Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.


Chapter 27: Defence And Offence

"I like these Trainers," the blue-grey haired woman in their luxurious box declared, several well-furnished chairs over, as far below them, two Trainers plotted their next moves.

In Will's opinion, the advantage thus far laid with the younger of the two. "Them? And not the ones earlier?" the Elite Four member asked his colleague. "Or were you disappointed with the defeat of your Type?"

"Type doesn't matter, Will," Karen stated as she rose to stretch locked muscles away. "Anything Lee and his Pokémon did in battle, anyone that made it past the initial groups could if they were given the knowledge of what his Pokémon had up their sleeves. For him, a dozen others. For every defeated Trainer bar one, a hundred others."

The one was probably the loser of the previous match, the Psychic-type Master surmised. Regina had waltzed over the opposition cleanly, but her opponent had made the best of a bad situation, holding on stalwartly despite being outclassed at every level. Will could respect that, though Regina's power was more what he sought in Trainers. "What makes these two so different?"

"Identity," was an answer he should have seen coming. As ever, it seemed his blank spot regarding her thoughts was in effect. "Pokémon that work with them, not they that work with Pokémon. The masses can scoff at Bruce's no holds barred brawling, but we just saw that on a skitty. A skitty," she emphasised, throwing her hands up. "I'm not certain Whitney would feel vindicated or shocked."

Will chuckled, staying within what politeness dictated. "Both, I think. Which has the upper hand depends on the day of the week," he said as movement down below revealed a field restored, and movement on the right side as someone walked back to the arena-level seating. "And the boy? I don't see an overarching theme."

"Anyone who attempts and nearly gets essentially a flawless victory is worthy of recognition," Karen replied instantaneously. "But we'll probably see more now. He prefers defending and countering by his own admission."

"Oh?" Will said, raising an eyebrow before seeing Karen walk off in the direction of the drinks. "And what source have you for that?"

"Kalos interview," Karen replied, voice slightly muffled as she knelt behind a refrigerator door. "He ended fourth in one of the Leagues there." She rose, plastic bottle grasped in her hand. "And Lance, even if he won't admit it anywhere that isn't his mansion, thinks very highly of him and the boy's best friend. Three battles from now. And he has a couple of Psychic-types."

"Really..." He'd have to stay here, then. Not that it was a chore.

~~§~~§~~

Dusclops was ready, a bit rejuvenated by the rest, and in general still pretty okay to battle. Probably.

But even if she wasn't able to defeat whatever Bruce was going to send out… Max had reminded Danny of something in the break. And that might well win him the battle if Bruce didn't react to it the right way.

"Another Fighting-type, huh," he muttered when the opposing Pokémon was revealed. Sure, it was what they had expected up front, and it probably knew Foresight, but still, sending out two Fighting-types to deal with a Ghost-type – and not the azumarill – felt weird. Especially after the fire that dusclops had been using.

Psychic and Ghost were weak to Ghost, so… Maybe his last Pokémon was medicham? It was the only one he'd shown that made sense like that.

Danny'd figure that out when it came. The referee's flag went down, and dusclops used the time that primeape had to take to cross the field to destroy some of the nearby rocks, so the Fighting-type couldn't hide behind them. Machamp hadn't been able to on account of its slightly larger than normal size, but primeape was smaller than dusclops and pretty agile from the looks of it.

Not agile enough to avoid all of the Shadow Balls that dusclops fired off as a warning shot after clearing her surroundings, but the six-spread was pretty weak by necessity. Foresight swept over the debris-riddled area, and a hand started to glow an eerie dark.

The Protect held, forcing primeape back, and dusclops followed it up with a Will-O-Wisp that struck the angry Pokémon on the same fist that had just used Night Slash – the right one.

The forced block with Fire Punch on the left fist seemed to have a lot less power behind it than the other, even if dusclops grunted in annoyance as the Dark-type energy connected with her. "It's right-handed," Danny warned as primeape tried for another punch – regular, no extra energy. "Disable that."

A jab made it through the Ghost-type's guard as she focused, but the fire went out, striking right on the right fist as it was drawing back – and maybe there was a hint of darkness around it; it was hard to tell. The Pig Monkey Pokémon screeched in response, and a red glow appeared, starting from the eyes outward, but spreading to envelop Bruce's primate.

Who knew they could learn Outrage.

