Hard Enough - Chapter 178 - Steven Stone v Drake (Patreon)

The sound of growling and gnashing teeth made me stop what I was doing.

“Gible!” growled Gible.

“Munch!” said Munchlax.

I gaped openly, watching as Munchlax, who was trying to carry a platter of food, had to dance around a leaping Gible. The little baby pokemon’s jaws snapped menacingly each time it missed the platter.

After the fifth attempt, he landed rather heavily before he paused. He gave a whine of annoyance for a few seconds with his little limbs pumping up and down. Munchlax didn’t spare him any sympathy, causing the baby shark pokemon to suck up his tears and take up the hunt once more.

Munchlax was doing a rather respectable job all told.

It was just a shake that at some point in transporting the platter out to the table, Zubat had obviously found him. She’d landed and taken to gorging herself while Munchlax and Gible unknowingly fought over nothing.

I stepped up and glowered. “What do you think you’re doing?” I said sternly.

Munchlax stiffened in surprise, obviously thinking my words were for him. Gible, unaware of what my tone meant, made another leap for the food only for me to snatch him out of the air.

“Gib? Gible!” he said, his small stumpy hands and legs pumping in the air as he reached for the platter. He paused when he spotted a rather plump-looking Zubat looking up at me.

“Zuuuuu?” said the little bat pokemon.

Munchlax dropped the platter and Zubat shrieked in surprise only for Munchlax to loom over her.

“Munch! Munchlax Lax!” he said he then waved a hand about and started to gesture at me and my family, all of us setting up the outdoor area to observe the coming match between Steven Stone and Elite Four Member Drake.

A few of my siblings walked over and crossed their arms. Suzie nodded along as Munchlax continued to rant about… something to do with hard work and stealing people’s effort?

Zubat seemed to be shrinking into herself and had gained a chastised expression while Gible tilted his head in confusion. “Gib?” he asked.

Munchlax paused and glanced back at Gible in surprise but Suzie took over. “It’s because you’re a baby pokemon! You’re just playing and hungry! Zubat should know better!”

I coughed. “Actually, I don’t think she should. She’s only been caught for a week and we haven’t had the chance to talk about not stealing food. She typically wouldn’t have the chance with the other pokemon she eats with. This is something she’s never had an experience with.”

I put Gible on the ground and turned him so that he was standing next to Zubat. I opened my mouth to give them a lesson about this only for Suzie to step in front of me.

“Listen, little pokemon! Stealing is bad because it takes away from the people who put a lot of hard work in! Food like this, usually gets shared around anyway and that makes for a better taste and a better expedience!”

I coughed. “Experience,” I said out the side of my mouth, correcting Suzie.

“Yeah! That!” Suzie said pointing at me. She nodded again and flared her nostrils. “So, you’re taking everyone's food, and a nice moment together…” she frowned and turned to me.

I took over the conversation knowing Suzie didn’t know what else to say. “And it makes people angry with you, so instead of sharing something positive, you end up ostracised. It’s better to help out. If you’re hungry, you just ask for food, you’re not a wild pokemon anymore.”

I crouched down. “So, Gible, while Munchlax was willing to play with you, you didn’t need to be doing it over the food everyone was going to share.” Gible nodded slowly, his mind working overtime as he worked to lock this into his view of the world.

I turned to Zubat who was trying to look small but with her swollen belly couldn’t achieve it. “Zubat, you went out of your way to sneak the food out from Munchlax which I’m sorry to say, is worse.”

“Zuuuuuu!” wailed the little bat.

I nodded. “I know, you didn’t know and part of that is my fault. Sometimes it can be something that is picked up through social cues, but it sometimes also needs to be stated instead of just assumed. So, I’m not mad or worried, you know about this now, so you won’t do it again right?”

Zubat nodded only to tilt her head only to quickly shake her head as she understood what I was actually asking. I smiled and patted her on the head. “Alright, so just apologise to Munchlax for stealing the food he was bringing and we’ll get this sorted out.”

“Zuuuuuuuuu!” said Zubat, her head bowed and her ears flopping down.

Munchlax rubbed her head and gave her a thumbs up. “Munch!” he said.

Suzie raised her hands. “Hooray! We’re all friends again!” Suzie turned on the spot only to spin around. “What did she eat?” she asked.

