Hard Enough

The crowd were stomping their feet and cheering to make themselves known after the explosion, but I only had eyes and ears for Arthur. He looked far too composed and pleased with himself.

He’d anticipated whom I was going to send out and what I’d try to do.

I’d certainly taken a toll on his Machamp for taking out Sanchez, but it was a hollow comfort to have in this moment.

With Selene on the field, I would have a much better chance to level the playing field.

“Crowner return!” called Arthur as he returned his pokemon just as Selene started to build up some psychic energy around her to finish her first foe in one hit. I grimaced, that, sadly, had been the best call he could make if he didn’t have access to dark-type moves.

“Future Sight,” I said with a small smirk. I might not get the chance to throw down a field effect like Stealth Rock, but I could still set a trap.

“Go Dagger!” called Arthur as he sent out his next pokemon.

When the red energy formed up into a Cacturne, I felt a certainty set in for me. Cacturne hadn’t been a pokemon listed prior to today on his Ace team. It was a pokemon he’d prepared just for me. Arthur had planned for Selene, and Sanchez.

This entire set up was playing into his favour and with him dictating the pace of the match, I wouldn’t be able to fight back.

A grass-dark type was perfect against her, as she couldn’t learn Miracle Eye, which I needed.

I would have to withdraw her.

This was a terrible matchup for her and by all rights, I had better options available to me, such as Bertha, or…

That, or I would be stuck being restricted to secondary effects or… fairy-type moves.

I mentally stuttered to a halt.

I had to fight to keep the grin from taking over my features.

Selene knew a powerful fairy type move.

And if there was one thing I’d encountered repeatedly this year, it was that people did not yet have a grasp on fairy type moves or pokemon.

Fairy type were, at this stage, only academically considered to be strong against dragon pokemon.

“Selene! MB now!” I called, my hand shifting away from my pokebelt as I realised I had the answers to this situation already and I didn’t need to withdraw her.

Cacturne however wasn’t idle, and instead of remaining in place like most grass types, Arthur had him sprinting at us with dark energy around Cacturne.

“Abort! “ I called before Selene could put too much energy into the Moonblast.

She flickered for a heartbeat but then glowed and vanished in a wave of psychic energy to reappear on Arthur’s side of the field.

Safe as Cacturne stabbed his fists into the space she’d just been.

“Don’t let up go again! Keep them on the back foot!” called Arthur, urging his pokemon to go for the throat and take out Selene. His eyes flickered up to me and I knew in that moment I had to show a flicker of doubt. I shifted uneasily before hardening my stance, selling the idea that I was incredibly nervous.

Cacturne charged towards Selene and I had to give Arthur credit, that was one fast pokemon.

Sadly for them, Selene’s Teleport had given us what we’d been lacking moments before. I had room enough to watch them come, so I merely levelled an imperious stare at his pokemon as I called out my order.

“MB again,” I said.

Arthur was aware of the shift in my posture within a heartbeat, but instead of calling Cacturne off, he gained a flicker of suspicion. Heh, he must think I was bluffing him with my confidence.

I grinned as Selene channelled up her attack. In front of her tips, a large pink orb grew in power and size before being unleashed straight at the oncoming Cacturne.

Cacturne crossed his arms over his body and continued headfirst into the attack, a dark glint in his eyes, and I knew that Cacturne was expecting to punch straight through the Moonblast without any ill effects.

Arthur, who’d been watching my reaction, hissed when my expression if anything grew more hungry as he committed to attacking my pokemon. “Dagger! Pro—” he began to shout an order that might have saved his pokemon.

It was too late, though.

They’d thought it was a psychic attack and that I had made a mistake for long enough to make Arthur step into the trap I’d laid.

Cacturne screamed in pain as it slammed face-first into a powerful fairy type move.

When the light show died away Cacturne was revealed on its knees with its head listlessly staring up into the air. I grinned savagely and shot Arthur a victorious look. I’d just flipped the table on him by laying a trap.

This trap stemmed from understanding his plan, or at least a snippet of it. He’d planned for me to send out Selene to smash his Machamp, which he’d counter with Cacturne.

On paper a perfect move. I could see his intent.

If I had faltered he’d have taken Selene out with a powerful dark type move.

