Hard Enough

Titan skidded from the back of the field to the front, roaring as he did so. His passing caused the field to be torn up and dust and rock shards to be hurled into the air.

He twisted about, making sure the entire stadium knew he was present and staking his claim.

Masked Owl faltered, and I grinned. “Titan!” I barked while urging him through our bond for Rock Throw. Titan‘s tail swung around and a wave of rock soared into the air at the stunned Pidgeot.

“Move!” screamed Masked Owl, as he regathered himself.

Sadly he did so quickly enough to evade the strike, his Pidgeot tucking a wing and swinging wide before arcing around Titan.

Titan turned his head, locking on to the target even as Pidgeot rose back to where it had been. The wind howled for a moment as the powerful Pidgeot’s passing caused a shockwave of air.

I leaned into it, ignoring the annoyance of dust and grit flying into my face.

The turbulent winds merely helped me.

A moment later, the dust continued to spiral and with but a moment’s warning a sandstorm rose with Titan grinning as the stadium was obscured.

Pidgeot was taken into the sandstorm and I was close enough to see it flinch as sand grated at it.

“...!” shouted Masked Owl, his voice lost in the howling winds.

I knew what was coming though, and so I leaned forward, and pulled up my rock energy as Pidgeot called forth a Hurricane.

I matched it with Stone Edge into the heart of the storm, causing the Hurricane to only get half the strength that it should have as Pidgeot suddenly had to drop the move and dodge.

Pidgeot glowered at Titan.

Titan for his part shook his head and let some of the sand that was still blowing slip from his joints. The ground around him only had the sparsest tips of grass poking through thanks to the earlier Sandstorm.

“Keep up the pressure!” I ordered. Titan snorted and swept his tail around, and once again Rock Slide shot forth unleashing a wave of rocks that forced Pidgeot to dodge. Each dodge however had to be done at speed, causing more and more wind that carried the sand up into the air.

The more Titan disrupted the ground the more sand particles there were being tossed around.

By controlling the ground, we’d be able to control the air and therefore the match.

Masked Owl must have realised that though as he clicked his tongue. “Adjust your wings to break up the disruption! Mimic Noctowl!” he shouted.

If I hadn’t lived two lives, along with owning my own Noctowl, I might not have known what Masked Owl was talking about.

A gleam shot through Pidgeot’s wings and tail. A moment later the torrent of wind that billowed as Pidgeot evaded Titan’s Rock Slide lessened until it was barely stirring the air.

I resisted the urge to gape just barely.

Damn, that was impressive. He’d somehow trained his Pidgeot to alter its feather structure so that it had a comb-like serration that broke up the turbulent wind of wing beats.

It came at a cost, however.

With Pidgeot’s wings having to soften slightly, I knew that speed would drop. This right here was one of the reasons Noctowl weren’t as fast as Fearow or Pidgeot.

It was still damn impressive that Walker/Masked Owl had thought to do things like that. I had to give it to him, he knew his business.

I just smirked. I had known that fighting Masked Owl was going to happen. Some people would say they felt it in their waters.

I’d… well I’d just known that there was a very high chance of him and I clashing. I’d come up with some strategies for this match. One of which had always involved Titan.

“Do it,” I said and Titan stopped throwing rocks with his tail and feet scooping them up and instead twisted and pointed two claws straight at Pidgeot.

This time rocks rose around him and gained a slightly prismatic look to them. Then they shot forward like a shotgun blast, scattering in a wide spread that Pidgeot couldn’t dodge.

Not with how it had slowed down.

Maybe not even while it had been at its normal pace.

The Power Gem move was wonderful like that.

Much faster than the purely physical Rock Slide. It might not play to Titan’s strengths as a physical powerhouse, but that didn’t mean it didn’t add something sorely lacking to Titan’s movepool.

A ranged attack that was terrifyingly fast.

Pidgeot spiralled as it took a sudden, super-effective hit. It had been fine when nothing was hitting it, but now that wasn’t the case. Now it had taken a hit and was going to suffer.

“Pidgeot! Turn this around!” Masked Owl called.

I leaned forward in anticipation. This was one of the moves that our research had picked up on. Masked Owl had very specific commands for some of his shared set moves, and this was one of them.