I looked at the crumbs. “It looks like someone’s cookies,” I said.

Suzie giggled. “Hahaha Yolanda! Zubat ate your food!” she said dashing up to tattle to Yolanda.

I shook my head. When had she started copying Cindy on trying to bait a response from her sister? Yolanda, wise to this, merely glanced over to Zubat. She saw I was there and nodded. “Oh, that happens, no problem I’ll just have popcorn,” she said before returning back to setting out the chairs.

Zubat wobbly flew over and landed on Yolanda’s shoulder to apologise and I decided to leave that there. Munchlax headed back instead to get another tray of food while Gible rubbed his chin. “Giiiiible,” he said slowly.

“You okay little man?” I asked. Gible nodded slowly, sitting down to watch as my siblings and I continued to set up.

Zubat I picked up so she could watch as everyone went about their tasks. “When you’re feeling up for it, how about you fly up and tell Titan, Bertha and the others that the match is about to start?” I asked her when she started to fidget.

“Zu!” she said, happy to be given a task.

When we were done Gible was still standing off to the side, watching and stroking his chin. I picked him up and deposited him in my lap only to perk up as Rocko led Samuel around. Samuel instantly dragged a seat closer to me to inspect the pokemon in my hands.

“Oh my! This is a marvellous-looking pokemon! Wherever did you find him?” he said.

“I rescued him from Team Rocket recently,” I said.

“Really?” Samuel said producing a pokedex that he pointed towards Gible.

“Gible?” said the little shark pokemon.

Samuel Oak’s pokedex was a much thicker design than the standard forms. It also seemed to have a larger camera and screen on it. Samuel happily took some pictures only to frown. “Interesting, I’m picking up Ground and Dragon typing in this little one?”

“Is that so?” I said nonchalantly.

Samuel shot me a look. “You know something?” he said.

I nodded. “I’ve been looking into other regions and our clashes with them historically. I found a reference about a Dragon pokemon that was considered very strong when fully trained from a place called Sinnoh.”

Samuel blinked. “I can recall something to that effect… but it’s been years… and I was so young even when the continents started to shift. So many people lost contact with each other…” He sighed and shook his head. “I never encountered something like that but I will do some reviews and see what I can find.” He stood and released an Alakazam, surprising me.

“You don’t have to—” I started to say only for them to vanish. “—do that now,” I finished lamely.

Rocko wandered back over with a pair of plates. “Huh? He’s gone already?” When I just waved a hand at the empty air Rocko shrugged. “Eh, more grub for me. Anyone want some?” he offered, causing Gible to leap forward and jostle with Munchlax for the spare plate.

The pair of them ended up dividing it between them. Munchlax tried to use the spoon only for Gible to eat it along with the food the first time it was offered. Munchlax retracted a mangled spoon after Gible was done with it.

I snorted and turned back to watch the warm-up match that was being broadcast. Wallace was battling Watson and surprising a lot of people, as he was winning with his water-typed pokemon.

Tommy bounced in his seat and looked around. “So when’s Lieutenant Surge coming around?”

Flint and I locked eyes, knowing, without saying a word aloud, that if we told Tommy Sruge had been arrested and wasn’t coming, it would break his heart. The both of us stared at each other and a plan formed in our minds.

“He went on vacation!” “He’s decided to go on sabbatical!” I said over the top of Flint. Flint and I shared another look, both of us telling the other to get our acts together.

Tommy tilted his head. “Is Sabbatical a place?”

I coughed, signalling that I’d go first. “It’s a sort of break from work, so a vacation for a long time! Surge has been working really hard for a number of years and he’s decided to take a break.”

“Oh…” said Tommy as he processed this.

Salvadore, Cindy and Yolanda shot us knowing looks. I scratched the back of my head. Damn spoink-speak and kids knowing it.

Tommy perked up, causing panic to return to Flint and I as Tommy grinned. “Can I call him to come around if he’s not doing anything?”

“No!” Flint and I said together. We returned to shooting each other frantic looks.

This time Flint coughed first. “He’s not in the region and we won’t be able to send him any messages… I think he might be gone for a while!”

I nodded. “Yeah, he let his daughter take over the Gym for him!” I said, firming up the hole that Flint and I were digging. This instantly had the other girls perking up with interest.

