Hard Enough - Chapter 120 - Ancient history and new challenges (Patreon)

The Moltres dominated half the wall. With a torch light on it, you couldn’t miss it. In the dark, it hadn’t been at all visible, and it hadn’t been the only wall art that I’d missed. There were recesses in the wall that held small items like broken pottery, statues, masks, and what appeared to be a flute.

Empress shifted and glared at me from her perch around the nest, but she didn’t do anything else. It seemed my gift of the Heat stone had bought me some wiggle room. She hadn’t started growling, which I knew to be an early warning most Tyranitar started with. Instead, she seemed interested in the wall art. Perhaps she’d never seen them before due to never having light in here and instead relying on smell, touch, and memory to navigate her cavern.

I shone the torch on other walls and spotted more murals. On the mural to the east, plains and jagged cliffs leading into the ocean depicted a storm with the same tribe huddling away from the devastation that another bird pokemon was releasing onto them. The jagged wings and long drill beak meant that this could only be a Zapdos.

It glared just as hatefully down at the tribe, just as the Moltres had. I noted that a number of boulders appeared to be in the act of being thrown by Ursaring in this depiction. There was no Tyranitar on display.

I flicked back to the first picture I’d seen and noted the pokemon. Tyranitar, Ursaring, and Mightyena.

I then swept the torch around until I was facing the south wall.

On this, a third and, from what I could see, final artwork was on display. Here, a much smaller image of man and pokemon, in this case, only Mightyena, were huddled together as they dealt with a snowstorm. A blue bird with a long tail stood over the top.

I flicked between the three images. If there was a link between the pokemon joining the tribe, then the Articuno image was first, then came the Zapdos, and finally the Moltres.

The Moltres mural was also larger and given much more detail. The peak of the mountain was very clearly cut, and the lines of fire descending from the pokemon made it clear how outclassed the tribe had been. For all intents and purposes, it was a warning.

I started taking pictures of the various cave drawings along with the various broken pottery shards. Some of them were shaped to look like the Ursaring, Mightyena, and Tyranitar. Under each artwork, there was writing in a script I couldn’t make heads or tails of.  I snapped up pictures of everything before scooping up some broken artifacts into plastic lunch bags. I suspected that I might know someone who would be interested in these. That or they’d know of someone interested.

A low rumble made me pause after I took a mostly still-intact flute. The Empress eyed me as I packed away the bag. I nodded, acknowledging that she didn’t want me to take anything else. I checked my photos to make sure that her nest wasn’t visible in any of the photos.

“Thanks for this girl,” I said aloud before smiling at her nest and the photo sitting at her side. “I’ll tell my little sister that you got the picture and that you liked it, if that’s alright?”

She sniffed and shifted so her back was to me, but not the image. She ran a claw over it and grunted her name. Titan barked happily before nodding at me and gesturing for us to leave.

I did so, but this time I did so with the torch on. I noted how the tunnel was sloped but specifically cut to form a loose spiral. It had obviously been worked. I took some more images of the tunnel itself and got closer to draw attention to the markings that were all too clear in the light of my torch now.

Titan huffed a laugh at me, and I shot him a look. “What?”

He merely shook his head, and I had to settle for him ignoring me to stalk further up to the entrance of the cave.

When I reached him, he was staring towards the tallest peak of the Mt Silver range. A peak that looked extremely familiar to me. I’d seen something very similar with the cave drawing specifically. I raised my transceiver and snapped a picture of the mountain. From this angle, the artwork had to be deliberate. The angle matched, and if the artist had witnessed the devastation that a Moltres had unleashed, then perhaps this had been a shelter for them as Moltres devastated the mountain range.

A low growl broke me out of my thoughts. At my side, Titan eyed the mountain. No, that wasn’t right. He was eying the birds that had been flying towards it. The flock of Feaorw, all of them had veered well around the mountain instead of passing over it. Something that I wouldn’t have thought much of before, perhaps passing it off as a quirk of their hunting instincts.

