitivity to aura, Erika found it quite calming as well, and it was a good method to distract yourself if you needed it to be.

After finishing with her quick meditation session, Erika put her hands to her temples and breathed out. Okay. I'm back to normal. Game face on.

She let out a brilliant smile, marching through the waiting room doors to a cheering crowd and ascending the stairs to the podium. This time, the arena was set to Standard Field, which was basically a sort of earthy field with a soil based floor.

Her opponent Kong Hou was already waiting on the other end, this time with a honedge strapped to his waist. He wore a pair of colorful robes embroidered with pictures of flowing river-like swords, and had long hair which was bound by a hairpin. This guy looks even more traditional than Milly's family. What the hell is that getup? Is that a Hanfu with straw shoes?

He didn't say anything during the time allocated for talking, so Erika reciprocated in kind and remained silent.

From the stands, Erika could see Milly waving at her, and countless other people who had gathered to witness the biggest youth tournament in Celadon for badgeless trainers. Although she knew that most of the cheering was just perfunctory, and that most of the crowd were just cheering out of obligation, she still reveled in it anyways and closed her eyes.

This was what Erika had always wanted.

Glory.

It was such a fleeting, ephemeral concept, but Erika yearned for it all the same. The recognition of her name, that millions would cheer for her and pour praise upon her and heap laurel wreaths on her head, that she would go down in history as a glorious and great trainer with no equal or peer. It was the highest achievement a human could ever attain, that their name would be penned into the history books and be remembered for all of time.

The cheers of the crowd balmed Erika's soul like nothing else ever could, and she let the noise wash over her and drown out any lingering doubts she may have had from her aborted attempt to sabotage Falkner.

This is what I want, Erika thought with steely conviction. This is what is mine by right! With my iron fist, I shall seize the world and become an eternal existence, my name held on the lips of all for the rest of time! I need not long life or immortality - all I ask is that I be remembered! Peerless and without equal, a sovereign to the masses the likes of which never existed before!

Erika opened her eyes to see the referee raising his flag, before he repeated the rules one last time. "This is a singles match with two pokemon, no switches allowed! Participants, do you confirm you understand the rules?"

"I do!" Erika shouted.

It took some time for Kong Hou to speak up, but he did eventually as well. "...I do."

Not a talker, huh?

"On your marks, get set, go!"

The referee's flag descended, and Erika heard the sound of a whistle, broken up by a solitary cheer from her friend.

"Go Erika!" Milly cheered from the spectating area. "You can do it!"

With a deft hand, Erika threw her pokeball high into the air, fully aware that the final three battles were the most important, and given the most air time. Gwen burst out with a flash of red light and appeared onto the field, as did a menacing abra which levitated various miniature spoons.

"Hide!"

Gwen did her best to dig her way into the ground, but she was intercepted by a blast of psychic aura before she could fully embed herself, which resulted in severe bruising. Erika could sense her pain through the bond, but before the abra could attack again, Gwen had fully vanished.

A more experienced abra would have been able to marshal its psychic aura to rapidly strike, but the one before Erika still looked young and inexperienced.

Gwen started pumping out stun spore and sleep powder as per their plan, ejecting packets of noxious powder upward through the cracks she made in the arena soil and letting it diffuse into the air. Erika had her deliberately avoid using poison powder, because when Mordred was inevitably switched in, he would be able to avoid being poisoned. Although Erika was trying to build his resistance to Gwen's poisons, they needed way more time until he actually became close to immune, so the simple solution was just to avoid poison powder.

Kong Hou swiftly realized that this was a problem, and had his abra form a large telekinetic bubble around its own head to keep its oxygen supply pure. It looks ridiculous, but it's effective. The abra has a giant purple bubble around its head.

Unlike Erika, Kong Hou didn't rely on verbal means to issue orders. He just stood there silently, his eyes darting back and forth over the arena, and somehow, his abra seemed to have understood his intentions.

Probably telepathy, Erika thought. Kong Hou himself can't initiate telepathy until he reaches Inherited, but that doesn't stop his pokemon from reaching out to him via its own telepathic powers.

The abra began scanning the arena floor and sending out psychic probes, and through Erika's second sight, she could see its violet aura seeping into the ground as its domain of perception expanded downward and outward.

Erika couldn't communicate with Gwen anymore by this point because she was too deep underground, so she just trusted that Gwen would stick to the plan they had come up with.

She cursed a little when she realized that the abra had managed to lock onto Gwen's position, but Erika didn't panic just yet.

Attrition warfare was practically Gwen's speciality, because her close combat abilities were honestly not the best. Although she could use growth for a temporary powerup, the side effects were always massive, and it only granted her a short period of burst power. Hardening her head leaves to use as a blade was her only means of fighting in close range, with the exception of actually just battering enemies with her body.