Pidgeot dove towards Titan, for all intents and purposes looking like it was going to commit to a Kamikaze attack.

“Wait for it!” I ordered, as Pidgeot blitzed down. If I committed to a Stone Edge I knew Pidgeot would simply dodge.

Pidgeot swept in and Titan feinted with his tail, spinning as if about to slap a rock into Pidgeot’s face.

Pidgeot vanished in a blur as Aerial Ace activated. Masked Owl raised two pokeballs in preparation for the U-turn being pulled off.

I didn’t want to give him the chance. Instead of slapping a rock, Titan exploded into a Dark Pulse making Pidgeot’s strike miss and for the powerful flying type to take a shock hit just as it was about to withdraw itself from the field.

Pidgeot screeched even as it broke up into red energy, the secondary effect of U-turn coming into play despite the miss. I had to give it to Walker, his Pidgeot was strong as it vanished without fainting despite taking two solid hits, one of which was super effective.

The other pokeball in Masked Owl’s hand broke open revealing a Skarmory that screeched angrily as it found itself in very close to Titan before it beat its wings to get clear.

I snapped my hand after it, not willing to let it get clear. “Blast it down!” I said giving Titan the cue to go for another Power Gem.

Titan shot his fingers up like he was in an old western, his draw was good and the bejewelled rocks slammed into the tail feathers of the Skarmory but only elicited a screech of pain before Skarmory tucked and rolled, turning as it did so to face us.

It beat its metal wings frantically and keened angrily. I instantly could see how things might be different with this pokemon on the field. Honestly, I was surprised that Masked Owl hadn’t led with Skarmory.

It had fewer type disadvantages and minimised a lot of what I could bring to bear, but that didn’t make it a one pokemon solution to my team.

“Titan… Power em,” I said after considering it again.

“Stir up the winds! Agility!” said Masked Owl, and I had to scowl. So he wanted the Sandstorm this time, did he? He wouldn’t have to worry about the damage from a Sandstorm.

But it would boost my pokemon and hinder him.

That was, unless he wanted to make use of the low visibility to slip in a move, like Spikes.

I considered the state of the field for half a moment and made a snap call. “Titan, return!” I said returning my starter and snapping my hand down to Sanchez’s pokeball.

“Spikes!” said Masked Owl, proving me right straight as I got Sanchez on the field.

Sanchez appeared before the Spikes were properly out and I had to sigh in relief. That… might have been deadly if Masked Owl had gotten to pull it off.

Sanchez, ignorant of the danger he’d been close to enduring, made a show of dusting himself off. “Go lem!” he said.

When he noticed the crowd he perked up and his smile grew wider.

“Traps on the field! Play it smart!” I called. Sanchez snapped his attention onto the threat and a moment later he unleashed a Discharge.

“Earth yourself and unleash another Spikes onto the field!” Masked Owl said firmly.

Skarmory dropped like an ingot and slammed its wings into the ground tips first as it gleamed with Steel energy. It cackled balefully as Sanchez lit it up even as it shot out yet more Spikes onto the field.

I was not liking having my field control method used against me like this. I glowered at Masked Owl and pointed at his grounded pokemon. If he was going to oblige me like this, I was going to make it cost him.

“Thunder,” I said.

Sanchez slammed his hands together as a bolt of lightning shot off him causing a thunderclap as he discharged his Thunder.

The crowd gasped in shock and even I shot him a surprised look for a moment. He must have been training that in secret.

The thunder shot up, and then arced down straight onto the metal rod that had earthed itself in Skarmory. It fried the flying-steel type and despite negating some of it, Skarmory still took damage.

It was barely hanging on after the Thunder dissipated and I waved a hand. “Discharge,” I said, settling for the more guaranteed strike.

“Rest,” said Masked Owl snidely. Skarmory shut its eyes and fell asleep, just as Sanchez unleashed Discharge.

The move zapped the stunned bird and I shot Masked Owl an annoyed look only to drop it a moment later as I realised he’d just given me an avenue to use.

“Stealth Rock,” I said firmly. This time it was Masked Owl’s turn to grimace.

He’d overplayed his hand by trying to make me pay for a slip.

While Skarmory had moves like Sleep Talk available to it, I knew from yesterday’s review that it didn’t as it instead focussed on other moves like Spikes, Steel wing, Brave Bird, Agility, Rest, and Dark Pulse.