“Daughter?” said Cindy.

Tommy groaned. “Nooooooo! Not another Girl Gym Leader! There are too many already! Make the Cerulean sisters stop counting! There should only be one Gym Leader for Cerulean!” he said plaintively.

I snorted. If things went the way I was expecting, there’d be two more by the next circuit. Thanks to the Guardians' discussions I was kept abreast of some of the back-door conversations occurring in the League.

Apparently, a prominent family with some Ace trainers in their number were looking into Goldenrod. The most prominent trainer in their family? A girl called Whitney.

Whereas the Ranger who was holding down Olivine had suggested his own granddaughter.

I’d been rather amazed to learn that Ranger Myron was Jasmine’s grandfather. With Visquez, the ratio of male Gym Leaders to females was dropping.

“Don’t let it bother you,” I said. “This new girl is supposed to have a lot of spunk.”

The girls shot me a confused look. “Spunk?” said Cindy. “What even is that?”

“It’s… you know? Spunk? Courage or determination?”

“Hmmm sounds like something an old person would say,” Cindy said unknowingly, scoring a critical hit to my pride.

Flint chuckled into his fist. “I’d call her plucky!” he said, deciding to toss his hat into the ring of popular opinion.

“Soooo much older!” said Tommy. “And lame!”

Flint doubled over and clutched at his heart. I smirked and took a handful of popcorn, enjoying the change in targets. Heh, that’s show him.

A flash of light heralded Sabrina but this time she came with Janine. Both girls' appearances had the children shooting to their feet.

“Sabrina!” called the girls, leaping up to present themselves to her. She deftly hugged and stroked heads causing a wave of giggles to break out. Yolanda walked up and presented Terra to Ralts.

“Tar!” said the excitable Larvitar in greeting.

“Ralts!” chirped Ralts back with an air of smugness. A glow formed around Ralts and a number of rocks rose into the air. I whistled. Ralts was getting stronger.

“Janine!” called the boys as they too closed in on a new arrival. Then they tried to tackle her. Janine blurred around them and appeared next to me in a cool pose. “Naive!” she announced to the pile of boys.

This just made her seem cooler to them. Gible squawked in surprise at having her so close so quickly and flapped his stubby arms.

Janine shot me a wink only to frown. “Is this the pokemon that you were given by Lance for assisting in the raid?” she asked.

I nodded a pleased feeling swelling through me as I stroked Gible’s fin, making him croon in delight. “Yup, Lance, the Dragon master gave me this Gible.”

Janine tilted her head, her eyes narrowing as she took a moment to assess Gible. “Gible… he is not a Rock pokemon is he?”

“He’s ground,” I said leadingly.

Janine blinked and stared harder at Gible’s features. “He’s dragon-type?” she said in surprise.

I nodded feeling like the Meowth that had just revealed how he’d cornered the cream market from his competitors. “He is indeed, and if the reading I’m doing on historical pokemon like Gible is correct, then he’s going to be very strong.”

My pokemon lumbered around the corner at that moment, and Zubat who had been darting back and forth trying to hurry them up broke away to zip over to me. “Zubat!” she cried, brandishing a wing towards my Elite team.

I shot the team a wave and indicated their treats which had been laid out already with Sanchez standing guard over them.

Sabrina slid into the spot next to me. “Lance is going to be very angry when he realises his mistake,” she said.

Janine hummed, her eyes turning to look at the shiny Zubat on my shoulder. “He might feel slighted. He might also not assist you with any insight into Dragon pokemon.”

I grimaced. “Yeah he might do that. But well, I wasn’t going to say no to the little guy,”  I countered, holding up Gible so his large eyes locked with Janine’s “Could you?”

Gible wiggled and gnashed his teeth, rather ruining the image of cuteness I’d been trying to get him to convey.

Janine leaned around Gible to pat Zubat on the head. Gible whined at this causing Janine to laugh and sit down. “You had best read up on them, they can be a tricky breed of pokemon and it will take a long time to get them to their full potential.”

I hummed and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve experienced that before,” I said, waving a hand towards Titan.

Janine flicked her eyes at my starter. “You think he might match Titan one day?”

“He has the potential,” I said.