Protect got rid of the first blow, but unlike last time, primeape wasn't forced back, instead continuing its assault and hitting he Protect a second time. Dusclops dropped the shield for the third, choosing to roll with the punch as she found a gap to sneak a Fire Punch through herself. That got her hit another two times, but a snap Night Shade caused the monkey to stagger, and dusclops to be able to create a pair of Shadow Balls just in time for her opponent to hit right into them, creating an explosion.

The assault continued unabated, though, Danny unwilling to interject for an order when things were this fast-paced. Dusclops knew what the weak points were, and how to deal with them. She summoned a wave of Will-O-Wisp fire, holding it close for the primeape to strike through every time it wanted to hit her, and in its Outraged mindset, the Fighting-type gleefully did so, unheeding of its own body and fur.

Fur that was beginning to look singed between the Will-O-Wisp and the Fire Punches.

A second Protect eventually came up in response to the assault, after what felt like forever, but was really as soon as dusclops could do it, and this time, primeape staggered more than the first time it had struck the shield under Outrage. Dusclops immediately dropped the barrier, taking a single step forward and going in with a Fire Punch that hit right on one of the smouldering sparks. It ignited, causing a shriek of pain and a redoubled offensive.

For nothing.

Foresight had faded, and with primeape was too incensed to reapply it. Dusclops relocated before reappearing, and by the time she was found, a Shadow Ball had already grown to be nearly a feet across.

It was not appreciated, and though Outrage faded as primeape hit the ground, the landing was hard, and definitely not helped by skidding into the loose small rocks with jagged edges. Getting up was punished by a violent Night Shade that traced an unsteady line across the arena; with small sparks breaking off as dusclops aimed it.

A lucky Shadow Ball hit as the white-ish Pokémon rolled to the right, trying to get up, but not being given any chance to do so, and a second one exploded so close to its face that it might as well have hit. "Night Shade to finish."

It took far longer to summon the attack than Danny wanted, and he realised he'd made a mistake by ordering it. Dusclops was pretty spent, and the time she needed to collect herself was enough for the primeape to get on its feet and jump up, before coming down with feet glowing.

Night Shade still connected, despite the Earthquake further demolishing Danny's side of the field, and primeape rolled back, stopping not too far from Danny, but his attention wasn't on that. It was on dusclops, who had fallen over thanks to the tremors.

But with a half-roll, her left hand allowed her to push herself into a sitting position, from where she got up. "Way to go dusclops!"

"That is one tough dusclops! The Outrage was relentless, but the defences held!" the announcer said as Bruce returned his Pokémon from across the field, before… Taking a break? "Looks like someone's thinking hard after that defeat!"

Danny didn't care. The more time that Bruce used, the easier it would be for dusclops to hold her own for a bit. She hadn't moved from her spot, instead waiting stoically, movement of her hands the only sign she was waiting for whatever was going to come out. Azumarill, or the mystery sixth Pokémon.

It was the mystery Pokémon, which turned out to be a lucario; a fact that made Danny's heart soar. It would probably have to get in close, and that was just what they wanted. "Disrupt everything."

And so she did. The Foresight swept over her, and the Aura Spheres came; one curving over the right, the other over the left, but with a minimal pair of Shadow Balls, dusclops disrupted the aura structure of the move harshly enough that the attacks exploded, taking the top of one of the rocks with it on the right. A third and fourth – high lob and powerful straight down middle – met the same fate.

As did the Dragon Pulse and the Shadow Balls.

The announcer said something about this clearly not working, and either Bruce or lucario must have had the same idea, because the Aura Pokémon suddenly rushed forward. Foresight shot out as well, making absolutely sure that dusclops couldn't do another disappearing trick, but beyond that, white formed on the Fighting-type's hands; distinct. The right energy formed into a Bone Rush staff, while the left remained around its fist.

Danny had no idea what it was, but he didn't care as a mixture of calm and anticipation settled within him.

The staff moved in, followed by the other fist. The long weapon hit dusclops with great force, and in that moment, purple suffused her.

And lucario fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

There was a moment of confused silence – as much as anything the size of the stadium could ever be silent – but then the roar returned and Danny released the smile he'd been holding back ever since lucario had been revealed.

"Destiny Bond. Destiny. Bond! With full mutual trust, Danny and dusclops shut down every attempt for lucario to knock it out from range and provoke the up-close attack! Suddenly, this teenager might well be Lance for Bruce, as it's his azumarill against three Pokémon!"

Left unsaid, but certainly understood by the people in the audience who knew a bit about him – who numbered probably more than he was comfortable with – was that one of those was probably a Mega with type advantage.

They'd be right, but there wasn't any need for aggron to come out. Exploud and masquerain were both probably fine, and if one fell, the other could finish.