Oddish didn't have many natural talents when it came to fighting close range, and although Erika had done her best to remedy that during the months she had known Gwen, it was always better to specialize than to generalize.

That was why Erika had helped Gwen hone her ability to produce poisons so much.

Hide and spray, Erika thought smarmily. That's all Gwen has to do. Dig around slowly and discretely, and keep pumping out more and more spores and powders into the arena.

The floor making up this particular arena was composed mostly of loose soil, making it easy for Gwen to dig around by using her hardened leaves as a sort of shovel. She left numerous holes behind her, and even made a few entry points onto the surface, which let her pump powder and spores upward and outward.

Every time Gwen poked her head out to create a new hole, abra would send out a telekinetic hammer to crush her, and Gwen would swiftly disappear downwards before she could get crushed. Immediately after she vanished downward, stun spores and poison powder would be ejected outward, and Kong Hou would have abra levitate some soil over to fill in the hole. This process repeated over and over again, with neither getting the better of the other.

They were essentially playing the world's deadliest game of whack a mole, with abra being the hammer, and Gwen the mole.

However, time is on our side. Every passing minute, the air fills with more and more spores and powders, and the abra's oxygen is running lower and lower. Erika glared ferociously at the abra, as if daring it to keep on fighting.

Kong Hou seemed to have noticed the problem too, but he was helpless, since abra was still young, and it couldn't use its psychic sense to accurately sense underground yet. Even his own second sight couldn't be used to assist, because it too lacked the ability to see past the soil. Perhaps if the arena floor had been ordinary soil, maybe he could have seen through it, but in this case the arena floor had elemental ground energy in it, which acted like a sort of cover that interfered with Kong Hou's vision and obscured Gwen's position.

He was eventually forced to recall abra when its oxygen reserves within the bubble grew empty, and Erika wiped some sweat away from her temples.

Now, the real test was about to begin.

Erika discreetly nudged her bond with Gwen to signal for her to surface; this was an agreed upon signal, and she couldn't communicate any other things with it. The bond's translation function largely depended on body language and audible pokespeech, which gave the trainer a rough understanding of what their pokemon tried to say. It did not extend to mental communication, which was the domain of psychic and ghost type pokemon, or the few Titled Pokemon that existed in the world.

She was tempted to just recall Gwen instead of having her face off against Kong Hou's starter, but Erika needed to see what it was capable of doing, and she needed Gwen to act as a scout.

Gwen poked her head out just in time for the honedge to appear with a crackle of violet energy, its psychic aura lining the edges of its rusted blade and covering it in a beautiful shade.

Erika's eyes widened. Psycho Cut?

The honedge let loose a sonorous clanging sound, its steel body shimmering under the glare of the arena's spotlights like a beacon. Then, it descended upon the ground like a thunderbolt, soaring downward tip first and spearing straight at Gwen's head.

Erika didn't even have time to issue an order for Gwen to dodge - all she had time to do was click the recall button on her pokeball to ensure Gwen survived.

Erika felt a burst of pain through the bond and panicked for a second before she realized Gwen was still alive. It nicked her neck. Fucking hell.

Despite the situation, Erika found herself beginning to laugh. She felt goosebumps forming on her skin as her eyes shined, and Erika felt adrenaline pumping and flowing properly through her body beneath her skin for the first time since Fulton had caught her during her theft.

This is it! This is what I'm talking about! Erika's eyes were shining and glittering like black pearls. This is a real battle! Only with the threat of death is a battle truly worth fighting!

"That was great!" Erika shouted, catching Kong Hou's attention. "An amazing performance!"

Her opponent looked at her as if she was crazy, but Erika didn't care. She withdrew the great ball magnetized to her belt and didn't even bother with theatrics this time, beaming Mordred straight down to meet the honedge.

"Come forth, my best and greatest!" Erika proclaimed dramatically, making sure to catch the attention of the cameras streaming the match. She deliberately flared her massive aura at the same time as Mordred appeared, causing a heavy sensation of pressure to be imposed upon the crowd even despite their distance away from her.

When Mordred appeared, the spectators fell silent briefly and then exploded, having realized that she was in possession of a regional starter, and a foreign one at that.

"Regional starter!" Someone shouted, their voice getting echoed by many others.

Erika was tempted to listen to the cheering and shouting of the crowds a little more, such was her vanity, but she knew she had to focus on the battle so she tuned them out regretfully.

Mordred and the honedge had begun circling each other slowly, with neither of the two making a move.

Kong Hou was obviously hesitant to attack, and he was trying to probe out Erika's starter pokemon, just as she did the same.