Janine frowned. “All the better if you find a way to soothe Lance’s ego or find an in with another trainer as skilled with Dragon-type pokemon. Clair will follow Lance’s lead.” Janine shot me a look. “So unless you become friends with Drake you will have limited options.”

I bobbed my head back and forth. “Or I could ask Oak about how he raised his Dragonite?” I suggested.

Janine blinked. “Ah, I had forgotten,” she said with a frown. “It is rather easy to overlook Professor Oak sometimes, despite knowing how strong he is.” She nodded. “That is a good idea,” she said.

I settled back. “I’ll probably still need to soothe Lance somewhat. Maybe when this guy is mature enough I can pair him up with a ditto, or find another of his species to breed.”

Sabrina tapped my arm. “If they are as powerful as you have suggested they might face a few restrictions. Indigo doesn’t like sending out any of the Tyranitar or Dragonite lines of pokemon unless they know they will not be bred.”

I merely nodded. Sabrina and Janine then had to deal with attention from my siblings allowing me to sit back and wonder at how I would soothe Lance’s injured pride when he learnt I’d snuck a dragon-typed pokemon out from under him.

The only solution I had was another dragon-type pokemon but I wasn’t sure where to find one of those unless I went hunting for the Eon duo, or… well Rayquaza.

Which, yeah hard pass.

I toyed with the idea of funding a few more dig sites for Crowley. Surely we’d have to find a Tyrantrum or Tyrunt eventually.

The match between Watson and Wallace ended with Wallace winning with a clutch use of Marvel Scale from his Milotic to help it boost itself and endure beyond what it should have. It then finished Manectric with a powerful Iron Tail that ripped up a huge chunk of earth as it hammered the electric type.

I applauded the showing and had to give it to Wallace, he had a lot of style with his pokemon. I could easily see why he would have the skills to step up, should Steven stop being the Champion of Hoenn.

Now it was time to see if there might be a better heir to the title however as the announcers went nuts hyping up Steven and Drake.

“Drake is a solid pokemon battler!” Janine gushed. “My father respects him greatly and said he has always had a marvellous mind for tactics and strategy!”

I rubbed Gible’s fin. “He’ll be good to watch Gible, as he uses a lot of Dragon-type pokemon so pay attention alright?”

Gible stopped eating from the bowl of popcorn I had in my lap long enough to nod before returning to devouring the food. I huffed and poked him. “You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep going,” I said, taking the bowl away from him.

“Giii….” he croaked,  sadly only for Janine to offer him her bowl. I shot her a surprised look which she ignored. Apparently, she had been taken in by his earlier cute looks but was just putting up a mask.

Which sounded like her to a T.

“In this corner! Representing the people of Petalburg! The Dragon tamer and master of the skies! Drake!”

A wizened old man with a fierce-looking moustache strode out to a chorus of cheers and shouts.

He waved good-naturedly and his greatcoat billowed as he moved.

“And in this corner! We have the most dapper gentleman! The most eligible bachelor in the world, aaaaaaaaaaaaand your Champion! Steven Stone!” shouted the caster.

Steven strode out waving and smiling as the crowd roared in greeting. I thought for a moment that I saw some people throwing rude gestures but they vanished in the throngs of happily cheering people as the cameras panned around to the two competitors as they locked gazes.

I felt the tension in the air and I leaned forward, pushing Gible into the best position possible to watch. “Serious time now,” I murmured, which made him pay attention and stop squirming to watch.

A referee went through the usual details of the match before raising his flags. “Trainers! Are you ready?”

“Ready!” barked Drake with a sweep of his hand, a pokeball already in it.

Steven tamely unclipped his own pokeball, causing a chorus of surprise as he took the premier ball off his necklace, signalling his intent to send his starter out first. On his finger, a jewel glinted.

The caster gasped. “Is this a sign? Is Steven Stone going to—” Before anything else could be said the referee dropped their flags.

“Release!” shouted the referee.

Drake hurled out his pokemon revealing a Ninjask of all pokemon taking me by surprise. Janine next to me pumped her fist. “I knew it! I knew he had a pokemon like that!” she said happily.

I was too distracted by Steven’s Metagross taking to the field to give her comment much attention though.