Now it stood out that they were all avoiding getting within a certain distance of the mountain despite the size of their flock.

I snapped a video of that as well and forwarded what I’d collected to Oak and Elm. Elm responded straight away, my transceiver buzzing to life.

“Brock! These images! Wherever did you find such!? They are extremely fascinating, and in conjunction with the images of Mt Silver itself being so like the drawing, there is a direct linkage to ancient tribal societies! Fascinating! Utterly fascinating! I wonder if I could bother to ask you—”

Before he could say anything else both Elm and my transceiver pinged with another incoming call. The call was listed as Samuel Oak.

“Oh! Shall we include him on the call?” Elm said merrily. I toggled accept and merge on my transceiver, and a second later, Oak’s stern face loomed on the projected screen.

“Brock, I want to be extremely clear with you. Do not approach that mountain. Do not agitate the pokemon that claims that peak as its territory. In fact, I want you on your Noctowl and getting out of there now!”

Elm squawked in surprise. “Oak! Surely you’re being overly—”

“Get! OUT!” snapped Oak and despite not being before him, I could feel the command ring true through the line. I felt myself stiffen and my head nodding before I was consciously aware of what I was doing.

“Alright, I’ll leave for now. I wasn’t going up there. I just came across the cave art and noticed the way it linked to Mt Silver proper and that the Fearow flock I’d seen earlier were really going out of their way to avoid it.”

“I apologise,” Oak said reasonably. “I am overreacting, I know, but I cannot overstate the danger that facing a Moltres would bring. Their species are known as Legendary pokemon for a reason. Where they go, they change entire weather patterns and are usually at the top of the food chains.”

“Usually?” Elm said, catching the qualifier that Oak had included as I mounted Zephyr, returned Titan, and took flight.

Oak sighed. “There are certain sites that suggest that certain other pokemon are able to fight them off. The Legendary dogs, for example, or even the Mighty Ho-oh has records where they have fought off or made the Legendary birds withdraw entirely.”

Elm rubbed his chin. “I haven’t done much reading on the ‘Legendaries’, as people like to label them, when I was studying. I instead focused on my area of interest. Breeding!”

Elm rubbed his chin. “I might need to open a few more books on them! Oh My but this is an interesting oversight on my part. Very well, I won’t ask you to investigate this find Brock!” He nodded over the line. “Brock, Samuel, goodbye for now!” He then vanished from the call.

Oak and I stared at each other. I cracked first. “Does… does he have any idea what it sounds like he spent all his time at College doing?”

Samuel snorted. “No, he really doesn’t. Honestly, I’d be surprised if he had any…” he trailed off and coughed sheepishly. “Not that it’s any of our business! He’s happy enough studying it, that’s for certain!”

I chuckled and nodded. “Fair enough. Think there will be any issues if I show those images to Crowley? There might be an archeologist that would be interested in the artworks.”

Oak pursed his lips. He turned his attention to something to the side. “Stress to them that they are not to go to Mt Silver.” I heard a computer keyboard clacking away as he focused on what was being shown on another screen. “The mountain itself is practically unreachable with how far flying pokemon baulk away from it. Climbing it is another issue, with it being too steep to do on foot. Rideable pokemon also seem to baulk from going there.” His eyes flicked back and forth and he nodded. “It would take a true idiot to disturb a pokemon like that.”

I sighed. “Well, you said it.”

Oak blinked at me for a moment before he groaned, slumping into his chair. “Ah, yes I see what you mean… Hmmm well, we will just continue to restrict who can go there.”

“And that will stop people?” I said aloud as I passed over the Indigo Plateau,. I gave it another half an hour and I’d be home.

“... it will give us more of a shot at stopping them,” Oak said tiredly.

“Hmmm alright then. Well, I’ll be talking to Crowley later, so I will see who he suggests.”

Oak rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Archeology is a rather dying profession. I—” I snorted at his joke before realising he hadn’t intended it.