How tough is its body? Erika wondered. Mordred has likely already attained second-badge strength in terms of raw power thanks to our starter bond and his royal lineage, but elemental grass has bad interactions with elemental steel.

The stun spores and sleep powders saturating the arena atmosphere didn't seem to affect the honedge greatly either, since their debilitating effects derived from their biological components - the spores/powders themselves. The grass aura attached mainly served to magnify the effects of the biological component to an extreme degree.

Inorganic pokemon, huh. Erika eyed the honedge's glimmering body. Its actual body is that of a metal sword, so you can't exactly expect it to be affected by spores and powders meant to act on nervous systems. And if it's not affected by the stun spore and sleep powder, there's nothing for the grass aura to magnify.

Erika knew that at higher skill levels, there was a way to shunt the effects of grass type spore and powder moves so that it was entirely based on aura instead of the biological component, allowing it to affect pokemon with inorganic bodies as well, but the current her was not qualified to learn or pull off such a technique yet. She had been training with Gwen for only a few months at best, and with Mordred barely a week or two.

Thankfully, Mordred is a grass type, Erika thought. Because of the interactions between elemental grass, he's immune to the grass aura contained within the stun spore and sleep powder, and what little effect the biological component has on him can easily be resisted with his powerful body. If you took away the magnifying effect of the aura, what you would get would be a spore that could only cause minor muscle paralysis or minor drowsiness.

Kong Hou decided to break the waiting first and wordlessly commanded his sword to attack, which Erika caught thanks to her second sight. A thin, nearly invisible line of psychic aura could be seen connecting Kong Hou and his honedge, and by straining her perception, Erika could see minute reverberations and pulses going back and forth on that line. Good thing he hasn't learned how to mask it yet.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The edges of honedge's body began to glow with a disgusting mottled green light which Erika instinctively recoiled from. This wasn't the rich verdant of the forest, nor the dim murk of ocean seaweed, or that of any other type of plant. It was a green that Erika was innately opposed to, one which she knew very well countered her specialization directly.

Bug. That means it knows fury cutter!

"Stop!" Erika shouted immediately, halting Mordred in his tracks. "Don't engage it, avoid all its attacks! And whatever you do, don't call the tornado!"

The honedge descended, animated by an invisible force and slashing ruthlessly at Mordred, whose only recourse was to dodge and run away. Mordred obeyed Erika's commands completely, of which she was grateful for, because if Mordred had really met the honedge's blows or used leaf tornado, the situation really would be beyond salvaging.

Fury cutter was a sinister power accumulation type move which increased in lethality the more times it was able to strike a target, and if Mordred hadn't listened, he would have just been providing the honedge with free opportunities to grow in strength. The leaves from the leaf tornado could perhaps blind the honedge and reduce its field of vision, but it was also free target practice that the honedge could use to build its fury with, even if it wasn't as good as directly slashing Mordred.

Erika's brain raced furiously, trying to come up with a new plan.

"Use Plan D Mordred!" She shouted again, mirroring her words from the preliminaries.

Kong Hou immediately went on guard for what was about to happen - which was actually nothing. Erika just shouted that to make him wary, but in reality, it was an agreed upon code word which Erika had told Mordred that meant 'stop doing anything except try to survive.'

They had come up with a total of four basic plans, A, B, C, and D, which could be easily memorized. The reason Erika used letters was so that she could hide her intent and plans from the enemy, because as of now she had no methods to wordlessly communicate with her pokemon. It was too tiring to memorize complicated plans, so she just came up with four simple variations that her pokemon could remember.

Her voice brought them some time as Kong Hou had his honedge slow down its attack a little, and Mordred continued to dodge, relying on his powerful instincts and body to evade the oncoming sword slashes. It probably helped as well that the honedge seemed to be literally and metaphorically rusty, as its movements were rigid and it only seemed to be capable of slashing in rigid arcs and straight thrusts.

Erika tried to calculate the odds of Mordred winning in a head on collision, but she didn't know how fast the honedge could accumulate power, so it was difficult to say. A little risk would need to be taken. Let's trade blows.

"Knock Off!" Erika ordered, locking onto the honedge from afar.

Kong Hou seemed to commit to the attack as well after hearing Erika's order, trusting that his honedge would eventually come out the winner in this confrontation.

Mordred leapt up and turned his tail, using the rotation to gather momentum and adding to the force of the blow as dark aura blazed into existence on his tail. He turned, and then met the descending blade of the honedge with his tail in a collision that sent both parties crashing back to the floor. The impact from Mordred's tail blasted the honedge away violently, although its sword body seemed to be completely unharmed.

The mottled bug aura of the honedge's fury cutter had bit deep into Mordred's tail, lacerating it profusely but thankfully not deeply. His fan shaped tail was soaked with red, but nothing seemed to be permanently damaged.