“Skarmory! I need you to wake up!” shouted the man.

“Stealth Rock,” I said firmly, doubling down on getting myself an advantage. Then I snapped my hand into a gun and directed it right at the slumbering pokemon.

“Then finish it with Thunder,” I said, not a hint of remorse in my tone.

Sanchez grinned viciously as he once again slammed his hands together above his head and unleashed the Thunder. Surge would be proud of him for his shock and awe.

It dropped on a just awakening pokemon only for Masked Owl to whip out his pokeball and return his pokemon. “I withdraw my pokemon, it wouldn’t have lasted under that onslaught,” he said contritely as people tried to boo him.

I nodded in solidarity. He’d made the right call. As I waited for his next pokemon I rolled my head around to loosen up a little.

The referee merely nodded and raised a flag. “Skarmory is unable to battle, the match is now one nil!”

I hummed. Alright, that confirmed it, despite the solid hits Titan had gotten in, it hadn’t been enough to put down that Pidgeot.

I found I wasn’t surprised. Pidgeot was probably one of my foe’s original pokemon and therefore his strongest.

My opponent took a moment to pause and consider his options. With Skarmory out, he was lacking a serious advantage with STAB bonus, but I knew a lot of his other pokemon also had Steel Wing in their movepool so it wasn’t the end.

It was more annoying that he’d gotten off three rounds of Spikes.

I’d need to do something about those. Sadly they were hidden within the sand piles that had formed up which would make targeting them to wipe them off the field difficult, not unless I had Sanchez go for broke with an Explosion to sweep the field but I was hoping it wouldn’t get that far.

Although there was another option…

“Go Tropius!” said Masked Owl as he revealed his third pokemon of the match and another that had some arguments for its inclusion. I chalked this up as the third correct pokemon that we’d selected from his roster that he’d use against me.

Tropius fluttered in the air a good distance from the ground. That was another thing, Walker never started his pokemon on the ground.

Stealth Rocks shot up and slammed into the Flying type making it squeal and giving me an option to one-two this exchange.

“Stone Edge!” I barked, punching my fist forward.

“Drop to the ground and regain your strength!” Masked Owl said. Tropius dutifully obeyed and in doing so, just barely dodged Snachez’s attack. I was surprised when I saw one of the banab-like fruits that rested underneath Tropius’ chin fold up into its mouth.

Tropius squirmed with delight and a sparkle ran down its form.

I clicked my tongue but didn’t let the miss deter me. Debates on what this pokemon was doing were all over the pokenet, but I’d asked Erika about it and she’d determined that it was an interesting use of Synthesis boosted by the natural fruits Tropius produces.

I also suspected it had something to do with an ability and I was proven correct as the fruit on Tropius’ chin regrew even as Sanchez smashed another Stone Edge into it.

Tropius’ wings buzzed angrily and it began juking left and right to make it harder to hit.

“Leaf Storm!” called Masked Owl. His pokemon swept its wings down faster again and a droning noise erupted through the stadium as glittering leaves formed up around Tropius. Then with a swing of its neck, the leaves shot forward.

“Dig!” I countered.

Sanchez dove into the ground and evaded the strike but Masked Owl used the drop in tension to get off another Synthesis with his pokemon, keeping it in the fight.

I clicked my tongue as Sanchez poked his head out of the ground.

It was looking more and more like I might not be able to win this fight as cleanly as I was hoping for. No matter what I did I was going to have a lot of issues with those Spikes. Shin would be able to wipe the field with a Surf, but wouldn’t do so well with Tropius on the field.

I clenched my jaw. It seemed like Masked Owl was determined to drag this into an endurance slog unless I was willing to throw away Sanchez, potentially for no payout.

An Explosion, for all that it was a powerful move, didn’t mean there weren’t counters to it such as Protect.

“Sanchez, fill the sky,” I ordered firmly. Sanchez popped out of the ground with a gleam in his eyes. He then proceeded to show just how fast he could fire off Stone Edge, Rock Throw, and Rock Slide at his opponent.

He tumbled and turned, using his round body to get himself into new positions to hurl rock after rock.

Tropius had to dodge a wave of potentially match-ending rocks. It flitted and flapped, juking and throwing itself. At one point it dove hard into the ground, landed with its knees buckling before it kicked off the ground to launch itself back into the sky, all while evading rock after rock.

