The Type Specialist

In the Hoenn Conference, Thomas ultimately ended my League challenge. His team of Dark Types had trumped my team of Fairy Types, but, since then, we’d dedicated ourselves to training.

We fought impossibly tough trainers, criminal organizations, hordes of enemies, and even Legendary Pokémon.

This rematch, while it had no true stakes, would determine which one of us had grown stronger in that time. Thomas did not slack off over this time. While his opportunities were sparse when compared to mine, he had still had over a year working as an Ace Trainer for the League with all the benefits that entailed.

"I'm going to have a battle, Eevee," I said to my newest Pokémon, kneeling. "But it won't just be me. I have a team absolutely full of Fairy Types that desperately want to show off for you."

Eevee's ears perked up, and he tilted his head to the side. My heart melted in my chest at the very sight. When I rested my hand on his head, he leaned into it, and I spent a few moments just rubbing his fur.

Realizing I got distracted, I cleared my throat.

"Okay. Hrm. Alright. Rules, Thomas?" I shouted.

"Since we don’t have a dedicated referee or battlefield, it’ll be best to have a series of independent matches rather than a full team battle. For us, the first to three wins should determine the victor."

"Sounds good. It'll be faster this way. Oh! And one last thing..."

I turned back to Eevee to pat his head one more time, and I sent out Tinkatink soon after. The small, pink Pokémon clutched her hammer tensely when she saw him, but when he made no moves towards her, she almost instantly relaxed.

"Tinkatink, this is Eevee. Eevee, Tinkatink. Both of you are the newest members of the team, and both of you are still training up. In the future, I plan to have you two work closely alongside Togepi since you’re all approximately the same level. It’ll be good to get to know one another when you have the chance.”

Eevee leaned forward, curiously sniffing at Tinkatink, and she took an awkward step back. Her worried eyes glanced my way, but they were drawn back to Eevee when his ears perked up and his tail started to wag.

“Eev. Eevee,” he said, holding out a paw.

Tinkatink nervously took it and gave it a shake.

“Then I’m off,” I said. “Please keep back to stay safe.”

Eevee’s ears were pressed to his head as he saw me walk off, and he started to move to follow. However, Tinkatink grunted her name when she saw that, and Eevee unhappily planted himself on the ground.

“One moment,” Thomas called out.

He tossed forward a Pokéball, and for a moment, it looked like a beast of living shadow had formed on the grass. However, glowing yellow circles illuminated parts of its body, and an Umbreon came into focus.

It took one look at Eevee and grinned. Its teeth looked uncomfortably sharp.

"Umbreon! Make sure those two stay safe!" Thomas yelled.

Umbreon only flicked an ear back to acknowledge the command before skipping over to pick up Eevee by the scruff of his neck and drag him back a few extra feet. Eevee let out a low whine and Tinkatink grumpily followed.

I sent Thomas a nod of thanks. Umbreon was a good Pokémon to keep them safe from any stray attacks.

I found my position across from Thomas on the open space at the top of this grassy hill.

"We'll start when both our Pokémon are sent out. No countdown, make your choice!" I yelled.

Thomas nodded to show his assent, and he reached into his dark coat to grab a hidden Pokéball. I mentally made a selection, but I kept my hand hovering over my belt to not reveal my selection right away.

"Go!" Thomas yelled.

Both of us threw our Pokéballs forward.

Whimsicott appeared floating over the battlefield, and across from him, a small black crow with an inbuilt witch’s hat flapped furiously in the air. At the sight of Whimsicott, Murkrow smirked at its opponent. This matchup was against Whimsicott’s favor.

"Taunt!" Thomas and I yelled in unison to start the battle.

The thing about Dark Types was that they had a much easier time seeing through Whimsicott’s Prankster-fueled moves. That meant while they weren’t immune to them, they had a high chance of either brushing them off or predicting the attacks.

In the resulting exchange of harsh words and taunts, both Whimsicott and Murkrow shouted their names at one another. However, all Whimsicott’s words created was a roll of Murkrow’s eyes while Whimsicott’s expression turned mad.

He rushed forward, not even bothering to use any of his debilitating moves thanks to the effects of Murkrow’s Taunt. Meanwhile, Murkrow set up a Tailwind to increase its speed, its own Prankster allowing it to do so relatively quickly.

My eye twitched, but this wasn’t unexpected. I didn’t bring Whimsicott to this battle expecting his utility moves to work every time. Our time training in Sinnoh built up my team’s raw strength, and this battle served as the perfect opportunity to put that to the test.