On the other hand, the honedge's body was trembling slightly, and when it tried to levitate itself back up, its movements became more rattled and less stable. It moves through psychic aura, and the dark aura is disrupting its control over its body. The damage we did is unseen, but deadly!

Knowing that, Erika ordered Mordred to go on the attack again and trade more blows, even despite knowing that the honedge could accumulate power.

The honedge couldn't fly away this time because it's control was decreasing, so Kong Hou's only option was to make it attack again and meet Mordred's blow.

This time, blood spurted out of his tail like a geyser when it slammed into the sword blade, and Mordred let out a cry of pain which Erika felt distinctly through their powerful bond. However, the honedge was far worse off as it had been brutally slammed back onto the floor, and now the psychic aura animating its frame seemed to be nearly totally dispersed. It could barely levitate itself back up, let alone fly around, and the only thing it could do was helplessly watch as Mordred recovered and went in for another devastating strike with his tail.

When his tail made contact with the honedge again, it was beaten down and couldn't get back up. Mordred sustained no further injuries, because the honedge couldn't even muster the ability to get up and trade blows any longer.

Erika touched her face and realized she was sweating, and heavily at that. If the honedge had enough control to go for a third slash, he might have been able to cut through half of Mordred's tail.

Even the extreme boost from the starter bond with Erika wasn't enough to bolster Mordred to a point where he could take three consecutive slashes from a honedge's fury cutter. And if he did manage to work past the pain from having his tail half-severed, the fourth fury cutter would definitely sever it completely. Of course, this was dependent on the honedge being able to bear the strain of accumulating that much power in the first place as well.

Had an organic pokemon like scyther used the move, it wouldn't be able to last nearly as long as honedge, even if it could get more efficacy out of the move due to being a bug type. Honedge had a tough body that it could abuse endlessly since it was just a lump of metal, and it could bear the strain from accumulating power easily, unlike an organic pokemon that felt pain and strain more acutely.

"The winner is Erika!"

Some smoke hissed out from the arena floor in celebration as the crowd cheered for a match well fought, and Erika recalled Mordred back into his pokemon.

"Good match," Erika told Kong Hou sincerely. "That was very well fought."

He looked as if he wanted to say something in response, but eventually Kong Hou just gave her a thumbs up and settled for an awkward smile.

Honedge was still lying on the floor, unable to move, so Kong Hou recalled his starter and walked off quietly.

The impressive thing about the honedge was that its body was completely undamaged, despite taking three direct strikes from Mordred's tail. If Erika hadn't researched it beforehand and had Mordred use dark type moves to damage its ability to animate its body, perhaps the fight might have gone differently, especially if the honedge were given the chance to accumulate power.

However, thinking about what-ifs was useless. It was better to look forward, especially given Erika's next opponent - Falkner, and his monstrous skarmory.

Her next fight would require careful planning, because Erika knew that no matter how strong Mordred might be, he was fundamentally still a grass-type pokemon, and having him fight against a skarmory in head on combat was tantamount to suicide.

With a double elemental disadvantage, even a first badge pokemon could cross ranks to fight against a third badge if they got lucky enough, let alone having Mordred fight a skarmory that was close to his level of strength. Given that Falkner was a clan trainer, Erika didn't doubt that his skarmory was at least peak first badge. It was probably raised on a diet of expensive supplements and optimal super foods as Mordred had been, so she couldn't rely on power to even the disparity.

No, the key to winning the next fight was Gwen, and not for a reason anyone might expect.

Erika didn't stick around on the podium much longer after the conclusion of the match, opting to retreat back to the waiting room and healing center. Mordred and Gwen's pokeballs were handed to a nurse while Erika waited for her next match.

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

"How confident are you in actually winning your next match?" Milly asked curiously, her words showing some doubt as to Erika's ability. "I know your snivy is strong, but it's not gonna survive multiple air cutters from your opponent's skarmory. In fact, it probably won't even make it past the second."

Erika looked absent mindedly at her two pokeballs, spinning them around and tossing them up and down. "I've got my ways. There's a trick with leaf tornado I can use to blunt the impact from the cutting winds a little, but that's not what I'm relying on."

The two friends were sitting in Erika's waiting room, counting down the minutes before the next round. Milly had her arms crossed on one of the chairs, leaning back slightly, but not so far that she could be accused of sitting improperly. Erika had her feet on the table and her whole body leaned back on the chair, which made Milly's eyes twitch, but she didn't comment on it too much since she was more curious as to Erika's plan.

Erika was tempted to tell Milly her plan, but she held back in the end.