“Sorry! Go ahead.”

He played what he’d said back over in his mind before laughing. “Heh, good catch. Well, I suspect he will talk to a young lady I have only read about in some scientific journals. See if Eve rings a bell for Crowley, won’t you?” I felt a memory stir at that name but couldn't put a finger on why precisely.

"Will do Professor Oak." I nodded as he signed off. Now the question became, how did I know an archeologist by the name of Eve? I shrugged, that would be future Brock’s problem. I doubted it would be a big problem. For now, I had to get home and deliver presents from my trip away to my family.

When I came into land, I did so to find most of my family merrily out and digging a small trench into the garden. The Lileep were very happily bouncing around in anticipation as Yolanda worked with Terra to cart away wheelbarrows full of the earth while my younger siblings had smaller trowels to create their own dirt piles.

With one look, I knew it was the sort of chaos that can only result from unleashing lots of small children into the garden with a ‘goal’ in mind.

Suzie wasn’t even digging anymore, she was just laying out the hose and getting various watering cans lined up in size and order. Munchlax was assisting, but apparently messing up her arrangement with how she was having to chase him around.

Salvadore had a tape measure out and was working with Flint to plan where the water pipes were going to go along with any paths we wanted. And then Tommy threw a clod of dirt, and Cindy and a few other siblings got drawn into a fight.

“Noct!” cried Zephyr, causing the impromptu dirt fight to stop just as it started. Everyone swung their eyes around and spotted me.

“Brock!” “Brock!” “Big Brother!” cried out the youngest. I had a moment to swing myself off Zephyr before I was swarmed by grubby hands and bodies. I chuckled, feeling like everything was right in the world. Eevee ran through my legs, and her fluffy tail tickled at the twins who’d claimed my shins as their own. Munchlax helped Suzie climb over them and onto my shoulders. Yolanda approached and waved while holding Terra up to wave in greeting.

I shot Flint and Salvadore a nod. “Looks good, you’re trying to set up Erika’s suggestion?” I asked.

“Mhm!” said Salvadore happily.

I hummed and rubbed a few heads, ignoring the giggles and annoyed shrieks at messing up their hair. “Might be best to make it a small water feature.” I patted the little ones on the head. “Don’t want any adventurers getting in trouble do we?”

“Indeed!” Flint nodded seriously and indicated he’d accounted for that already.

I turned to the rest of my family who were clinging to me. “Have you all been good for Flint?”

“Yes!” they cheered.

“Hmmmmm, well, I might have gotten you some souvenirs, I suppose!” I announced while rubbing my chin. “But first! We need to clean up!” I said, happy to be home.

______________________________

“Alright Crowley, what’ve you got for me?” I asked as I settled down into a chair.

The Laboratory, as it was known, was the upgrade that we’d been able to work out for Crowley.

The man would have been happy to keep working out of the back of the museum if we’d let him. Sadly for him, the curator, the League, and myself had not been happy to have him resurrect pokemon that were extremely valuable out of there.

Lawrence and Alexa had sat down with Crowley’s assistant and found a state-of-the art facility that was, in fact, closer to the Gym than the museum had been. Alongside that, a security group of trainers had been hired on with a larger holding area for the various pokemon.

Crowley now had a number of assistants sourced from the universities and colleges that had all been forced to undergo deep scans by the League before being allowed to even intern in the Laboratory.

Despite the new facilities, the state-of-the-art computers, diagnostic imagers and more, the place was still a mess. Papers and books were scattered around, and Lileep featured in various positions around the room like misplaced house plants.

Crowley buzzed about excitedly. “Brock! I was able to resurrect the other sample of the Root fossil! This is good as a different sample shows greater reliability in our machine!”

“So more Lileep?” I said in exasperation.

“More Lileep from a different source of fossil!” he corrected. He then fidgeted. “We were also able to have some other initial successes.”

He gestured to a table that was covered in paperwork. His assistant shoved a tower of paperwork out of the way that was covered in Crowley’s scribblings to reveal three rather unassuming pokeballs.