The crowd cheered for the display of skill both pokemon were putting on.

Sanchez was a one-man fusion of an artillery piece blended with a tumbling acrobat, while Tropius was grace and speed as it danced on a knife’s edge.

It buzzed in and out of attacks while Sanchez kept on the pressure.

Both pokemon had eyes only for the other with micromovements being read and acted upon to lead shot or dodge before they could be launched leading to tiny moments as each fought for control of the battle.

Eventually, something had to give though and the damage and constant energy used in recovery from earlier were enough to tip things in our favour.

Tropius faltered and was a hair too slow dodging a Rock Throw. It took a bad tumble in the air and Sanchez saw his chance, unleashing a Stone Edge at the falling pokemon.

Tropius displayed surprising skill by beating its wings backwards to halt its fall but the boulder Sanchez threw was large enough that it still wasn’t enough.

The boulder slammed into the other pokemon and with a faint cry, it finally tumbled to the ground without a chance of arresting its fall. Before it hit the ground Masked Owl recalled it.

The crowd, being a Celadon crowd, applauded politely with a few out-of-towners rising to their feet to cheer and shout their praise for Tropius. A moment later they cheered for Sanchez who gave Masked Owl a formal bow to show his respect and then again to Tropius.

I grinned. He’d obviously taken notes of how I’d praised Link after his show of respect during the Ace match I’d had in Goldenrod. I was surprised when he didn’t turn and give a goofy smile.

Huh, he’d taken in how important it was to actually mean respect? I decided to mimic my pokemon’s lead on this.

“That was a hell of a flying type,” I said aloud. “You’ve done an amazing job as their trainer.”

Masked Owl blinked at this having not expected me to praise him mid-fight. The crowd quietened at this and I chuckled as I realised what it would mean to have a Rock-type specialist complement a Flying-type specialist.

Masked Owl swallowed and inclined his head. “A-ah, and you, while you have had me at a disadvantage you have not been lax, nor have your pokemon disappointed.”

This got another round of applause and I noted that the referee seemed happy to stop the countdown for this moment to have the proper weight. I found myself not begrudging the decision. The referee jolted when they noticed me watching them quietly.

A moment later the referee coughed politely and reactivated the timer. “Thirty-second warning!”

Masked Owl swallowed and gave the field a look before clicking his tongue. Then he plucked his fourth pokeball of the match and hurled it onto the field.

“Go Crobat!” he commanded.

The top pocket on my vest twitched in surprise and I put a hand to it so that Zubat would calm down. She’d done marvellously the last few days with being calm but seeing her fully evolved form had gotten a reaction out of her.

The small purple bat on the field flitted back and forth only to take a barrage of Stealth Rocks making it falter.

“Discharge!” I shouted, going for the kill straight away.

Sanchez jumped forward and unleashed a blast of electricity. Crobat snapped all four of its wings and shot back and away to the highest point at the top of the stadium. It was barely within the confines of the arena and I could only glower up at the flitting pokemon.

“Stone Edge,” I said, having Sanchez unleash another boulder at the pokemon only for it to flit to the side deftly.

“Boost!” called Masked Owl, and I could only click my teeth in annoyance as Crobat, an already dangerously fast pokemon became even faster.

I continued to try and blow it out of the sky but Crobat merely became faster and faster, resulting in it becoming a streak that shot from point to point.

“Now! Close and drain!” barked Masked Owl.

I sighed. I could see the writing on the table, and it wasn’t in Sanchez’ favour. This could be a turning point where Masked Owl used his Spikes to get control of the match.

If I let it play out that way.

“Sanchez, big solo,” I said with a smile as I braced for impact.

Sanchez cackled as Crobat shot in, a green glowing orb shooting from it to Sanchez.

Ah, Absorb. A super effective move for sure.

It didn’t change anything as Sanchez used Explosion and the arena was rocked by the sudden upheaval. Electric and kinetic energy swept over me as the barriers barely blocked the attack.

Around the arena, people screamed in sudden fear only to calm down as the barriers around the stands kicked in and stopped them from feeling anything but the lightest tremor.