"Just wait and see," Erika smirked. "I'm definitely going to win, but it's not gonna be a very exciting match. This fight is highly anticipated, and I'm going to have to disappoint everyone with my methods."

The alarm blared, notifying Erika that it was time to head to the arena, so she got up and redid her kimono until it was presentable. Milly left for the spectator area quickly, and Erika made her way up to the podium again. When she saw the field, Erika started grinning. It's Standard Field again. All I need is a Field that has soil for the floor.

Falkner was waiting on the other side with a huge smile on his face, as if he already expected his victory. "Hey Erika! How's it going?"

"I'm doing pretty good actually," Erika replied honestly. "I've been thinking for a while on how to beat you, and I think I've finally come up with a foolproof plan."

"Oh?"

Falker had a look of genuine curiosity on his face. "Really now? I'd love to hear about this method of yours then."

"That's gonna have to wait until the match begins."

Erika didn't say anything else and waited for the referee to announce the start of the match, counting down the seconds in her head. Outwardly, she was extremely calm, but she was sweating on the inside. As long as Gwen can burrow down before his skarmory unleashes its air cutter, I win.

The referee raised his flag and swept it down. "Let the semi-finals begin!"

Gwen appeared onto the arena with skarmory, and immediately burrowed into the ground. Not even a second later, a gust of horrifying wind blew past her head, carving dozens of deep lines into the soil of the arena floor.

Erika burst into laughter.

"I'm going to win," she told Falkner bluntly. "You lose."

Clouds of stun spore and sleep powder began rising from the hole Gwen burrowed into, slowly but surely, and the skarmory flapped its bladed wings to send out a gust of wind to disperse the spores.

"Was that your plan?" Falker asked in confusion. "Hide and poison the surrounding atmosphere? That's not gonna work. I can just disperse the poison with wind, and Titania resists poison anyways. Are you really banking on that to secure your victory?"

"You just wait and see," Erika said confidently.

The key words here was resist. Falkner's skarmory could resist poison, sure, but it wasn't immune to it. Its elemental steel type made it immune to poison aura, but that was only the auric component. The biological component of poison powder laid in the powder itself, which was inhaled and would slowly affect the skarmory, even if the effects were very weak in nature. The aura makes the powders and spores stronger, sure, but even without aura, you're still breathing in substances that debilitate the muscles and nervous system.

Furthermore, Gwen didn't spray only poison powder. She was also releasing stun spore and sleep powder - the skarmory still had great elemental resistance to it, but this time, it wasn't complete immunity.

Gwen continued to burrow deeper, and she began to breach holes into the surface from different parts of the arena floor. Whenever she breached a hole into the surface, Gwen would spray up some more stun spore or sleep or poison powder, and the skarmory high in the sky of the arena would send down more wind to blast away the spore and powder clouds.

This continued for quite some time, with Gwen digging and releasing more spores and powders, and the skarmory dispersing it with wind, before Falkner finally began to understand what Erika was trying to do. "Are you trying to saturate the whole arena so I can't blow the spores away? Even if you could do that, what's the point? Titania can easily resist it."

"How good is her resistance?" Erika asked casually. "There must be a limit right?"

Falkner's brows furrowed. "You're not gonna make it to that point."

The audience had stopped cheering a long time ago due to how prolonged their fight was. Twenty more minutes went by with no change, as Gwen continued to hide underground and Falkner's skarmory remained flying high above the arena floor.

"Your skarmory can't fly forever, can it?" Erika guessed. "If this fight were in the open sky, it could probably glide for a long time, but in this enclosed arena, your skarmory can only stay aloft by repeatedly flapping its wings. It's tiring out, and fast."

"You're wrong," Falkner told her. "Roost!"

His skarmory descended rapidly onto the ground and closed its wings, shrouding its peregrine form with flying type aura and rapidly restoring its stamina. Erika saw Gwen tunnel towards where it landed through her second sight and absorb a little energy from the skarmory through her absorb, before Falkner realized what was happening and had his skarmory ascend again.

"Good try," Falkner said. "But it won't work. Your oddish's ability to absorb energy is weak, and Titania can roost extremely quickly."

"Keep waiting," Erika smirked. "I can do this all day."

Indeed, she was capable of doing this all day.

The fight kept dragging on. More than two hours had passed by now, and over a quarter of the crowd had left out of boredom. The rest remained out of curiosity, but even Erika could see that they were beginning to wane. Erika and Falkner kept it lively by talking, but even that became a chore after doing it for two hours.

"Why hasn't your oddish run out of stamina by now?" Falkner asked suspiciously, unable to suppress his curiosity. "Or aura? It shouldn't be able to pump out stun spores and sleep powders for this long."