Crowley coughed into his fist. “Ahem!” He gestured again to the pokeballs as the assistant gave the blandest jazz hands I have ever witnessed while staring straight ahead, her expression dead to the world. She looked like the sort of person who only functioned thanks to copious amounts of coffee and inertia dragging her onward.

“Introducing the latest successes of Crowley Laboratory!” The first pokeball was popped, and from within, a pokemon with a round head and small beak was revealed.

“Cranidos!” it trilled before charging at the assistant, only to fall off the table and thunk into the ground. I stood to see if it was alright. The Cranidos warbled a little with watery eyes only for the assistant to mechanically pick it up. It headbutted her as fiercely as it could manage while she was comforted it. It looked like a small angry child that couldn’t decide if it wanted a hug or to rage at the world.

So in typically childish fashion, it settled on both.

“—a rock-type pokemon with a very hard head! I have witnessed it charging a number of times! My shins can attest to its current strength!” Crowley announced. I blinked, realising I’d tuned out to watch the assistant deal with the angry little pokemon.

“I see,” I said with a nod. Crowley barely registered what I said before turning to the next pokeball.

“Anorith!” shouted the next pokemon as it emerged and leapt straight at the assistant's face, who was now wearing a face shield. The Anorith slapped on the face shield and hugged it. A sigh of relief escaped the assistant.

“A bug-rock type pokemon from ancient times, it has interesting claws and small legs that allow it to grip onto surfaces or to propel itself through water! It was quick to enter the small pond we have in the pokemon habitat and has a rather graceful swimming style.”

“I see,” I repeated.

The final pokeball was released, and this time I watched the assistant to see if they had any more special countermeasures prepared. When they did nothing but prod the Anorith trying to hug their face, I turned to the last pokemon and was surprised to find a blue turtle sleepily blinking at me.

Crowley handed me some berries. “This pokemon is the most sedentary of the group but is a deceptively fast swimmer! It has a number of powerful water attacks and its shell is impressively strong. Comparable to a Shellder about to evolve into Cloyster strength, in fact!”

“That’s… actually quite impressive,” I said as I considered the sort of strength that Cloyster shells had to undergo. Cloyster were said to go extremely deep into the trenches of water and were also known to get caught in Sharpedo jaws without breaking.

“Tirtouga,” said the blue turtle lazily. I reached out and rubbed its head, which Tirtouga happily accepted.

Crowley shifted back and forth. “Sadly that is all we were able to resurrect from the Skull, Cover, and Claw fossils. The genetic material was all used up in the process. It… still isn’t the most efficient but I can so far only think of a way to edge out another ten percent… it will depend on the size of the sample that we can get. Root fossils are allowing us to continue to hone this, of course.”

“More Lileep are always nice. I’ll talk to Bianca, our breeding specialist, and see what we can manage. Do we know the genders of any of these pokemon?”

Crowley tilted his head. “I’m not sure?”

The assistant pointed at the angry Cranidos that had been swaddled in the last few minutes to stop it from headbutting her anymore, something it protested greatly. “Boy,” she said before pointing at the Anorith that was now on the side of her head. “Girl,” she said tonelessly.

“Good to know,” I said rubbing Tirtouga on the head. It yawned sleepily as it munched on the berries Crowley had given me. “And that’s still a really good result, Crowley. I have spoken with Pryce and Lorelei. They’re going to send us some more genetic samples. The difference is that these will be frozen samples, so hopefully there will be more genetic material for us to use from them.”

“Hmmm will I need to calibrate the machine…” Crowley rubbed his chin. “I don’t think it will affect the extraction process at all, and the resynthesis process for genetic material shouldn’t be a problem.” He marched over to the whiteboard and considered it and the equations on it. “I… don’t believe I need to change anything?” he said after a long moment.

“That’s good news!” I tapped Tirtouga on the nose before withdrawing my hand. “In other news, I wanted to know if you knew any archeologists that might be interested in a cave mural I discovered during my trip to Mahogany Town recently.”