Something about Cacturne being a dark type caused my mind to perk up and my eyes to reinspect the kneeling Cacturne. Why wasn’t it falling over?

“Selene! MB aga—” I started to shout and to Selene’s credit she began channelling up another Moonblast, only for Cacturne to twitch and launch itself at Selene with its arms spread out wide and a silky purple ribbon of energy lashing out between them.

Selene shot backwards, floating as fast as she could, and Cacturne landed, trying to take another step to pursue, only for its legs to give out. It raised its arm and pushed the ribbon leading out of it as hard as it could, reaching out to connect itself with Selene with what had to be a Destiny Bond.

It was a brilliant move and one I’d seen many times before from fighting with or against Karen in our Guardian training sessions. More than once had I seen her flip a seemingly disastrous situation into a victory with a well-executed Destiny Bond, or a Curse, or Fake Tears.

Which meant I knew that Selene wasn’t going to escape.

Not conventionally, anyway.

“Psybeam that bond!” I roared.

Selene went from backpedalling to launching a powerful psychic attack that destabilised the ghost energy of the as-yet unconnected Destiny Bond. The Psybeam continued on and pushed Cacturne back, but didn’t otherwise harm it.

“Tch!” said Arthur as he realised his gambit hadn’t paid off.

I didn’t let him lull me into a false sense of security, however. “MB!” I ordered, and Selene once again unleashed a powerful attack.

This time Cacturne was sent flying and it skipped in a ragdoll fashion over and over itself before falling still on my side of the field.

I punched the air as the referee raised a flag. “Dagger is unable to battle! The score is now one-to-one!”

Instead of licking his wounds and reconsidering his plan, Arthur surprised me by recalling his pokemon instantly, barely waiting for the announcement confirming his pokemon was down and out.

Instead, he locked eyes on Selene who was firmly on his side of the field and therefore fair game for a quick release on his side, where he could get a pokemon out on top of her.

“Selene! Get out of there!” I called.

Selene started channelling another Teleport, but Arthur wasn’t going to let us escape that easily.

His arm whipped around and I could see him starting to bring his wrist into the throw in a manner that twigged another part of my brain.

“Go Shadow! Tear into them girl!” he shouted, throwing out his pokeball.

Without even seeing the pokeball land I knew where it would go.

“Selene stop!” I barked fearfully, my mind working in overdrive to understand that once again he’d tried to preempt me.

He had seen the chance to choke up my pokemon’s position with a fast release.

In normal terms, there would have been no way for my pokemon to get out, but he knew that Selene was specially trained to Teleport, therefore invalidating his attempt.

Unless you planned for that, made Selene go for the Teleport, and then had a pokemon ready to pounce on her at the halfway line instead. His pokeball landed and disgorged a Mismagius that glowed with dark energy, in readiness for a move coming out straight away.

A Mismagius, who obviously expected a pokemon to be in front of her, twitching only to falter when nothing presented itself before her. She looked slightly to the left, then quickly right, before tilting her head up, confirming for me how Arthur thought.

She’d come out ready to throw out what had to be a Sucker Punch into Selene, who would have only just Teleported back to my side.

Instead, Selene was behind her and in a perfect position for my next move.

Selene, a rock-psychic type against a ghost type pokemon. Yet again, another terrible match-up for me, but one that if I was careful and played it smart, I knew I could win.

I’d just have to dance on a knife’s edge to make sure I didn’t slip into failure.

“Behind you girl!” Arthur warned, making his pokemon spin around to find Selene there waiting for her.

“Psychic,” I growled out. Selene glowed and a moment later Mismagius glowed as Selene grasped her with psychic might.

Mismagius cried out in pain as Selene put the squeeze on the smaller ghost pokemon.

“PF!” said Arthur and his pokemon vanished in a flash of ghost energy, causing Selene’s energy to collapse in on nothing.

The average trainer would have no idea what had just happened and might have called foul, but I knew exactly what this move was. It was Phantom Force. The average trainer would have had no idea what to do in this instance, but once again the training I did with the Guardians came in clutch for me.

Phantom Force was a move much like Fly or Dig in the gaming sense, or at least that’s how I thought of it. To hear Agatha speak of it, the pokemon travelled into the spirit realm. Just to get her to talk about that had been tough, though, as she’d been very cagey, leading me to believe that this move, more than any other, was what Agatha knew that allowed her to walk through walls and floors like they weren’t there.