"Can't you tell? It's because of you!" Erika replied honestly. "When your skarmory comes down to roost, Gwen takes advantage of it to absorb energy. Normally, she might not be able to absorb very much, but in that supercharged state when your skarmory uses roost, the amount of energy Gwen can drain increases a lot too. As long as your skarmory needs to come down, Gwen will have energy to keep using."

Left unsaid was the fact that using roost possibly removed one of the skarmory's two elemental types. It was just Erika's personal conjecture, but she noticed through her second sight that the stun spore and sleep powder in the air were having an easier time affecting the skarmory each time it came down to roost.

The great terror bird looked unusually drowsy each time it came down to roost, which could be explained away by the effects of the technique, but it couldn't explain how twitchy its wings became after each session of roost. It looks like muscle paralysis, Erika thought. That's weird. Does this move do something to affect the skarmory's typing? Without the steel/flying type, it would probably lose a lot of elemental resistance to Gwen's stun spore and sleep powder.

Either way, Erika wasn't raising the issue with Falkner. He probably knew already too, but Erika wasn't keen on helping her opponent out.

Falkner looked troubled now, but he couldn't do anything. If he had his skarmory fly indefinitely, she would eventually collapse out of exhaustion. She needed to come down to roost no matter what, and Gwen would be able to take advantage of that to absorb energy for herself. The difference between them was that Gwen didn't have to burn energy constantly to stay aloft, as she was standing snugly underground.

"This is full on attrition warfare," Falkner realized. "Everything you're doing is designed to exhaust my skarmory. When you release stun spore and sleep powder, Titania has to send wind down to disperse it, or at least keep the concentration of those spores and powders near her low. That expends stamina. She has to stay aloft to maintain her aerial superiority, and in this enclosed space, that means she has to flap her wings constantly - that expends stamina. If she lands to roost, that helps you, because your oddish can drain her to regain its stamina."

"That's right," Erika agreed with a smile. "You can't attack her underground as well - and I know that for sure, given that you haven't done it so far, and because I studied your previous matches. You have no means to attack pokemon which are hiding underground."

His skarmory swept down at those words, spearing one of its bladed wings into the soil at the spot Gwen hid, but it had to retract its wings with a look of disappointment.

"Can't hit her?" Erika observed. "She's tunneled too deep for that. Even if you can see where Gwen is hiding through second sight, your skarmory can't reach her."

Falkner's face was ugly now.

"Knowing is meaningless," Erika said casually. "I've told you my plan, but what can you do? You can't force Gwen out of the underground, and your skarmory's stamina drains with every second it remains airborne. Come down to roost, and you get drained slowly, which helps my pokemon maintain her stamina. If you don't keep blowing wind to scatter the spores and powder, your skarmory's wing muscles will freeze up and it'll be grounded, but creating the wind expends stamina and aura, so it's only going to wear you down faster."

"You'd lose in a head on fight," Falkner said, unwilling to let Erika get the last word.

"Oh I agree," Erika said cheerily. "Your skarmory would eviscerate my pokemon if they fought head to head. But this isn't a head on battle, and you're gonna lose."

The fight kept going and going, and when it passed the three hour mark, Falkner raised the white flag of defeat. He recalled his skarmory.

"I can't outlast you," Falkner finally admitted. "Your oddish's only expenditures are the aura it uses in spraying up spores and powders, while Titania needs to use stamina in flapping her wings constantly. If she lands to roost, your oddish gets to recharge. Roost can't be used indefinitely either, and each resulting usage has diminishing returns. My pokemon can't hold on for much longer."

Instead of reaching for his second pokeball, Falkner did something unexpected.

"I surrender!"

"Huh?" Erika looked confused. "You aren't going to send out your second pokemon?"

"What's the point?" Falkner said bitterly. "My second is also a bird pokemon, and you're going to do the exact same thing. I don't want to stand here for another three hours."

"You win this time, Erika."

The referee signaled the end of the match, but there weren't many cheers. Most of the crowd didn't even realize the match was over until the siren blared, because none of them were paying attention any longer.

"You've taught me a good lesson today," Falkner said seriously. "Next time, you won't be able to hide underground like that."

"I won't be relying on this strategy next time," Erika retorted. "But it was a good match anyways."

They were already way past the expected finishing time at this point, but because the RSG had no time limits as a rule, the organizers generously let Erika overstay her welcome until the match finally finished.

When Erika walked out of the arena, she realized that most of the lights had already been turned off. The spectators for the other arena had already left, and only a few dogged people had decided to stay in person to watch her match with Falkner. The rest all left a long time ago and switched to watching from the livestream in the comfort of their home.

I didn't see Milly in the crowd either, Erika noted. She probably didn't have the patience to sit three hours either.