When the dust settled two pokemon were shown face down. Sanchez had a huge grin on his face while Crobat looked charred and beaten. A jolt of electricity arced from it and made the little bat twitch once before it lay still.

Masked Owl glared at me. “Really?”

I nodded. “I did that because I respected your decision. You were getting control of the match. I decided to disrupt that and reset the playing field,” I said returning Sanchez. “Great work buddy. You were incredible out there.”

“The score is three to one in favour of Brock!” announced the referee.

I shot Masked Owl a smile. We both knew that wasn’t true. His Pidgeot was on its last legs, or rather feathers in this case.

I selected another pokeball and tossed it up and down in thought. “Hmmmm, let’s see what you make of this,” I said aloud.

I tossed out Don’s pokeball.

He emerged with a loud screech as his eyes darted around searching for his foe. When he locked eyes on Masked Owl he glared and growled, his wings beating furiously.

“You have much nerve to send out a flying type against me!” Masked Owl said.

“Yeah, yeah I do,” I said shamelessly. I really wanted to see how he matched up. If I’d been more daring, I might have even sent Don out first. But this also worked in case Spikes hadn’t been properly wiped from the board. I could test the waters so to speak first and push Masked Owl before sending in other pokemon to clean things up.

Masked Owl snatched his next pokeball and tossed it out. This time, unlike the others, when it formed up it did so on the ground. I raised an eyebrow.

Huh, he’d gone with his Dodrio? Interesting.

“Go for speed!” Masked owl ordered.

I jerked my hand up to the sky. “Ascend,” I said. Don flapped hard, wiggling and jolting from side to side as he went, quietly getting off Dragon Dance.

Both Masked Owl and I locked eyes as our pokemon began to circle the field, one in the skies and one on the ground. It was amusing that people’s expectations would have been reversed as to which of us were in what position.

Eventually, neither pokemon could push themselves any further and when they moved they did so with speed that caused the wind to howl.

Don’s circles created wind currents that caused the stadium to howl as he swept around and around, whereas Dodrio was starting to kick up a dust cloud that was making visibility hard.

I pointed down and like a sprinter that had been waiting for the gun, Don accelerated.

From standing to damn near terminal velocity in an instant.

He swept low and came on at Dorio with rocks picked up in his wake. He swept in and slashed with his wings only for the Dodrio to vanish in a mirage.

A moment later a trio of heads were launched out of the dust from behind Don. Instead of their beaks slamming into Don, their foot rose and stomped into him causing him to stagger into the ground.

“Crunch! Catch them while they’re close!” I shouted.

“Dodge back!” called Masked Owl, his pokemon leaping back only to be caught out as Don kicked off the ground, displaying his own speed to catch the fleeing Dodrio in his grasp.

I grinned just as savagely as Don did. “Wail on them!” I shouted and Don gave everything he had, whipping his head back and forth to slam Dodrio into the rock-strewn field.

“Curl up and go for Fury Attack!” shouted Masked Owl. I had to frown. Such a weak move?

I quickly realised that it wasn’t, by any means weak, as Dodrio curled its entire body up so that it was face to faces with Don.

Don blinked in surprise. Then Dodrio started stabbing their sharp beaks into Don’s face with fury.

Each of them slamming into the nose, the eyes, the ears.

All of them are sensitive spots on any pokemon.

Once, twice, three times, four times… five times, each of the three heads slammed their beaks into Don’s face causing him to yowl with pain and slam Dodrio into the ground once more.

They’d gotten off fifteen attacks. Negligible they should have been, if it wasn't for the number or the locations of the hits.

Dodrio kicked once only to go still.

Don growled and a feral expression took hold.

I felt my heart lurch as I understood he’d taken too much damage and was now reacting.

I shot my fingers into my mouth and whistled as harshly as I could. I’d had to couple this whistle with some rather harsh training in the past to link it into his subconscious for him to go absolutely still lest I come down on him.

Usually, that meant dominance displays where I held him by the scruff of the neck while making a show of growling.

When I’d first captured Don, this had been an almost hourly occurrence.

Dragon typed he might not be, but he still had his pride and his wild instincts from years of living alone from but for others like him. Integrating him had been some of the harshest and toughest training I’d ever done with it requiring a completely different style than I was used to.

Don stiffened and his eyes dilated as his memories took hold and his training kicked in.