“Bubblegum!” I yelled.

Thomas paused at my disguised orders before shouting for an Air Slash himself. My unusual choice of words hid the combination I wanted to use, although Whimsicott’s current inability to use Nature Power due to Taunt made it less efficient.

To start, Whimsicott raised his hands and started to rapidly circle around Murkrow. Its wings flapped downwards forcibly to send blades of wind right at his body. However, Whimsicott’s movements were roughly the same speed as the Tailwind-enhanced Murkrow, and he was able to just barely avoid the attacks.

The Hurricane formed, trapping Murkrow in the center of its harsh winds. The bird tried to escape, but Whimsicott’s control of the wind prevented it from leaving.

Then, the actual “bubblegum” part of the command came into play. From his hands, he created many, small Moonblasts to be caught in the attack and force Murkrow to focus on its movement to avoid them.

(If Whimsicott had access to Nature Power, he would have been able to make dozens of full-powered Moonblasts with Misty Terrain. Unfortunately, he was forced to rely on direct creation, which meant the created spheres were smaller and weaker.)

The bright pink spheres spun in the wind, creating a field of pink bubbles for Murkrow to avoid. It easily avoided them, but that was all it could do. Even when Thomas called for an attack, Murkrow wasn’t able to follow up as it didn’t want to take damage.

“Move in!” I yelled.

Whimsicott released his intense control to finish his rush right towards Murkrow. The bird squawked in alarm and released a pair of Gusts his way. He nimbly shifted to the side to dodge and reached out a hand to latch onto Murkrow’s wing. It stopped flying, but Whimsicott floated in place, and he held up a hand to form a much larger Moonblast to attack.

I didn’t like how Thomas calmly stared on.

“Peck,” he ordered.

The close ranged Moonblast never fully hit its target. A Flying Type infused beak poked the forming move and caused it to pop. It took some damage from that, but if Whimsicott had finished his attack, there was no way Murkrow would have stayed conscious.

“Taunt again!” Thomas yelled.

I hadn’t even seen the Taunt wear off of Whimsicott, but Thomas, much more familiar with the move, did. Whimsicott’s angry, manipulated state resumed, and he was not able to use his bread and butter of Substitute and Protect to allow for a defense. At the same time, Murkrow was doing the impossible and disrupting his attacks in a flurry of Pecks that were tearing into Whimsicott with super effective damage.

“Fling!”

I hoped this would let Whimsicott toss Murkrow like I originally planned, but the bird ended up grabbing onto his arm with its beak. Everything fell apart as the pre-evolved Pokémon proved that it had the power to stand (or fly) with the Elite, and it used its two wings to slam right into him.

Whimsicott was only tough to take out when he was using his moves to protect himself. With the dual Wing Attack hitting him, he wasn’t able to continue his attacks. His eyes rolled up and he started to fall, drifting down towards the field into unconsciousness.

Glancing over to Eevee, his eyes were wide, but he obviously looked confused. Tinkatink was practically half asleep.

So much for showing off. This was a poor matchup for Whimsicott. I should pull out the big guns, next.

"Don't underestimate me, Alex,” Thomas said. “My team might not have competed in a Conference recently, but we've also had this past year to train.”

He returned Murkrow and placed its ball back in his belt, and I mentally decided on my next choice. We locked eyes before grabbing our respective Pokéballs and tossed them forward to start the next match.

“Azumarill!”

“Houndoom!”

Yes!

Houndoom appeared on the field, a large, black dog with curved horns digging its claws into the ground. With it being sent out, Azumarill had the advantage. All of Thomas’s Dark Types were weak to Fairy Type, as expected, but Fire Types were a special case for Azumarill.

Not only would her Water Type moves be super effective against the Fire Type, but she also had the ability, Thick Fat, that would cut Fire Type damage in half. In total, Houndoom’s flame would only be a quarter of their usual effectiveness. She had the chance to show her complete domination here just like she had against Tobias’s Entei.

Despite that, Thomas smiled confidently. His calm demeanor raised red flags.

“Will-o-Wisp.”

“Douse ‘em!”

Motes of embers floated in the air before being shot forward. This wasn’t a direct attack, but a utility move that would give Azumarill a burn. Having her physical might effectively cut in half would be devastating, so the long-unused Water Gun came into play to shoot down the incoming wisps.