Oddly enough this move seemed to negate Protect, making it a very useful move for any pokemon that could learn it. The only way I’d thus far discovered to escape it was to Dig into the ground. Something about reforming enough to get off the follow up attack meant it couldn’t be used.

So I’d have to use something else instead.

“Future Sight!” I barked, I hadn’t seen Selene’s previous Future sSight come into effect in a notable way, but that might have had something to do with Cacturne being dark type.

It’d probably evaded the Future Sight or ignored the attack.

A second later Mismagius appeared from nowhere, lunging straight through Selene and causing her to shudder in pain as the super effective move landed.

“Psychi—”

“PF again!” said Arthur, keeping his orders shortened to give himself as much advantage as possible.

“Rest,” I said, switching out the move I’d planned, and instead going for a recovery move to keep Selene in the fight.

A moment later Mismagius once again launched herself through my pokemon causing Selene to shudder, but then Future Sight activated and slammed Mismagius into the ground.

I pulsed some dark energy into the bond with Selene and she shook herself awake to find Mismagius struggling to rise. “MB,” I said and once again, another pink orb of energy formed up and was launched into Mismagius, finally knocking her out.

I was ready to shout another order just in case, but the referee gave Mismagius a serious look before raising his flag to indicate that she was out of the fight.

“Score Two-one in favour of Brock!” shouted the referee and I punched the air.

That’s more like it!

I felt the chills from dancing on a knife’s edge with this duel between Mismagius and Selene evaporate, leaving only euphoria for pulling it off.

A grin stretched across my face as my heart thundered. Before Arthur could try and pull another attempt to choke up on my pokemon I used one of my trade outs, returning Selene.

I gave the pokeball containing her a proud grin. “You did incredible out there girl,” I said to her.

I put her back on my pokebelt and reached for my next pokemon, as across from me, Arthur toyed with his own options. He only had four pokemon left now, one of which had to be Machamp.

I had a rough idea on what I’d face, but I also knew, rather first-hand, that he might have pokemon up his sleeve I had not accounted for on his Elite Team. The idea of facing an obviously strong trainer had my heart thundering in my ears and a twitch in my fingers as I decided on my next pokemon.

I hadn’t felt like this for weeks, if not months now.

Not since my last truly hard battle. For all that I was ahead, I knew without a doubt in the short space of time that I’d fought him, Arthur was a great pokemon trainer. If I slipped up even once, he’d wrench back control of the match.

Arthur had come in with a plan that had me scrambling, but I was doing it. I was beating him back and taking control.

I didn’t mind the pressure though, if anything, that merely added to the moment and made me feel more alive.

I stopped my hand on my next choice with a smirk.

Time to stop reacting.

Time to assert myself and take control.

“Yes!” shouted Yolanda as Selene got off a powerful Moonblast to blow away the ghost pokemon.

Next to her Crystal, Greta, and all the others in Brock’s entourage, as he liked to call it, were on their feet cheering as the score was announced.

“Brock’s on fire!” shouted Rachel.

A.J. grunted, his face locked in a frown, as he stared at the stage.

Next to him, Missy had an equally confused expression. “So, can anyone explain to me what was going on with Brock calling off the Teleport? Like, it seemed to be a good move, but how’d he do that? How’d he read Arthur? I know he watches a lot of matches of the trainer he faces in the lead-up, but that…” Missy waved a limp hand, as if unsure what to say.

“Brock read the throw,” said Yolanda.

She earned herself a wall of blank expressions. She raised her hand and mimed a throwing action. “Like, he read Arthur’s throwing action and realised what he had planned,” she said.

“He read the throw? Just like that?” Missy said incredulously.

“That’s it?” said A.J. with his frown lessening.

Yolanda giggled, realising she’d lost Missy and A.J. He had been thinking the same thing as Missy, having not quite understood what Brock had done. The thing was that A.J. was too proud to ask questions like that.

“So seriously, what did he do? Some energy trick with Future Sight? He did use that with Selene earlier”, Missy doubled down.

“Oh, that makes more sense,” said Crystal.