“Good boy! No savaging that Dodrio because it got you good. It was strong, but you beat it. Back away from it and get some height,” I called.

Don shuffled back and I had to wince as his shuffle was more of a lurch. That specialised Fury Attack had done a number on him.

It might have been luck to get five attacks in, but I got the impression it would have been at least six, if not more, so regardless of the result Don was going to take some damage. Some of which had to have been considered critical.

Don rose into the air on wobbly wings as Dodrio was withdrawn. I hummed considering Don as he gained back some of his more typical energy. He squirmed in the air, his body obviously hurting.

He turned and shot me a look that promised trouble if he didn’t get a shot at the next pokemon. I hummed and considered him for a long moment before nodding.

“Go for it Don,” I said pointedly.

Don stared at me for a long moment only to grin savagely. Good, he’d caught the message I’d given.

“Go Noctowl!” Masked Owl shouted, sending out his sixth and probably final pokemon.

Don didn’t hesitate. He had his order, and he was going for it. He inhaled built-up energy and then with barely any warning fired off a Hyper Beam straight at Noctowl.

“Defend!” screamed Masked Owl in surprise.

Noctowl’s wings snapped up and a Protect formed which took the oncoming attack causing another explosion to rock the field. What didn’t get absorbed by the Protect continued on and slammed into the barriers causing them to glow yellow for a moment.

When the Hyper Beam dissipated it revealed a slightly ruffled Noctowl but it was otherwise unharmed.

“Show them your strength!” ordered Masked Owl. His Noctowl swept its wings down and it surged up into the sky only to then plummet a moment later, a huge wave of energy taking over the Noctowl.

“Sky Attack!” shouted Masked Owl as his pokemon slammed into Don, sending my tired Aerodactyl into the ground despite his own attempts to dodge. He was far too tired, but that was alright.

He lay there heaving desperately. “Calm yourself Don, you did great,” I said soothingly. “You’ll get a lot of treats tonight, don’t worry. Your Daughter should be proud,” I said raising his pokeball to withdraw him. His eyes slid shut as he allowed himself to fall unconscious.

“Aerodactyl is unable to battle, the score is now four to two!” shouted the referee.

I hummed. It could have been better but for a better result, I’d have required a number of things to have gone my way.

I’d also, I had to admit, let pride get the better of me. Don had outlasted Dodrio, but it had some serious tricks to make it worth featuring on my foe’s strongest team. It was also a move, that he’d never revealed.

I looked over his Noctowl in consideration. I wonder what other tricks he had up his sleeve.

“You know, I think I’ve gained a new respect for Flying types from this fight. You were right. Lance doesn’t have half the skill with flying types that you’ve shown here.”

“Heh, you sense the turning of the winds now eh?” he said.

I blinked and shot him a look only to quickly come to the conclusion that he was serious. He actually thought that he could still win this!

“Ah, no, no. I was just giving props where they are due,” I said enlarging another Greatball. “I’ll give you the respect you’re due,” I said, throwing out the greatball.

A red light disgorged and built up a huge form.

Masked Owl nodded as a Tyranitar took to the field only to blink in surprise. “Wait! That’s not your… starter,” he said slowly.

I grinned. “For you, I will show some of my hidden aces,” I said pointing. “Empress! GO!” I shouted.

Empress smirked, and then without warning she unleashed a Hyper Beam that caused the entire arena to fill with light.

“Protect!” screamed Masked Owl once more.

I smiled, knowing it wasn’t going to be enough even if the move worked.

The world vanished with only Empress being visible as she disgorged one of the most powerful Hyper Beams ever seen publicly.

When she was done she leaned back and shook her head in agitation, taking a huge breath before exhaling once.

Across from me, the field had a huge gouge through it as though someone had taken the world's largest Steelix and used it as a line marker.

The ground was torn up and thrown about in a straight line.

Noctowl was face down, the Protect that it had formed falling to pieces around it. It looked beaten and broken but it still drew breath. Masked Owl could only stare at the scene of devastation.

A shrill warning beep made everyone lift their eyes up to the section of barriers behind where Noctowl had been.

Where before the barriers had flashed yellow for Don, for Empress, they were gone.