One by one, the floating fires were suffocated out of existence. The move failed to get close. However, that was when Thomas revealed his plan to ensure his strategy worked.

“Torment!”

A strange, echoing growl went over the field. Rather than using Water Gun again, Azumarill narrowed her eyes and glared at Houndoom, annoyed. Unfortunately, as Torment prevented the same move from being used back to back, it delayed Azumarill’s defense for just a moment, giving Houndoom all the time it needed.

A Will-o-Wisp slipped through the Water Guns. It burst against Azumarill’s chest. Her skin discolored and went taut; already, her attack was cut in half.

“Don’t let it get to you. Stick to the normal, and move in close. Overwhelm it with your close-ranged attacks,” I said.

Azumarill let out an annoyed “tch” then shot forward with Aqua Jet. Due to Torment, she only got halfway before resorting to a run, rapidly closing in on Houndoom as she did.

Thomas said nothing. Houndoom used two more moves.

The first was Taunt, which was annoying but expected. Azumarill wouldn’t be able to use Splash.

The second was Flamethrower, for some reason, which Azumarill just ran straight through.

Around the hound, the grass caught on fire. Azumarill willingly stood in the flames to unleash a Liquidation punch. Houndoom took the attack, but it leaned backwards as it did. The impact was minimized, and the damage it took, while super effective, was wholly manageable.

Her follow up attack wasn’t able to be Liquidation again, but it was able to be Play Rough. Unfortunately, the move wasn’t super effective, only neutrally effective, as Houndoom’s Fire Type resisted Fairy and canceled out its Dark Type weakness.

“Thunder Fang!”

“Grab it!” I yelled.

Before its sparking mouth could latch onto my Pokémon, Azumarill grabbed Houndoom’s head and pulled, bringing it off its feet. Through a display of her Superpower, she yanked Houndoom and slammed it onto the ground, pinning it beneath her feet.

Houndoom’s attack failed to land, but, despite that, Azumarill was panting. The damage from her burn was getting to her, and while the fire on the grass around her wasn’t that effective, it was still slow but consistent damage.

“Again!” Thomas ordered.

Houndoom didn’t bother getting up, and its sparking mouth lunged forward. It managed to grab Azumarill’s foot, causing her to scream, the super effective Electric Type move pulsing through her body.

“Liquidation!” I yelled.

What was unfortunate is that while Superpower had done massive damage to Houndoom, it was a physical attack and still weakened by the burn. Not only that, but the move’s exertion temporarily lowered Azumarill’s physical strength and defenses, meaning the Liquidation was nothing more than a weak punch at this point, and the Thunder Fang was doing even more damage.

Houndoom pushed back, the Water Type move grazing its side with a wince, and it continued to bite down with its electric attack. Annoyed and tired, Azumarill tried to use Aqua Jet to get away, but she was easily being kept in place.

“Play Rough!”

If Azumarill couldn’t leave, we would instead resume our attack. With her foot still grabbed, she hopped in the air to let her entire mass fall onto Houndoom’s side.

There was a wail from the impact, and the field went silent. Azumarill had been in a bad spot, but Houndoom had suffered from several of her attacks.

Did we win?

Neither Pokémon in the pile moved for a long time. Then, Houndoom started to stand up, and Azumarill stayed on the floor.

“What,” I said.

Tinkatink gasped in shock, and Eevee merely tilted his head. He didn’t have any context to know why Azumarill fainting was such a big deal, so to hear both me and Tinkatink be so surprised didn’t make much sense.

Houndoom continued to stand up, and it limped forward to Thomas, where he placed a hand on its head. Proudly, he returned it to its ball, while I returned Azumarill to her Dive Ball.

“That was a Darkrai strategy,” Thomas said softly.

“A what?” I replied.

“A Darkrai strategy. A set of moves we planned out specifically to beat your Azumarill. Gardevoir’s match against Darkrai was inspiring, Alex. It was incredible seeing just how far you’d come.

“But, you also revealed a lot in that Conference. I’ve wanted to battle you ever since. I knew Azumarill is one of your team’s biggest threats, so we specifically planned out a strategy to remove her from play if we ever battled her. It was pure luck that Houndoom ended up being her opponent, but not too unexpected given how you battle.”

I stared at Azumarill’s Dive Ball as Thomas went over his plan. Torment to limit her options. Taunt to remove the mobility of Splash. The burn was to weaken and slowly damage her, and the fire was to unleash attacks Thomas knew Azumarill wouldn’t dodge.