Just having the choice felt incredibly liberating to Danny, and he took a moment to savour it before picking his Pokémon.

There were just too many rocks around for him to like masquerain's chances at getting out of this without annoying injury. Exploud, if nothing else, could turn what remained into a pulp to make any kind of hit-rock-launch-debris strategies from azumarill impossible. "Exploud, let's finish this."

The loud Pokémon came out at the same time as azumarill, and whereas Danny sent her out close to him, Bruce sent the Water-type out as far forward as allowed.

After the other Pokémon, Danny could only assume that it, too, fought better up close.

Azumarill and exploud both attacked as soon as the referee let the flags fall for what could be the final time. The Water-type shot forward instantly with an Aqua Jet, and exploud went for one of the sound-based attacks; the shape giving away that she tried for the Supersonic.

It got her hit by the rabbit-like projectile, and both of them tumbled to the ground, but exploud was the quicker of the two to get up, immediately unleashing a ferocious Uproar.

Azumarill managed to power through hearing that, instead trying for an Aqua Tail, but the confusion messed with its senses so that it was just a glancing hit on exploud's leg instead of a full hit. Still annoying, but with a quick jump, the purple Pokémon stomped down on the blue one.

In a flash, Danny's Pokémon found herself flipped over onto the ground, and from there, the Aqua Tail was an easy hit that nobody could ever miss. Exploud took it instead of using Protect, choosing to exchange hits as a Hyper Voice blasted azumarill straight off.

The part-Fairy landed handily, all confusion now probably gone, and it jumped up before rolling up and moving forward in a Rollout and starting to circle around, using the levelled field to its advantage.

It was too perfect not to. "Ice Beam the ground."

The prospect of having to pass over slippery ice didn't appeal, and before it could be caught, Bruce's Pokémon turned sharply, heading straight for exploud. It intercepted the Ice Beam for a moment, uncaring of that, but before it could land a hit, Protect went up, and the two Pokémon both flew backwards a bit as momentum transferred between the two.

A small Echoed Voice; recognisable mostly by the faint sheen on the move, connected, where it didn't do much. Its danger was recognised, and the second iteration met a fierce punch of some kind – white energy didn't exactly narrow it down – that disrupted the attack fully before it could affect azumarill.

Then it tried to Aqua Jet through a third round of resonating energy, and that ended up very poorly despite the quick turnover on the attacks. "Large now."

It was a mistake. Rollout enabled a quick escape, kicking up dirt and making the Echoed Voice sent vaguely in Bruce's direction do nothing except obliterate a rock while the rabbit spun, looking for enough speed to not care about anything that could be thrown at it.

"Hold and wall."

Exploud didn't do what Danny had expected her to, which was to create a high wall about twenty feet away from her. Instead, her Ice Beam created a lower wall about thirty feet away, flickering in intensity all the while. It was maybe a foot and a half high, and within no time at all, it spanned about a third of the breadth of the arena. This seemed to not faze the azumarill, who chose to build up speed on the other end, weaving in and out of the rocks so it wasn't an easy target for her to hit.

It should attack, Danny felt, but the fact that it didn't was good for whatever plan exploud had.

"Are those… Spikes?"

The announcer's words surprised Danny, who saw no Spikes whatsoever on the battlefield, before he realised it wasn't the move – it was the object. Which exploud had created on her icy barrier.

It explained the flickering, and Danny immediately realised that they were forcing azumarill into a choice. Either take the long way around the barrier, which would give exploud more time to line up a good shot, go through it and get stabbed, or jump mid-roll and be a sitting duck for whatever exploud could cook up.

He also hadn't done anything even remotely like this with exploud, but he'd accept random flashes of brilliance where and when they appeared.

Azumarill chose option three, and the high speed put it on a trajectory that went straight for the Loud Noise Pokémon, but Protect held. Barely – Danny saw it waver and flicker – but again, both of the Pokémon involved flew back, with the Water-type coming off worst by definition. It was also the second one up again, but this time, no weak Echoed Voice connected: a powerful Hyper Voice did instead.

Now was the time to move in. "Be aggressive," Danny ordered, and exploud nodded before jumping forward. She landed out of azumarill's direct reach, but took an Aqua Tail that interrupted her attempt at an Uproar. A reflexive yell or screech stopped the other Pokémon from following through with a hard-hitting Fighting-type move, and that bought her enough time to create a quick Ice Beam that went straight for the eyes.