“Is it Pre-war, war period, Ancient, Pokelithic, Pokecasic or another period?” Crowley replied with some interest.

I blinked at him. “I have no idea?” I opened up my transceiver and projected the images I’d captured. Crowley inspected it thoughtfully with his assistant also leaning in.

“Hmmmm Jennifer, can you contact Professor Eve for me?”

“Doctor Eve, actually, Professor,” said Jennifer, the assistant. “She recently was able to defend her PhD and she has been accepted by Celadon University.”

“Really?” Crowley said with interest. “She has done well for herself. What was the PhD about?”

“Pokemopolis, the ancient civilisation that had to defend itself against raiding tribes. These images actually link up rather well with her contributions to the Pewter Museum currently on display.”

I hummed. “Huh, fancy that, I thought they were similar.”

Jennifer opened her transceiver and dialled a number. “Hello Eve it's Jennifer from Crowley’s laboratory in Pewter. Hello, and congratulations on your doctorate. I hope you got the flowers we sent.”

Crowley tilted his head. “We sent flowers?” he muttered to himself.

I couldn’t hear Eve’s response, but Jennifer nodded her head. “Yes well, Gym Leader Brock found something you might be interested in. If you’d like we can forward it to…” From there, the rest of the information was passed back and forth, and I was given an email address to forward the pictures to.

I did so, and from there, I collected the new additions to my Gym for Bianca to look over. I made sure to warn her about the Cranidos and Anorith’s behaviour. When I returned I said as much but she didn’t even bat an eye as she donned a face shield from her satchel and readied a blanket to wrangle the newest pokemon.

When I made it back home, I found my family getting ready for dinner, with the boys on one side and the girls on the other. I paused in the doorway. That was never a good sign.

Yolanda swivelled her head around toward me. “Brock! Tell them that Karen has a chance against Steven! She’s done amazingly against the other Johto Gym Leaders with her Ace challenges! She can win!”

I scratched my cheek. “Was that tonight? I’d lost track of things.” Whoops I’d been planning on having an early night of it.

“Broooooock!” whined Cindy. “Can she win?”

I shrugged, “Anything’s possible she—”

“Ha!” shouted Tommy, “That means she doesn’t have a chance!”

I frowned. “Well first of all—”

“That’s not what he meant at all!” snapped Cindy, getting in her twin’s face. I sighed and put a hand on both of their faces to separate them.

“Alright, you two cool it.” I raised two fingers. “Let me finish. Karen can win. She’s a strong trainer with some really powerful strategies and the knowledge of how and when to use them. I doubt I’ve even seen all of them, and I’ve seen lots of breakdowns of her matches.” I lowered one finger and waggled the other.

“On the other hand, Steven Stone is strong. There is no doubt about that. He has yet to face a challenger who can really force his hand.” I knew this for a fact, as it wasn’t widespread that he could mega-evolve his pokemon. Interesting that he was trading stones around but he had yet to use one publicly himself… I started to consider the reasons why that might be before one of my little brothers coughed.

I stiffened and coughed. “Right! So, in summary, the odds are staked against Karen but that doesn’t mean she can’t take the W if she makes opportunities for herself. When’s the match?”

Flint coughed and inserted himself into the conversation. “After dinner and homework for an hour!” he said in a tone that brooked no excuses.

Billy and Tilly tilted their heads and checked how Cindy and Tommy both slumped before copying them. I tapped the younger two on the shoulder. “You don’t have homework.” That made them perk up.

“Yeah! We don’t even have homework!” said Timmy and Suzie together as they remembered they too weren’t given anything from kindergarten.

Cindy turned to Yolanda, who merely shook her head. “I finished it earlier today.” She grabbed Terra’s hands and waggled them about, causing Terra to giggle. “Then I could enjoy my time with Terra. She did a drawing while I finished!” she indicated a drawing on the wall where my siblings put all their art on display. A very passionate set of scribbles adorned a torn-up page.