Thunder Fang was what had ultimately fainted her, but Houndoom was able to do that due to Azumarill’s compounding damage. On one hand, I was exceedingly proud Thomas had to design a strategy just to beat Azumarill, but, on the other hand, she had been taken down by a Fire Type.

It felt wrong.

This is on me, isn’t it? I haven’t been fighting like a Fairy Type specialist for these first two rounds. Thomas might have two victories under his belt now, but that just means we need to win the rest.

Enough playing around. Thomas said I revealed too much during the Conference, so let’s show him a strategy we’ve developed since then.

“Dedenne!” I yelled.

“Mightyena!”

This was a good matchup for us, which I doubted Thomas realized. He ordered Mightyena to use Crunch, and I said nothing to Dedenne.

The Dark Type hound charged forward, and Dedenne, nothing more than a small, yellow rodent, hunkered down. Mightyena opened its mouth to bite down for a Crunch, picking up Dedenne who withstood the attack with Endure.

It wasn’t needed. The Crunch wasn’t powerful enough to faint him in one go. Instead, Mightyena used its grip to toss Dedenne forward in the air, and with a called order of “Take Down!” it moved after him.

This time, Endure actually did its work. The attack was strong enough to have taken Dedenne out, but Endure ensured he survived on minimal health.

Purposefully, Dedenne used the force of the Take Down to be launched across the field. His chubby body bounced across the grass a few times before he pushed to his feet. There, he narrowed his eyes and got ready to act.

“Chew,” I said.

Dedenne started to eat the berries stored in his cheek.

Thomas finally realized this battle wasn’t going to be won so easily, and he yelled out for an “Ice Fang!” that caused Mightyena to rush forward.

Dedenne was fat, but he was also fast. Nimbly, he ducked beneath Migthyena’s snapping jaws, and he scurried beneath its feet. Narrowly avoiding the kick of a back paw, he leapt out from behind and squished himself together to enhance himself with Charge. At the same time, he healed, as his ability, Cheek Pouch, let him heal while giving him the effects of his provided berry.

Petaya Berry. It’s filled with energy, but a Pokémon’s body can’t absorb it unless they’re feeling weak. Dedenne is low on health, but all of his special moves will be enhanced now. The health he gained from Cheek Pouch will help him stay in the fight.

Dedenne ran, using one last move as he did. One of his two TM moves, Recycle, restored the berry in his mouth to a state where it could be re-used if he needed it.

Based on how he acted, I could tell he wouldn’t.

Behind him, Mightyena turned and snapped, but its teeth missed Dedenne’s tail by inches. Judging he had built himself up enough, I finally yelled out a command.

“Parabolic Charge!”

Sometimes, leaving a Pokémon to train by itself created interesting results. In Dedenne’s case, he had figured out a new move that allowed us to put this strategy in place.

Parabolic Charge was a somewhat weak attack, but it drained foes of their health when it landed. However, when boosted from both Charge and his berry, Dedenne was able to release a blast that was unexpectedly powerful for his small size.

Mightyena was struck and stumbled forward a few feet, shocked both literally and mentally. A second Parabolic Charge was released before it could react, and the hound fell to the field while Dedenne stood there, now perfectly healthy.

“Normally we’d go on from here to sweep, repeating the strategy when needed, but this is a series of one-on-one matches instead of a full battle. I’d say Dedenne won pretty handily, here.”

Thomas shook his head, amused, and he returned Mightyena. Dedenne glanced my way before I gave him a nod, and he darted over to Eevee.

Once there, he held out a paw. Eevee glanced down to awkwardly take his own with it. Dedenne snapped his other paw forward to grab it with both hands and happily shake Eevee’s leg up and down rapidly.

I held back a laugh. Tinkatink snorted.

He didn’t notice it at first, but it soon became clear for everyone here. Suspicious of the reactions, Eevee looked down and froze at the sight that awaited him.

To the sounds of Dedenne’s snickering, Eevee moved his head around to stare at his fur coat, puffed up from Dedenne’s electricity. His bewildered reaction caused Dedenne to burst into laughter, then Eevee started to laugh, too.

Cute, I thought.

I turned back to our battle.

“Two more wins left,” I said.

“Rather confident of you, Alex. I don’t think either of us can assume a victory. We still have at least one match to go. Let’s send out our next.”

“Ninetales!”