Instead of the normal cobalt blue of a Metagross, a pale white metallic body glinted under the lights, making the dark sclera and red eyes only stand out more. I’d forgotten Steven had a shiny Metagross, but that didn’t hold my attention for long.

The steel-psychic pokemon glinted under the lights of the arena and the gleam of intelligence was unmistakable in its eyes.

I shot Sabrina a glance and she merely nodded, agreeing with me silently.

This was a powerful pokemon.

Steven raised his hand. “I might be a little late to the party, but I think I should announce myself now, during the day of our founding I pay tribute with my own revelation. Metagross!” Steven reached out to Metagross and a bright line began to glow from the stone on his ring and a stone that was wrapped around one of Metagross’ arms.

“MEGA-EVOLVE!” he shouted and the light erupted into an orb of rainbow power.

“Steven Stone is a magical girl?” shouted Suzie, throwing her hands up in shock. “Is he part of your team?” she said looking at Sabrina.

Sabrina blinked slowly, taking a long moment to parse what Suzie was talking about. She blinked again and I frowned, surprised that this was taking Sabrina so long.

Sabrina held out a hand to Suzie. “You’re thinking rather loudly and… very quickly, I understand this is… important for you, but I can’t understand what you’re trying to convey.”

Suzie blinked, nodded, and then clapped her hands together. “Hrrrr!” she said. Only to then release her hands and inhale. “There, who’s that?” she said to Sabrina.

I stared. Had she just copied my anxiety trick to calm down her mind?

“Adorable,” said Janine. I agreed with a firm nod. Suzie was pretty adorable.

Meanwhile, Sabrina had started to shake her head. “There is no global group of magical girls that can mega-evolve their pokemon.”

Suzie wilted. “Awwwwww,” she said.

“Yet,” clarified Sabrina, looking away from Suzie.

Janine and I both shot her incredulous looks only for Sabrina to not meet our gazes. Instead, she coughed. “I will have to find some worthy team members for my magical girl team,” she said, only then letting her eyes dip towards Janine.

Suzie shot Janine a hopeful look and Janine coughed. “I am working hard!” she said hurriedly.

I tilted my head, wondering who would work best for Janine. “Beedrill… or Gengar?” I said, thoughtful.

Janine snapped around to me, a notepad appearing as she hastily scribbled what I’d said down, “Any others?” she said.

“I didn’t say anything!” I said trying, and no doubt failing to deny I’d muttered anything. I really should have kept my mouth shut.

“Look! Drake just hammered Mega-Metagross with a U-turn and is bringing out his… Flygon?” I said, curious at that decision.

The girls stopped observing me and turned their attention towards the screen. The notepad in Janine’s hand didn’t vanish however and I just knew that she was waiting for another slip-up from me.

“Take control!” shouted Steven. His pokemon began to glow and the fingers on each of Metagross’ hands stabbed towards Flygon.

The dragon-type pokemon merely spun on the spot however and dark energy began to erupt from it, causing a cyclone of force. For a moment I had to wonder if Flygon could learn Darkest Lariat only to shake the thought off. Metagross, instead of taking control, was slammed back as the brutal Swing connected.

Drake smirked but didn’t offer any reason why his pokemon would have greater speed than a mega-evolved, and probably stronger pokemon. I had to consider the sequence of events. He’d started with Ninjask of all pokemon. Why?

“He used Ninjask because of its trade-out capabilities,” I said, my mind replaying how things had occurred.

Drake hadn’t been waiting for Steven to take control, he’d used the time that Steven was Megaevolving to speed up his pokemon before then passing the boosts on to the actual fighting pokemon Flygon.

Onscreen, Steven sighed. “You want to play it this way? Very well, Metagross, smart play,” he said, sweeping his hands. Metagross opened its arms wide, forming a giant cross before snapping them closed.

From it, Icy Wind poured across the battlefield, leaving Flygon to once more try and advance only to take super effective damage.

Flygon dodged into the ground only for another glow to form around Metagross as it held its place and waited. It did orientate to the left, however.

Drake glared at Steven as the other man smiled winningly.

I could only frown, there was something I was missing here. A moment later Flygon appeared to the left and behind where Metagross was.

Metagross pounced as soon as Flygon burst out of the ground, surprised that it didn’t find anything there. Instead, it took yet another devastating hit that saw it out of the running.