“That was very mature and well-reasoned of you, Yolanda,” complimented Flint. I nodded along happily before turning to the last member of the household with homework. Salvadore coughed and gave a helpless look.

“I might have to some to still do…” He rubbed the back of his head. “I got distracted working with Dad this afternoon!”

Flint chuckled. “And that’s alright as well!”

I laughed and patted Salvadore on the head. “Don’t worry, little bro, I will have some emails to work on as well, so I’ll be next to you if you have any questions.”

We set ourselves up at the dining table and got to work. Before the hour was up, we were all done which let us spend some time preparing snacks. Munchlax had wanted all of the snacks made up but accepted being argued down to merely a kilogram of vegetables and the megabag of popcorn while we watched some Furret Samurai.

Then it was time to switch channels; we were right on time to miss all the pre-match talks before getting to the good stuff.

“And from this corner! We have Karen of Lavender Town, the Ace so hot she’s blazing a path up the rankings and is sure to be laying down a challenge this year!” shouted the announcer as Karen marched out onto the League battlefield. She grinned hugely as the announcer continued to heap praise on her. “She’s just gotten in a little early on a Champion challenge! I hope all you Elite Four out there are paying attention, cause she’s coming your way soon!”

“Go Karen!” cheered the girls.

Karen flicked her hair and cocked her hip before winking at the camera. In the stadium, a number of people shouted and whistled in approval. I chuckled, knowing she’d be feeding off this sort of behaviour.

“And now! From the shores of Hoenn! Having accepted this challenge, we have the Champion of the Hoenn League! Give a warm, Indigo welcome, to Steven Stone!”

Boos, cheers, and flashes of light heralded the arrival of Steven. He marched out with a well-fit suit and his hair perfectly styled. When he walked past the cameras, he gave an affable nod before taking his place atop his own podium.

“For today’s exhibition match acting as the referee will be Charles Goodshow! Give it up for our referee!” The camera zoomed to the middle of the field where a bushy-bearded gentleman was revealed. He waved happily before adopting a stern expression.

“As this is an exhibition match no withdrawals will be allowed, and only six pokemon will be utilised for today’s match! I want a clean, fun match for everyone to enjoy! Let’s show the world what we’ve got!” he said as he thrust a fist into the air.

The crowd roared their approval as Steven chuckled and nodded while Karen smirked. Charles waggled a playful finger in her direction only to roll his shoulders and raise two flags, one on either side.

“Trainers! Are you ready!?” he said.

“Yes!” “Let’s do this!” Steven and Karen said.

“Release your pokemon and begin!” he said dropping the flags.

“Go Gengar!” “Go Claydol!”

Both pokemon formed up, and I leaned forward in surprise.

“She’s going with Gengar first? That’s a good match-up for her,” I said interested. I could see Steven grimace and around me, all the girls pumped their fists.

“Claydol! Use Psychic!”  barked Steven.

“SB~” said Karen slyly. Her Gengar formed and fired a ball of dark energy that howled as it accelerated across the field to slam into Claydol as it tried to use Psyhic to put up barriers of earth against the attack. The Shadow Ball dodged and dipped however, more like a vengeful spirit itself than an attack that had been thrown. It slammed home into Claydol and the heavy pokemon staggered before righting itself.

“Oh! That’s gonna sting!” Karen sing-songed.

“Claydol, Sandstorm,” Steven said in response.

“Icy Wind,” Karen replied. Her pokemon swept its arms, and a gale of white wind surged forth against the rising sands to buffet and block the Sandstorm from forming. Claydol once more took some damage, and Steven clicked his tongue.

“Claydol Trick Room,” he said, forcing things to flip as a box of psychic energy formed up before enlargening around the field.

“What’s that move do?” Salvadore asked.

“Makes it so that slower pokemon move faster and faster pokemon move slower. It’s a weird reversal that allows slower pokemon more room to work. Gengar’s one of the faster pokemon around which makes this a good move to use it on,” I said quickly.