Yolanda pinched the bridge of her nose and held in a scream of annoyance. “No! I’m telling you, he read Arthur’s throwing action.”

Yolanda now found herself facing the same wall of disbelief. Missy licked her lips and shifted about nervously. “I’m not so sure—”

Yolanda held up a hand. “Missy, you might have forgotten this, but when the Gym Circuit is closed, Brock spends a lot of his time coaching Little League Baseball. He says that it helps kids with their throwing actions all the time, which directly translates to more accurate throws with pokeballs. What he doesn’t mention is that he spends a lot of time in the batting cage coaching people in pitching and throwing. He spends a lot of time on the side watching opposing teams throw at his batters and gives feedback on things to look for.”

Yolanda made a final decisive chopping action to put the argument to bed. “He knows when and how to judge people’s throwing actions and if they’re changing it at the last moment. Which is what happened with Arthur. He read his body language, or in this case, his wrist language, and realised what was going to happen.”

“Huh,” Missy said. “Baseball?” she asked a moment later with a whimsical tone.

“I might have to look into it,” said A.J., earning himself a huff and roll of the eyes from Yolanda. She turned her attention back to the arena. Things had started poorly for Brock, and he’d been on the back foot, but if anything, he’d risen to the occasion, only further energized by it.

Yolanda gave the blown-up display of Brock a thoughtful look.

He looked vibrant, in a way she hadn’t seen in quite a while.

Was this what he looked like when he fought against the best trainers? Alive and free?

Would he have reached this level earlier if he hadn’t had to look after her and their siblings?

Yolanda found herself curling in on herself a little as dark thoughts started to intrude, only for two small rays of sunshine to pop out of two pokeballs, as though detecting her mood taking a downward spike.

“Spot! Terra! You’re not—” was as far as Yolanda got before they both leapt into her hands and in doing so knocked her back into her seat. Terra hugged her while Spot licked her face, causing her to splutter and break out of her funk. “Fine! But stay in my lap! No wandering off if you want to watch,” she said firmly.

Both pokemon turned to see what the spectacle was. They both wiggled happily when Brock threw out his next pokemon right after Arthur sent out an Arcanine.

Yolanda’s breath hitched as Hypnotoad appeared on the battlefield.

Oh, damn, Brock was really seeking to run away with this fight after his initial stumble, wasn’t he?

Yolanda leaned forward, intent on not missing anything as for the first time in the match Brock got the advantage with type match up.

Arthur took one look at the match-up only to catch the returning pokeball and trigger the return feature. “Return Arcanine, that’s not a good match up for you!” he called.

“Bulk Up,” I called, getting off a buff-up for Hypnotoad, who began doing push-ups like this was a regular training session with Trixie and not a ranked Ace match.

Arthur with his Arcanine tucked away reached for another pokeball which he hurled out, revealing an Electrode of all things. Damn it.

The temptation was there once again, I could have my pokemon fight through. It would be tough, but possible. I’d just need to play it perfectly.

Or I could play it smart.

“Return Hypnotoad,” I said, pulling my pokemon out.

Arthur grinned. “Magnet Rise!” he ordered, making his pokemon spark up and begin to levitate above the ground, giving me pause. Huh, and he could do that. I shot Arthur an annoyed look. I’d been planning to send out Bertha to demolish him, but now I felt like that was a bit poor.

Arthur, more than any other trainer I had faced before, had a skill at preempting my moves. It felt like I was riding along only for him to attempt to shove a stick in my spokes every so often.

I could send out Shrek here, but that had the same issue.

I needed someone else.

My grin turned savage, and instantly Arthur was on guard, only for him to grimace as I tugged the greatball off my necklace and sent it out. “Titan! Go!” I shouted.

Titan appeared with a huge roar, and the stadium fell silent for a moment before the crowd rose, screaming and hollering as loudly as they could.

I locked eyes with Arthur, his arm slightly raised, as he had a moment of indecision. Heh, this time I tripped you up.

“Agility!” called Arthur, showing that the lapse was only momentary.

“Spin it up,” I said cryptically.

Titan grunted, only to sweep his tail around in a long arc, causing a huge plume of dirt to be blown out, only to then arc around as dust and sand began to rise, filling the arena with a Sandstorm.