I rubbed my chin. What was going on here? Metagross as a levitating pokemon meant Dig was a bad move. Why had Drake made a rather rookie mistake?

Drake sighed, and returned his pokemon. “You.. anticipated me tracking your habits with Dig?” he said.

Steven nodded. “I am aware of how skilled you are as a trainer Drake,” Steven said and caused the announcers to go a bit crazy.

“Steven is showing the strongest Elite some major respect here!” shouted one.

“Well worth it! There’s mind games taking place here that are on another level!” shouted another.

Drake merely grunted and withdrew another pokeball. “Go! Ninjask! We need you once more!” he shouted.

Ninjask appeared and swiped its pincers about as it buzzed from side to side.

“He’s going to buff up his pokemon before sending them against Metagross?” I said.

Sabrina nodded. “It seems that way. With Ninjask being a naturally fast pokemon it is a good option. I do not believe that Steven is willing to let that play out though as it will become hit and run if he does.”

In the next instant, Metagross vanished in a blur and reappeared behind Ninjask with its arms sweeping out like a samurai that had just dashed past his foe.

Ninjask crumpled.

I huffed. “I think that answers that,” I said.

Drake scowled at his downed pokemon. “Aerial Ace, you had your pokemon practising different moves… You’ve changed your entire pokemon’s movepool for this match, haven’t you?” Drake said as he returned his second downed pokemon.

Steven inclined his head. “You are that strong,” he said.

“Hmmmm, I see that I need to try my best then,” Drake said, plucking his own pokeball off his necklace. He hurled out his next pokemon. “Go Salamence!” he roared.

On the field a powerful dragon pokemon appeared, roaring as it did so. Metagross leaned back as though intimidated only to glower and lean forward.

Steven swept his hand without saying anything and once more Icy Winds shot forward. Salamence snapped its wings and shot upwards only to still take a small fraction of damage.

“It’s faster than Salamence?” I said in surprise. I hadn’t been expecting Mega-Metagross to outspeed a pokemon known for being fast. Drake's plan of boosting his pokemon suddenly made so much more sense to me.

Had he known about this pokemon’s stat boosts and determined he needed something extra to match? In that case, Ninjask being the chosen buff pokemon with its greater speed made a lot of sense. But then Drake had said Steven had anticipated this as well?

How would he know his pokemon were slower? I frowned as a suspicion formed in my mind.

Salamance dove, determined to strafe Metagross’ position with a diving Flamethrower only for Metagross to blur once again, this time the Aerial Ace didn’t land but it did put Metagross out of danger.

Steven made a grasping gesture and his pokemon once more exerted Psychic on another pokemon. This time Drake didn’t seem to have an answer— “Hyper Beam!” snapped Drake.

Steven’s eyes widened as Salamance’s head locked onto Metagross and unleashed a devastating beam of power that tore up the battlefield. Metagross took the hit face first and for a moment it vanished in the powerful attack.

When the dust settled, however, Metagross was shown, still standing and still locking Salamence in position with Psychic.

Salamence was slammed into the ground where another Icy Wind swept over the dragon pokemon ending the match.

The crowd roared their approval only for the announcer, due to this being an official friendly match to announce a break. The crowd stayed in their seats and Metagross stayed on the field with Steven not walking back to his bunker.

Drake, likewise, didn’t move.

“Steven is pushing the evolution out, his pokemon took enough damage and has used a number of moves, it should be becoming too strenuous to hold,” Sabrina said thoughtfully.

I watched Steven and nodded. “It looks like you’re right.” Steven Stone looked flushed and brow was dripping with sweat as he tried to keep the mega-evolution going. It seemed to be taking a bigger and bigger toll however and the break wasn’t to his advantage.

Sure enough, before the match could be restarted, Metagross lost its mega-evolution.

Steven wiped his forehead with a towel that was rushed out to him by an aide. He sighed and slumped a little only to shake it off. He quickly straightened himself out and waved to reassure the crowd that he was right to keep fighting.

This earned him a round of applause as people urged him on. Drake merely gave a single, begrudging nod of approval for Steven to keep fighting.

Drake chose his next pokemon. “Go! Swellow!” he said, sending out a pokemon I wasn’t expecting.

“A Swellow?” I said.