“SB again!” Another Shadow Ball was formed and fired off only this time Claydol could lazily drift to the side and avoid it. The girls all grimaced in worry.

“EP!” shouted Steven. His pokemon stopped levitating and dropped into the ground causing the field to shake. At first it seemed Gengar would be fine with how it was levitating off the ground only for spikes to shoot up out of the ground and smash into it.

“What was that!” shouted Cindy. “That wasn’t an Earthquake!”

“Earth Power,” I said after considering it for a moment. The girls groaned only to sigh in relief when Gengar returned to floating slowly with its eyes glowing fiercely.

“Go scary pokemon!” shouted Suzie.

“SP,” growled Karen causing her pokemon to blur forward and seemingly evade the psychic effects of the Trick Room.

“Stop it with EP again!” shouted Steven. The earth once more surged up and slammed into Gengar, but this time Gengar propelled itself forward and used the hit to throw itself into the punch to make sure it slammed a dark empowered fist into it only to fail. Gengar crashed into the ground below the Claydol and lay still.

The girls slumped as one. Karen looked stunned.

“Noooo!” whined Cindy, unhappy that one of Karen’s pokemon appeared to be down for the count.

Charles squinted at the Gengar.  A flag twitched upwards, only for Karen drop her stunned look for a smirk.

“SB~!” she said, and from close range, a Shadow Ball was formed and fired off. It was slower once more due to Trick Room but Gengar was now more than close enough to make sure the hit landed.

This time Claydol fell to the ground and stayed down.

The girls shot to their feet. “That’s the way! Yes yes yes!” they cheered.

Charles huffed and raised a flag towards Steven. “Claydol is unable to fight Gengar wins the first match!”

Steven withdrew his pokemon and selected another. “Go Skarmory!”

He flicked out the pokeball and his pokemon appeared in a bright flash, only for me to notice Karen hadn’t called her pokemon back to her side of the field and instead elected to keep Gengar over on Steven’s side.

Karen’s grin practically split her face as she winked. “DB!”

An ethereal cord shot out of Gengar and connected with Skarmory. Steven Stone frowned at Karen before sighing. “If that’s how you want to play it. Don't think I’ll play your games. Spikes Skarmory, let’s make the most of your sacrifice.”

From his pokemon earthen spikes emerged, and Karen pointed at the Skarmory and released more Shadow Balls that slammed into the Steel-Flying type. Steven chose to ignore them and prepare the field. There was some audible confusion from the crowd, as they didn’t understand why he was doing it.

More than a few little faces turned to me to explain what was going on.

I merely gestured at the screen. “Watch, it’s about to play out.”

Another Shadow Ball connected, and the already weakened Skarmory fainted only for Gengar to also fall. Steven returned his pokemon and shook his head at Karen, who merely grinned viciously.

“What? It’s a valid strategy in this situation. That’s me one to your two, by the way!”

Steven shot a look at Charles Goodshow, who merely nodded. “It is legal, if rather frowned upon. Karen is well within her rights to use those moves.”

Suzie nudged me. “What is going on?”

“Karen used Destiny Bond to link the two pokemon together. Steven realised this. The normal way to escape this is to return your pokemon but with an exhibition match, he can’t do that. Skarmory must not have had a method of getting out of there either or avoiding it. So instead of merely knocking out both pokemon as quickly as he could, he spiked the field. He made the most of a bad situation,” I said approvingly.

“He’s still two pokemon down!” cheered Cindy.

Flint leaned over towards me. “I’m not sure I like having Karen as a role model for the girls.”

I sighed. “Oh… I think you’re going to have to get used to seeing Karen around,” I said knowingly. If she made Elite Four she’d be the heroine to many a young girl.

I sat back and prepared myself to watch the rest of the match.

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A.N. Thanks to all my Patreons.

This is currently unbeta’d. Sorry for any errors that seem obvious!