Erika hailed a cab back to the Grand Verdant and pulled out her phone while she waited for it to arrive, scrolling idly through the messages in Milly's chat group until she got to the bottom.

Milly and Friends (7) 298 UNREAD MESSAGES

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

…

[10:02PM] - Ender Rackham

I'm not gonna lie, I can't be fucked to wait for Erika any longer. Can we just eat already?

[10:02PM] - Millicent Belding

Ender, you know how I feel about profanity.

[10:02PM] - Ender Rackham

Lsndvoiaeapejvaioegjoianjogienaoinbfd

[10:03PM] - Ender Rackham

It's 10pm Milly. Can we just eat?

[10:03PM] - Millicent Belding

It's not right to eat unless everyone is here.

[10:03PM] - Samantha Joy

This artisan has become fated with a cream cheese bagel.

[10:03PM] - Millicent Belding

Sammy, you're not supposed to eat until everyone gets here!

[10:03PM] - Samantha Joy

My dark, mystic powers require energy to contain. I am hungry.

[10:03PM] - Erika Caldwell

Hey guys I'm done and I'm on the way back.

[10:03PM] - Ender Rackham

Finally

[10:03PM] - Millicent Belding

Erika, this is gonna sound really bad, but I fell asleep watching your match. Did you win?

[10:03PM] - Erika Caldwell

Yeah I won. Falkner gave up eventually.

[10:03PM] - Ender Rackham

Congrats? Just get here quickly.

[10:03PM] - Millicent Belding

Congrats Erika! Sorry I couldn't stay there any longer, I had to go do something, and then when I was done, the match was still going on, and I fell asleep, so…

[10:03PM] - Erika Caldwell

Don't worry about it. And yeah I'll be back soon Ender.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The cab didn't take long to arrive, but Erika changed her mind on the way to the Grand Verdant and decided to stop by a convenience store first, and she grabbed a huge bag's worth of different types of chocolate bars for Gwen.

LeFondant, Jupiter, Twigs, Meaner, and a couple of other brands were all grabbed and chucked into a huge plastic bag which Erika checked out at the cashier. Erika also got herself a fruit smoothie from a machine nearby. The lady manning the cashier was quite astonished at the quantity of things Erika was buying, and the Indigo Black card that she held.

"You aren't going to eat all of that, are you?" The cashier lady asked. "You're going to get fat you know?"

"I'm a pokemon trainer," Erika said. "We don't get fat because we have aura."

"Ah?"

"Kids these days," the cashier sighed. "You kids are starting younger and younger every day. Why, the other day, I saw a boy running around with a mankey doing some community service! He was quite upbeat, and he came here to buy some chocolate as well."

Erika spat out her smoothie.

"Come again? You saw a boy running around with a mankey?"

"Why yes I did!" The cashier replied.

"Was he around my height and blond with gray eyes?" Erika asked nervously.

"I think so?" The cashier put a finger on her chin, and thought about it for a moment. "Yes, he was blond, but I don't remember the color of his eyes. Why are you asking?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Erika said, laughing it off. "I'll be going now."

That's Lloyd. Oh shit. Let's not come to this part of town again. Erika wasn't scared of Lloyd in the slightest, but it would be kind of awkward considering what she did to him, and if they met, they would probably get into a fight. Erika was confident she could push the blame onto him again, but she wasn't in the business of creating grudges for fun - although, considering what had already happened, Lloyd probably did have a grudge on her.

No need to make it worse, Erika thought. I won't go out of my way to provoke him. I'm a magnanimous person after all.

After calling another cab, Erika found herself getting out at the front of the Grand Verdant a few minutes later. She headed straight for the private elevator that led up to Milly's friends-only suite floor and had a quick shower, and changed into a comfortable yukata which Milly's staff had prepared.

The yukata was a plain light blue with a dark blue obi, which Erika thought was quite cute. However, she didn't have the slightest clue how to tie the obi together. When she put on her kimono, Erika usually referred to the set of instructions that came with the packaging, but she misplaced it and couldn't find it any longer, so Erika just wrapped the obi around herself and tied a shoddy to hold her outfit in place.

Finally, Erika uncapped her pokeballs and released her two pokemon, letting Mordred and Gwen come out to rest.

Their pokeball models weren't designed for comfort, so spending long periods of time inside could be uncomfortable, especially for Gwen, who was registered to a standard issue pokeball. Mordred at least had the benefit of being in a great ball, but the conditions inside weren't much better either. The great ball was created for stability in capturing a pokemon, and it was designed to last a long time, so that trainers could break in their new captures and get them to agree to forming bonds. It was not designed for comfort.

Maybe I should invest in some luxury balls, Erika considered. Pokeball stability is only really necessary when it comes to catching new pokemon that you want to break in, and Mordred and Gwen are already willing partners who have bonded with me. The stability of their pokeballs doesn't matter at all. I'll go to the Glass Helix this weekend and buy some luxury balls for them - they deserve it.