Janine nodded. “He is most well known for his Dragon pokemon but Drake started with flying-type pokemon. He is still trying to get more dragon pokemon onto his roster but it is not so easy to find Dragonite, and rumours have it that he heavily funds research into other regions scouting hoping to find more dragon pokemon.

I hummed. Yeah, he and Lance would get some seriously powerful pokemon the more regions that were opened up to them. I chuckled and stroked Gible’s head.

Swellow had to shoot into the air straight away to dodge a Psychic but instead of engaging straight away, the flying type pokemon hovered, beginning to glow from well out of Metagross’ range.

Steven shook his head. “Stealth Rock,” he said, forcing Drake’s hand.

“Again Swellow,” said Drake, surprising everyone.

“Ah,” I said, realising Steven’s oversight. “That Swellow knows Defog,” I said, and sure enough a moment after Swellow had boosted itself up again. It dove and circled the field.

As it flapped its wings hard sending out burst after burst of wind forth, causing the Stealth Rocks Steven had created to achieve nothing.

Drake grinned while he punched forward, and this time Steven flinched as his pokemon took another U-turn to the face.

Swellow disappeared and in its place, an Altaria appeared hovering and ready, and more importantly, not impeded by Stealth Rock.

“Take it!” snapped Drake and from Altaria’s maw a huge Fire Blast shot out.

“Protect!” barked Steven, determined to keep his pokemon in the running for a moment more.

Drake huffed. “I’ve got you dead to rights this time boy! You’re not escaping me!” Drake swept his hands up and Altaria, rather than wait for the Protect to drop shot into the air to circle above Metagross.

“Fire Blast once more!” Drake said.

The Protect vanished and Steven leaned forward, an intense look on his face.

Metagross shot forward and vanished just before the Fire Blast could hit it. A moment later Metagross appeared in front of Altaria causing the cloud-like bird to shriek in surprise.

Steven pumped his fist in victory, as Metagros caught the flying-dragon-typed pokemon. Both pokemon spiralled to the ground, on the way, bursts of fire and ice shot from both as they hammered move after move into the other.

The tumble became a slug fest.

Around me my siblings shot to their feet and cheered or shouted while my elite roared their approval for the hard scrap.

Neither pokemon pulled out of the death spiral until and when they hit they rocked the stadium.

When the dust cleared both pokemon were revealed to be knocked out.

The crowd rose and roared their approval for the exchange and I had to give it to Steven, it hadn’t been a bad idea. “He forced a mistake, Drake could have ended it with a weaker move but he wanted to guarantee it with a move that isn’t as accurate,” I said.

Janine and Sabrina nodded. “Giiiiiii!” said Gible, staring intently at the screen.

I stroked his fin. “Drake’s got some strong pokemon, no?” I said.

Gible nodded enthusiastically and I chuckled.

“You’ll be just as strong one day,” I said, and Gible grinned but kept his gaze locked for what was to come.

Both Drake and Steven selected their next pokemon.

Steven sent out Claydol.

Drake sent out a Sceptile.

I sat up. Now that was a very interesting choice. Steven seemed stunned by the choice but I had to wonder if Drake didn’t know about Sceptile’s evolution, for it gained an extra typing when it did. Specifically Dragon-Grass.

Drake knew something, or else… he had incredible instincts? I sighed. “I really don’t know enough about Drake to know how impressed I should be or for what reason,” I said.

Janine eyed me. “And why do you say that?”

“Sceptile works for him,” I said cryptically, wise to her tricks.

On the screen, Sceptile swept its tail about, causing a cascade of green leaves that then shot towards Claydol.

“Dig!” barked Steven. Claydol dove into the ground just in time to avoid the attack only for Sceptile to shut its eyes and relax.

I leaned forward watching for what would happen.

Claydol shot out of the ground with its head seeking to gouge into Sceptile’s stomach. Sceptile flexed its tail and skipped over the previously hidden pokemon.

“Leaf Blade!” barked Drake. Green blades of grass energy burst from the leaves on Sceptile's wrists as Sceptile slashed forward in a reverse style.

Claydoll took the hit and tottered back collapsing onto its back where Sceptile pinned it, a leaf blade held over the meeting point of the two main segments.

I whistled, damn that had been a fast reversal with Drake taking out two pokemon fast.