“Go on the hunt,” I said ominously, right before I lost sight of Arthur. His eyes bulged, and I knew I’d just tripped him up again. That phrase was most certainly not one of the typical phrases I used when commanding Titan.

Everyone and their nanny knew about ‘Go Titan’ being a signal for Giga Impact, but I did have a few others tucked up my sleeve. Not that it was a phrase with any hidden meanings.

'Go on the hunt' was merely letting Titan play to his natural hunting instincts. Tyranitar after all were ambush predators.

I felt Titan’s anticipation through the bond he and I had built over the years as he sank into the ground, hiding with Dig and worming his way in a slow arc towards where we’d last seen Electrode floating.

“—” shouted Arthur, his voice being lost over the howling winds, only for a huge plume of Thunder to blossom out, arcing through the Sandstorm and flash-frying sections of the field. The Thunder arced around, questing for something large, only to not find anything.

The lack of trade out for a flying type that would have easily controlled this had me smiling, Arthur didn’t have any pokemon capable of clearing the field. No pokemon with Defog or pokemon that could alter the terrain.

Meaning that I now had true and full control of the battlefield with my rock and ground-type pokemon.

“—” Arthur continued to shout something, and more and more lightning rained down, only to find nothing, as Titan wasn’t there.

Perhaps he was trying to glass the field? I thought after a moment when another Thunder rocked the field, that or he was building up a charge and trying to change the terrain through another method. Arthur must have realised this method wasn't working for him, as a red light flashed out and a quick glance to the side revealed that he’d used another trade-out.

I signalled in the bond for Titan to wait. To remain under the ground in readiness.

I shifted so I could keep both the field and the screen in sight, so that I’d know what was coming while Titan would know where it was.

“—” shouted Arthur, his voice still lost in the howling winds of the sandstorm. I frowned as Arcanine’s picture was displayed. That was a poor choice… unless he had some tricks up his sleeve.

Whatever it was, Titan and I weren’t going to let him play his game as I silently sent through the bond the urge to attack. Titan registered this and anticipation warped into hunger as he surged out of the ground and sank his fangs into Arcanine before it could get off any moves.

With Titan locked on the mighty fire type, it was child’s play to have him whip his head back and forth, slamming Arcanine into the ground and ending the fire type’s attempt at fighting before it could get started.

Titan roared, and this time the sound carried over the howl of the winds. I felt an odd flicker that momentarily distracted Titan and I as Arthur returned his third pokemon. It had felt like something shifted with the bond. For a moment, I’d felt the coarse sand sweeping over my scales.

Titan sent me a feeling of slight confusion, but I shook it off and replied with focus and determination through the bond. He wanted to linger however on the shift, and I had to impart more of my will, reminding him now was very much not the time to experiment with the bond.

We needed our heads on straight. Arthur was too good a trainer for anything otherwise.

Titan must have been visible to Arthur as he quickly sent out another pokemon, and I was surprised when the screen depicted Machamp taking to the field.

Titan’s attention narrowed with laser-like intensity, and I knew he could see the other pokemon. Titan rumbled a warning at Machamp, but I knew we were on the back foot here.

Once again, I decided to play it smart. The Sandstorm would start to weaken, but I knew it worked in my favour to trade, so I did, pulling Titan out instead of risking him and sending out Bertha.

Bertha appeared in front of me with a thump that shook the arena. If Arthur wasn’t paying attention to the big screen to work out who I’d sent I had no doubts that he would have had a very large clue just from Bertha’s arrival.

“—!” shouted Arthur, and once again he traded out pokemon.

I frowned as this time his Aggron took to the field.

“Bertha, Impact Driver but walk it right into that Aggron,” I said. I had an inkling of what Arthur was trying to do here, but I wasn’t going to let it happen.

In front of me, Bertha began spinning up her drills as no doubt a huge grin claimed her face. Her body hunkered down as the forces required for this move began to go to work.

A moment later Aggron shot out of the earth in front of Bertha and slammed his head right into her gut, trying to take her out with Dig, followed up by an Iron Tail that Bertha endured.

With each hit Aggron unleashed her grin only grew.

The sandstorm faded away just in time for Bertha to draw back her arm and throw it straight into Aggons chest.

A shriek of metal tore through the arena, causing the crowd to scream in pain at the intensity of the noise.