“Crawdaunt!”

This Pokémon was exceedingly familiar. I had helped Thomas catch it when I was a beginning trainer all the way back in Sea Mauville. The large crustacean clacked its meaty claws, and its two eyes glared at Ninetales from underneath its lobster-shell.

As if to mock it, Ninetales haughtily lifted up a paw to casually groom her face.

“Razor Shell,” Thomas ordered.

Water coated Crawdaunt’s claws and hardened into a sharp blade. Its many back legs scuttled over the ground to rush at Ninetales, who only let out a casual scoff in response.

A flurry of snow forced it to slow, and a snowstorm overtook the field. Ninetales’s Snow Cloak caused her to disappear from view, and Crawdaunt was forced to do nothing but look around.

“Protect,” Thomas suddenly shouted.

Crawdaunt immediately slammed its eyes closed and braced its body to withstand an attack. The Confuse Ray Ninetales created hit its solid shell and failed to take effect.

After waiting a moment, Crawdaunt opened its eyes to see the remnants of the beam fading away. Unfortunately, Ninetales was standing where it originated, and it rushed at her with its Razor Shell resumed.

But, the issue with Protect is that it only blocked a single attack. That meant it was decent for strong, hard to use moves, but against something that could be spammed like Confuse Ray, it was only marginally effective.

Her opponent got close, but Ninetales was able to use Confuse Ray once more before Crawdaunt reached her. A claw slashed down, but it went wide as Crawdaunt gained glazed-over eyes.

Rapidly spinning, Crawdaunt swiped at illusions that weren’t actually there. Faint snickers from Ninetales left the snow around it, but it wasn’t able to pin-point her through her dual use of cover.

Thomas and I could both see where Ninetales was, but he couldn’t point her out with how chaotically Crawdaunt was moving. When she finally disappeared back into the snow, he gave out an order to have Crawdaunt attack.

“Bubblebeam and spin!”

I pointed to the floor in a quiet sign I knew Ninetales would see.

Crawdaunt, through its confusion, opened up its claws and held them to its side. As it did, streams of bubbles were shot out of their openings. Then, continuing off of that, it it moved its back legs to spin place, letting the streams of its attack cut through the snow in a diameter around it.

The move never hit. Thomas realized what we’d done a moment too late. When Crawdaunt finished its move and stumbled from confusion, the floor burst open underneath it, and Ninetales revealed she had disappeared with Dig.

“Dazzling Gleam!”

The super effective attack was so unexpected, Crawdaunt ended up taking critical damage. Iridescent light burst off of Ninetales and seared into the crustacean. Crawdaunt stumbled back, swinging wildly at a Pokémon that was just out of reach, until, finally, it fell to its side.

An Ice Beam finished it off. Its legs curled up against its body. With that, Crawdaunt was unable to continue the match.

“Great job, Ninetales!”

Ninetales controlled the weather to cause it to fade away, and I affectionately rubbed the sides of her face when she approached.

“No damage at all, an impressive victory! Now, Eevee is over there. If you want to—”

Ninetales was already off, using her Agility to reach the Pokémon in question as fast as possible. Eevee saw her coming and stumbled back, startling Dedenne and Tinkatink next to him. But, when she arrived, Ninetales came to a sudden stop and held out a paw.

Eevee looked up, then he cautiously touched it with his own. Ninetales grinned, and she started to rapidly yip and yap to talk to Eevee and properly introduce him to the team.

Back on the field, the area was now moist and snow-covered. I could see a burnt spot from earlier where Houndoom had burnt the grass. This hillside was a mess, and we still had one matchup left.

We’d turned it around, or, we were about to. Thomas had an unreadable expression on his face that turned into a slight grin when he next opened his mouth to speak.

“Alex, I would like to use a Mega Evolution,” he said.

“You have a Mega?” I asked, shocked.

“Yes. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I do technically need your permission to use it here. You are, after all, the Mega Evolution master.”

I rolled my eyes at the comment. He covered his mouth to hide his smile. Thomas knew I didn’t like that title, and he had only used it to serve as a taunt. I still ended up snorting at the comment, anyway.

“Then I suppose we’ll both use a Mega Pokémon.”

Thomas’s feral grin from when I first met up with him returned, and he grabbed a Pokéball. I grabbed the Heavy Ball containing the last Pokémon I had brought with me, and I called out some orders to Thomas.