Erika was about to leave for dinner when her oldest pokemon nudged her, reaching out a leaf expectantly. Erika was confused as to what Gwen wanted until she realized that she was holding the plastic bag containing the chocolates she bought.

"My bad Gwen," Erika said apologetically. "I bought these for you as a reward for your excellent performance today. They're not the highest quality because the Glass Helix is a little too far away to visit tonight, so I got you a big variety from a convenience store. Enjoy!"

Erika dumped out all the chocolate bars from the bag near the side of the hot spring and left Gwen and Mordred to soak in the healing waters.

Out on the patio, Milly and Ender were already waiting, and Samantha was nowhere to be seen. Probably enjoying her bagel, Erika thought amusedly. The others probably aren't coming.

"Hey guys!" Erika shouted loudly. "Ready for dinner!"

Ender glared at her. "I've been waiting since 8pm, and Milly kept insisting that we couldn't eat without you. Thanks for nothing."

"Yeah, that's on me," Erika said. "Sorry about that. Now that I'm here though, we can get straight into eating."

Milly clapped her hands and had one of her staff roll in a tray of food.

"I had the chefs make seaking and octillery sushi just for you!" Milly told her. "There's also crabby fried rice, some sunflora seeds, bellsprout roast, miltank carpaccio, and a charcuterie board with some kalosian cheeses if you want too.

Milly raised a glass of water and clinked it against Erika's own glass, and with Ender, and toasted her. "Cheers Erika! Congratulations on your win!"

"Congrats," Ender said slowly and unenthusiastically "Let's eat."

Ender immediately started digging into the food like a ravenous animal, before Milly smacked him on the back and he slowed down a little.

"Where did Samantha go?" Erika wondered. "Is she actually not eating? Or was the bagel enough for her?"

"I think she went home," Milly said, after thinking about it a little. "I didn't want to keep her too long, so I offered to have one of my staff drive her back. Maybe I should have convinced her to stay. Samantha isn't exactly well liked among her family members."

"Oh?"

Erika started eating as well, dipping some of the seaking sushi into soy sauce and slowly chewing, letting the flavors melt on her tongue. It's quite light, Erika thought with some surprise. The fishy flavor is very weak, and the soy sauce adds just enough saltiness to make it taste good.

"Samantha has a history," Milly said slowly, by way of explanation. "The Joys are split up into two groups - the branch clan, and the main clan. Branch clan members are expected to become nurses or doctors, and aren't allowed to go on pokemon journeys. Only main clan members who have extremely strong normal and fairy type affinities are allowed to go adventure, and sadly, Samantha didn't have enough fairy affinity to be allowed into the main clan. They hold a selection when you're young, and she didn't make the cut."

"How come she's a trainer then?" Erika said in between mouthfuls.

Milly stared at her, waiting for her to finish chewing.

"Oh."

Erika quickly chewed and wiped her mouth. "My bad. I won't speak while chewing next time."

Having to follow Milly's stringent rules was kind of annoying, but Erika could put up with it due to the immense benefits that came along with being in Milly's inner circle.

"So, how come she's a trainer then?"

"She's left the clan," Milly explained. "Samantha became a normal type specialist after officially being expelled from the family."

"How come she's so weird then?" Erika asked confusedly. "Shouldn't she be a broody and dark avenger type? Like those manga protagonists who are born without talent and come back to annihilate their clans when they get strong due to lucky encounters. 'I will have my vengeance someday, or something', you know?"

"That's not really my story to tell," Milly said vaguely. "You should ask Samanatha yourself if you want to hear the full story."

"No thank you," Erika shuddered, imagining the conversation. "I don't think I can stand listening to her talk for more than a few seconds."

Milly shrugged and returned to eating.

It didn't take long for Erika to demolish all the food with Ender, and she parted with Milly and Ender to retire for the night.

Mordred and Gwen were still soaking in the hot water, and Erika was astonished to discover that all the chocolate bars had already been eaten. Dozens upon dozens of wrappers were left lying next to the hot spring, and upon seeing Erika enter, Mordred sighed and extended a few vine feelers to scoop up all the wrappers and dumped them into the trash can in the corner of Erika's room.

'Sorry for mess.'

"As long as you two clean it up afterwards, I couldn't care less," Erika said, waving them off. "Anyways, I'm going to bed you two. Rest up, because tomorrow, we're battling in the finals. I've seen our opponent - he isn't nearly as hard as Falkner. Night."

Erika threw herself onto the bed and plunged straight into dreamland, letting her two pokemon continue to soak in the hot spring.