In their place, a quartet of psychic pokemon stood shivering and shaking with hands raised to reveal an overlapping barrier that they’d formed in haste. Sabrina stood behind them, just in front of the first row of seats that held white-faced occupants.

“Oh damn, Empress blew through the barriers?” I said. That… could have been very bad. “Thanks for the save Sabrina!” I called.

Masked Owl didn’t say anything, merely staring as the barrier failed to reform. The four psychic pokemon slowly regathered themselves and walked back to Sabrina.

Sabrina turned her head and said something to the people behind her. They knelt and bowed their heads, so I got the impression they were extremely thankful for her intervention.

“N-n-Noctowl is unable to battle!” stuttered the referee. “That makes it five to two in favour of Brock… I’m afraid we must call for an intermission for safety concerns… To repair… and reinforce the barriers before the match can continue.”

Masked Owl turned his head. “Eh? Oh, don’t bother. Pidgeot was too injured for me to think about sending him out again… not against this beast anyway,” he said. “I concede the match to Brock,” he said.

I bowed in thanks as the referee nodded and then raised his flags to announce me the winner.

The applause came in drips and drabs, causing Empress to tilt her head.

For her first appearance the praise she was getting was kind of lack—

“Lar! Larvitar!” called a small voice. Empress and I zeroed our gazes onto a section of the stands to find Yolanda standing with Terra held up. The little pokemon was waving its arms frantically in delight.

Empress relaxed, and for lack of a better term went soft.

A few people cooed at the reaction causing a round of proper applause to break out for her. I chuckled as the podiums were lowered.

“Nice work girl, you did great for your first showing, wander around and just wave at the people. They’ll want to get a good look at you,” I said.

I then shot the broken barriers a thoughtful look. She’d perhaps done a little too well in truth.

I was going to have to insist on all my matches with her having up-to-date barriers and if not, a ready team of psychic pokemon should I use her again.

I scratched the back of my head. I couldn’t recall that having ever occurred in another match.

Masked Owl stood on his lowered podium, his gaze still turned towards the broken barrier.

“Hey!” I called as I approached. “Good fight, I meant what I said earlier when I said you were a hell of a flying type trainer. I learnt a lot from that fight.”

“Ah, yes, to you as well. I… wasn’t expecting you to have another Tyranitar like that…” he said.

“Heh,” I said, glancing around and watching the media frenzy as they caught picture after picture of Empress. “No one but a select few knew before today. She’s a bit green but she comes with a lot of power to her name.”

“I noticed,” he commented. Then he sighed. “I suppose I was fooling myself by thinking that I would defeat you.” He shook his head. “With this loss, I will be slipping further down the Ace rankings and my goal is further from me than ever,” he said dejectedly.

“About that, didn’t you say that Flying types were all about freedom and such? Not being held down by earthly emotions or some such?” I said, trying to paraphrase what he’d said yesterday.

Masked Owl shot me a frown. “You’re beef with Lance, it’s kind of getting in the way of you being the best you can be, you know? I think you have a great team and you’re a great trainer but if your style needs you to be free, you’re tripping over your own feet with your goal, or at least you’re going about it the wrong way,” I said.

Masked Owl stared. “You… you really did know who I was, didn’t you?”

I shrugged. “It was kind of obvious.” I then hardened my gaze. “And I can’t agree with what you’re doing. I get the whole family pride, but you’ve run off from one of the only things that should be tying you down. Falkner doesn’t deserve that,” I said. “You should be the wind in his sails, you’re not doing that with this,” I said waving at his mask.

Walker blinked and sighed again. Then he reached up and unclasped his mask, taking it from his head. When he revealed himself he did so with a sigh of relief and a shake of his head.

“I think I needed that loss more than I knew. I… think you’re right Brock. I think I need to go home and talk with my son,” said Walker.

A flurry of flashes made us both look up. The media, already going nuts over Empress, were now at a fever pitch with Walker’s reveal.

Walker snorted. “What a pack of Carvannah, They’re having a field day. I’m already not looking forward to what tomorrow’s papers will say,” he said.

I snorted. “I think I can guess,” I said amused.

With Walker out of the running, now it was going to be much easier. I glanced around and noted the trainers who were critically eying Empress.

With her reveal, I’d just fired a serious warning shot over a lot of different bows.

I shot Walker a look. “I think we might get a fifty-fifty split between us,” I said.