“Release your conscious Pokémon to keep them on standby. While I doubt either of our Pokémon will lose control, it’ll be for the best to keep everyone safe.”

“Good call.”

Murkrow was released with Houndoom next to him. Both of them were somewhat injured, but they were still in decent enough shape to fight, if needed.

The pair moved over to where the rest of the Pokémon were set up, all of them now more seriously looking at the field. Eevee looked confused, but I knew he was in for an incredible surprise.

Then, Thomas and I released our last team members.

Mawile appeared on the field, a somewhat short Pokémon with a set of jaws coming out of her head the size of her entire body. As for Thomas, he sent out a much stronger Pokémon, whose height made Mawile look almost comically short in comparison.

Thomas’s final Pokémon was one he had used in the Conference before it had evolved into a Dark Type. It was a pseudo-legendary, and it had tough, rocky armor that coated its body. Looking like something straight out of a kaiju movie, Thomas’s Tyranitar took the field. It let out a roar that echoed over the route, but, despite that, none of the Pokémon here were intimidated.

(Tinkatink didn’t seem like she cared. Eevee just stared at it, eyes wide with wonder.)

“Ready?” I said, eyeing a bracelet containing a green, red, and black stone on its wrist.

“Ready,” Thomas replied, his voice as serious as it could get.

“Mawile!”

“Tyranitar!”

“Mega Evolve!”

I had to cover my eyes briefly from the sheer amount of light coming off of the field. Both Mawile and Tyranitar glowed with the light of Mega Evolution. Where Mawile grew taller and gained a pair of extra jaws, Tyranitar stayed roughly the same size but grew thicker and denser. Cruel-looking spikes now stuck out of its body, and its hard shell was now ten times tougher. On its chest, blue chitin became a bright red, and its eyes glowed with a similar harsh light.

Sand left holes on its chest and legs, swirling around the field in a violent sandstorm. Its ability, Sandstream, created new weather, but this was far more chaotic than anything my Pokémon had made in the past.

Thankfully, Mawile, a Steel Type, was unaffected by the sand.

“Iron Head and get close!”

“Stone Edge!”

The moment the battle began, the ground erupted in stone spikes underneath Mawile. She used their explosion outwards to give herself height, and she spun in the air to slam her jaws down and break a second set.

Tyranitar then stomped, shaking the earth and causing countless spikes of stone to appear across the field. It was clear its intention was to slow Mawile, but she charged forward and easily broke through anything in front of her with a casual swing of her jaws.

Thomas yelled for an Earthquake, and the shaking increased. The grass of the field proved to not be strong enough, and the dirt broke apart and cracked.

Mawile, a Steel Type, lost her balance from that attack and stumbled in place. However, I had taught her Protect recently, and she was able to block all damage from the move.

Once it was over, her rush forward continued. Without ordering her, one of her jaws tilted forward and aimed a Shadow Ball right at Tyranitar’s face. However, the opposing Mega Pokémon lifted up a hand to swipe it away with a similarly Ghost Typed Shadow Claw.

“Play Rough!” I yelled.

By now, Mawile was up close and personal with Tyranitar, and I had a basic but effective trick planned for a strategy. It wasn’t Fake Tears—the move was wholly unsuitable for this situation—and it wasn’t Fling, either. Unlike against a few enemies in the past, canceling the Mega Evolution to throw her rock at Tyranitar would be asking for defeat.

We kept our plan in pocket for later.

Mawile’s two large jaws swung forward to slam into Tyranitar, awash with the pink light of Fairy Type energy. One of Tyranitar’s hands became wreathed with flame as a Fire Punch tried to intercept the attack.

However, only one of her jaws were blocked. The other still landed on Tyranitar’s side. There was a loud cracking sound as the attack caused its armor to partially break. Mawile used this opportunity to latch on with Vice Grip, and she then took advantage of that leverage to fling herself above Tyranitar’s head.

Her clever movement prevented the flex of a leg for a Stomping Tantrum. However, in the air, her defense was low, and Tyranitar turned its head to the sky and opened its mouth.

My eyes went wide. I recognized the glow coming from its throat.

“Hyper Beam!” Thomas yelled.

It’s now or never.

“Sucker Punch!” I replied.

It might have sounded dumb, but Sucker Punch was effectively my strategy for this fight.

Before Tyranitar could release its move, Mawile twisted in the air to slam one of her jaws into Tyranitar’s mouth. Its own jaw slammed closed, and its eyes went wide in realization of what was to come.