Steven sighed and raised his hand. “I withdraw my Claydol from the battle,” he said, quickly returning his pokemon before whipping out another. Skarmory took to the field and I hummed. This was a better matchup for him.

Skarmory went in hard but Sceptile was up to the task of holding it at bay.

Steven seemingly had no issue with this though and allowed the match to become a matter of endurance, which saw Sceptile dropping eventually.

In the end, Swellow was left to face off against what remained of Steven’s team.

Steven considered his Skarmory for a long moment before returning it and sending out his Aggron, causing me to lean forward.

Behind me, Knight stepped closer to watch his fellow pokemon easily close out the match for Steven Two to Six.  Sadly I wasn’t going to be getting any critical insights with that match with how Steven simply bombarded Drake’s Swellow with Stone Edge to close out the match.

Yolanda stood and stretched. “That was a good match! I wasn’t expecting the Mega-evolution from Steven and that made it a lot more one-sided than I thought it would be.

There had also been a few unusual moments that I really didn’t have enough knowledge of Drake or Steven to make an accurate call about. How well did they know each other’s pokemon rosters to be able to predict each other like they had?

Drake obviously knew enough about Metagross’ movepool to have been caught by surprise with Steven teaching it, Aerial Ace.

Sceptile had been a shock for Steven, I was sure, but Drake had seemed to come into the match against Steven. Knowing what Mega evolution would mean.

That meant something, but I felt like I didn’t have enough information to judge.

I shook it off, and clapped my hands. “Alright gang! Time for bed!” I called.

My siblings and Bertha all groaned with sadness. When Bertha joined them trudging towards the house I rolled my eyes along with the giggles from my siblings.

While she wouldn’t fit through the doors, that didn’t stop me from returning her to her pokeball and then letting her sleep in the lounge room.

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Steven waved to the adoring crowds one last time, a practised smile on his face before he stepped into the tunnel and out of sight. He held the smile for another few seconds before allowing it to drop as he advanced. When he reached the pokemon care facility the team of pokemon handlers he had were all waiting for him.

“Excellent battle sir!” they said together.

Steven nodded. “Yes, thank you for your work today and in the last few weeks,” he said as he deposited his pokeballs into various receptacles.

The group of handlers all relaxed and began to comment on what they’d liked the most of the fight. They also began to display graphs and power readings from the fight indicating how well his pokemon had done. Steven half listened, a thought niggling in his mind.

He placed both hands on either side of the table and sighed loudly.

Instantly the room fell silent.

Steven straightened. “Everyone but Katrina out,” he said.

Everyone marched out, except for the singled-out woman. She stood at attention licking her lips as her eyes darted about.

“Sir?” she asked as the door closed on the last person.

Steven sighed. “You’ve been feeding others information on my pokemon Katrina,” he said without preamble. “For doing a poor job of it, you’re fired.”

“Doing a poor job of it?” she said incredulously before shaking her head. “Wait! No! I never did that sir! You must be thinking of Glen! He’s always sneaking in here!”

Steven held up a finger. “No, I did not make a mistake. I have been aware of someone feeding others information for a while. Tonight’s results confirmed to me it could only be you. Tonight I made the connection to you. But worse? Tonight,” Steven drew the word out. “impacted the impression of Mega-evolution. It needed to be as good as possible, and you have jeopardised that. You may go,” he said, waving a hand.

“I jeopardised that?” snarled Katrina. “Like hell that should matter you money-grubbing—”

Steven held up a finger and a pokemon appeared behind Katrina. “Banette, escort Katrina to security. They will know what to do from there.”

Steven shook his head. “Honestly, you overplayed your hand.” He huffed. “And did a second-rate job of it. If you had done it properly Drake would have fallen right into my trap,” he said, shaking his head.

Steven stared at the score from his match, that would be what people paid attention to tomorrow. Two to six, with Drake able to claim two of his pokemon despite the mega evolution. Steven sighed and began sending off messages to his company’s PR department.

This would need to be managed.

Drake had played his hand well and would garner much respect, with none of the masses aware of the moves made under the table to get him even that far.

Steven smiled despite himself. He had to conclude that it did make the game, that they played more interesting.

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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for the continued support you give!

Thanks also go to Twmmy for betaing this chapter