Aggron, who’d taken the hit from Bertha, was fired like a bullet out a gun into the other side of the field, where he slammed into the barrier before falling limply to the ground. Arthur sighed and returned his pokemon, his gaze travelling thoughtfully back to Bertha.

Bertha stood, with her arm extended and her face etched with a gigantic smile. I had an epiphany and projected a feeling of fake weakness to Bertha. Bertha took a moment to register the feeling, sending back confusion for a moment before understanding swept through the bond.

Without warning, she toppled to one knee, seemingly taking too much damage while charging up her attack.

She shuddered theatrically, and I tried to get her to tone it down, but she shot me a wink, and I could only sigh. I made a show of reaching for my pokeball only for Bertha to valiantly hold out a hand and deny me as she struggled back onto her feet.

Arthur's hand wavered on his pokebelt as he stared at me and Bertha, both of us staring him back down in challenge.

He sighed and raised a hand. “I shall withdraw. I tried my hand at a few tactics, and some of them worked while others didn’t. I think I will keep some secrets going into the tournament next weekend,” he said.

I blinked in surprise, suddenly finding myself in a bit of a lurch.

Bertha straightened, losing her ‘fatigue’ and snapping her fingers in annoyance. “Rhyperior!” she said petulantly.

Arthur blinked. “Wait? That was another bait?” he said incredulously. He grinned. “Heh! Turns out I have good instincts,” he said aloud.

I huffed, shooting Bertha an annoyed glance only for her to ignore it, all the while shooting Arthur less than pleased looks with her arms crossed.

She’d obviously wanted a better showing with more fights, but instead had to settle for taking out only one of his pokemon.

I shook my head. Ah well, I’d tried something new there but it hadn’t worked out. If the match had continued, that might have been a different matter.

I sighed, and as the podium lowered, I evaded the slow process, choosing instead to skip over the railing and land behind Bertha, who was still pouting. I patted her on the back. “Hey, you sold it pretty well, we were just in too strong a position, it seems,” I said.

“Heh yeah, you were; Machamp was still a bit fried from that Explosion, and Electrode… well I don’t think his Magnet Rise would have lasted much longer,” Arthur said as he approached to shake my hand.

He gave me what must be his signature charming smile. “So? How’d I do?” he asked in a friendly manner.

I opened my mouth to give him his feedback, only to pause as my mind caught up with my mouth and strangled the words before they could come out. I shut my mouth and shot him a calculating look. “You’re still going to be within the top ten after this match, aren’t you?” I asked.

Arthur shrugged far too easily, and I narrowed my eyes. “You want me to give you feedback, but we’re going to be facing each other again.”

“Possibly, we might be in different brackets, but… well I wouldn’t say no,” he said cheekily.

I shook my head, denying him as my brain won out. “I got warned a while back that giving feedback would bite me in the backside, and with how many tactics you have, I think I need to stay on my toes for you.”

“Heh,” Arthur said. “That’s funny.” He waved a hand towards the crowd. “Look at the front row; most of them will be there as well,” he said, indicating the front row, which had most of the top ten if not top twenty Ace trainers in Indigo watching with hungry looks.

Huh, he was right. They’d been watching and, no doubt, taking notes.

Arthur smiled easily. “Word of advice? Things are much tougher up here in the top ten. You’ll fit in well if you can last, but don’t think it’ll be easy. Everyone’s going to adapt to what they saw of you today, just like they will me. My withdrawal from the match? It wasn’t shameful when I had a bigger prize in mind.”

“It was strategic,” I murmured, understanding that he was thinking a little longer.

Arthur nodded. “Good match, if we fight again? I will be stronger,” he said with a smile that showed some teeth.

I gave him my own savage grin with Bertha backing me up. “So will we,” I said, shaking his hand in farewell.

As we departed, I felt a sense of satisfaction run through me.

This had been a much tougher match than most of the matches I’d had so far, and Arthur was only ranked seventh.

What would Bruce, Carr, Kaede, Joshua or Corey be like to fight?

Despite having just fought, I felt another wave of anticipation run through me. I returned to my group with that same smile on my lips.

Yolanda nudged me. “Make a friend?” she asked, referencing my chat with Arthur at the end.

I chuckled. “More like a rival,” I said happily.