The Hyper Beam didn’t stop. With a closed mouth, it burst in its own face.

Smoke left its mouth. Its eyes blinked furiously. Tyranitar was too tough to take much damage from that, but the failure of Hyper Beam had left it in the perfect place.

I realized that with this opening, we could finish the match.

“Sheer Force: Play Rough!”

Mawile put everything she had into the move. Sheer Force enhanced Play Rough, and Tyranitar took super effective damage from the Fairy Type attack.

When Mawile slammed into her foe, it looked as if Mawile had hugged it. However, this hug used her entire body, her two hulking jaws included. They slammed into Tyranitar’s chest, knocking the wind right out of it. Then when it bowled over, she followed up with a secondary Iron Head.

Tyranitar collapsed to one knee, but it wasn’t fainted just yet. As a pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, and a Mega one at that, it was near-immeasurably powerful. Since it was a Tyranitar specifically, it had high defenses as well.

Thomas called for Tyranitar to use Earthquake, but that never happened. A rapid-fire Sucker Punch came forward to smack against the Pokémon’s face, and it finally, fully collapsed to the ground, unable to continue.

Its Mega Evolution faded away with unconsciousness.

They never see it coming, I thought, shaking my head.

Off to the side of the field, I heard fervent cheers coming from my team. Ninetales and Dedenne screamed their names, but the loudest was actually coming from Tinkatink.

Before anyone could stop her, she ran forward onto the field. Mawile blinked as her own Mega Evolution faded away, and Tinkatink stopped right in front of her.

Then, picking up something neither of us noticed, Tinkatink grabbed a discarded tooth off the floor. Mawile must have lost it while she was Mega Evolved, and Tinkatink bowed her head in thanks.

Then, Tinkatink hurriedly ran off the field to likely add it to her hammer.

Thomas returned Tyranitar, and I walked over the cracked field to pat Mawile’s head. She moved over to where the rest of the Pokémon were waiting, approaching a group filled with excited cheers, and Thomas moved to shake hands with me.

“Absolutely incredible battle,” Thomas said. “I can still feel my hands shaking after that fight.”

“I’m just...” I sighed, happily. “I’m proud of my team for coming this far. You were a tough opponent. I’m glad I didn’t face you again in the Sinnoh Conference.”

He laughed, and our conversation shifted to small talk. At the same time, our fainted team members were sent out to be healed before we returned to the Pokémon Center. Tyranitar was actually the Pokémon who took the most serious damage, but the majority of its wounds had faded away when its Mega Evolution ended.

Azumarill was annoyed at her loss, and I could see her staring at the ground in thought. Our battle with Thomas had pointed out some weaknesses in her strategy, and I wondered if it was time to mix up how she fought.

Finally, with Eevee, he was practically speechless. Ever since the Mega Evolution battle ended, he seemed almost unresponsive, only staring at the Pokémon around him in a daze.

I walked over to rub his head, and my touch seemed to get him out of it. He perked up at my petting and smiled at me from the ground. I picked him up to hold him in my arms.

“One day, you’ll stand at the same level as everyone else,” I said.

Eevee shouted his name as if to promise he will, in agreement.

As everyone was healed up and chatted about the fight or greeted Eevee, we eventually returned our teams to make our way to the Pokémon Center.

“So, Alex, heading to Alola soon?”

“Yeah. Spending so long in Hoenn has been fun, but I miss having the drive of a circuit coming up. Alola’s formatted a bit differently than elsewhere, but I’m looking forward to having a more direct objective.”

“I know what you mean,” Thomas said. “I’ve competed in a few tournaments here and there, but nothing quite beats the drive of aiming for a Conference. Although, if you are in Alola...”

Thomas paused. He didn’t say it, but I knew what he meant. He had been there at Sea Mauville when a “rogue” Aether Foundation employee had attacked me.

Alola was the Foundation’s main region, and that meant that any malicious actors would have much more freedom to do something untoward. Despite that, I wasn’t too worried. I had my team to protect and support me.

“Well,” I said slowly, keeping my voice to a whisper and my words carefully planned, “I do have rank within the Pokémon League. I’ll be going through my own challenge, but that isn’t all. The League plans to expand their presence in Alola, so I’ll be testing a few of their Trial Captains. That means I’ll be going out of my way to explore the islands even more intensely than most, and if I see anything going wrong...

“Let’s just say I actually have the authority to do something about it.”