Water-type or not; resilient beyond normal to Ice and Fire-type moves or not: ice in anyone's eyes hurt, and Bruce's Pokémon yelped in pain, rubbing at them with both arms that were just long enough. It was unable to do anything but that for just a short moment, and in that moment, exploud started building.

The earlier resonance was gone; disrupted by Hyper Voice, but that didn't matter to exploud. She whipped up a rectangle, short side up, of energy that slammed into azumarill as it tried to defend itself with an Aqua Tail. It didn't work, and the Pokémon fell backwards.

It recovered before the second Echoed Voice hit, but it didn't get away before that happened; and a clip from the now horizontally oriented energy sent her tumbling right into the remains of one of the rocks that dusclops had destroyed earlier to visible pain.

The third Echoed Voice was too large to dodge. An Aqua Jet to pass through and minimise the attack was attempted, but it failed completely, instead reacting violently with the wall of sound waves and causing an explosion that sent the rabbit flying backwards hard. The landing was upside-down,sending it spinning, only to stop four flips later and just as exploud released a Hyper Voice to finish the job.

"Azumarill is unable to battle. The victor of this match is Danny Birch!"

Danny resisted the urge to be too happy – that was just rude to his opponent. "Well done, exploud," he said as she walked up, exchanging a high-five and looking as smug as exploud could – which wasn't very, what with their perpetually open mouths. "You want some rest now?"

"Ploud," she said, sounding pretty tired. Danny gave her a quick once-over, but he couldn't see anything that needed special merit later, and he returned her before looking at the other side of the field.

Bruce seemed to be looking in his direction, but before Danny could confirm it, the twenty-something walked off the field, heading for his changing room.

Suddenly, all of the sweat that had accumulated on Danny's body during the match made itself known – and there was a lot of it.

Max walked up, and they exchanged high-fives – a slippery one at that on Danny's end. "Told you you didn't need to worry."

He returned a smile as he unclipped the microphone, taking it into his hand and starting to move towards the catacombs of the stadium. "Wasn't expecting triple Fighting."

"Me neither. Aggron?"

That made sense, and Danny vowed to try and find Bruce after he'd taken a shower, but by the time he left the changing room and made his way over to the other side, his opponent was nowhere to be found.

Maybe that was for the best, he mused as he headed back the way he came. The man had looked like he could break bricks with his hands, let alone Danny's bones.

~~§~~§~~

The entire group had left Silver Town for the nearby forest yet again, just like most other days that they hadn't had anything to do. This, Danny felt, was a good thing. Even though the heat wave looked like it was going to end with a spectacular set of thunderstorms at the end of the day – or so the forecast had said on the radio that morning – it was still sweltering, and worse in the town itself. It had led to Max bringing poliwhirl along, and all of the boys not wearing any shirts.

Serena had seemed a bit torn between annoyance and embarrassment at that.

She was lazing under a tree now, after a salad-filled lunch that mostly Danny had made before they'd left that morning. Max was one tree over, looking like he was doing the same to everyone who didn't know him that well – but Danny was fairly certain he was thinking about something. No clue for what, though.

The younger teenagers had vanished after lunch, as had a couple of the Pokémon. Evan's butterfree, Serena's meowth and cherrim, and his own houndour were all snoozing or soaking up the sun's rays, but poliwhirl, Evan's houndour, poochyena, and Chris's butterfree were nowhere to be seen. Probably keeping an eye on the two, Danny guessed.

Gods, it was such a good way to waste time.

There was a rustle above him in the trees, but unfortunately no real wind picked up. That'd probably be a few hours still. By which time they'd all be long gone, preparing for the quarter-finals of tomorrow.

Danny was satisfied with how far he'd come. He'd won a Full Battle for the first time, handily, got to the top 8 of a pretty stacked tournament, and everything just felt right. He knew the feeling was because of his win the day before, but right now, the Battle Frontier looked like a very fun challenge, and if they didn't get all seven Symbols… That was fine, too.

And they could do a Kanto circuit too. The Indigo Conference after next was nine and a half months away. Max wasn't going to say 'no' to that. It'd be busy, but Johto had felt a little empty until the tournament season had started to pick up around the time they were in Goldenrod, so… It all worked out. Or would. Probably.

It was funny how a regular trip through a region was now missing something. Sure hadn't felt like that in Hoenn, but after Kalos and Serena's Showcases… What was that phrase his Dad had used once again? Once unleashed, cannot be returned? Something like that.

Two teens stomped into view, breathing heavily from a run. "I win," Chris said, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. "Told… You…"

Evan didn't reply, instead trying to get his breathing under control.

It did cause Max to stir, but poliwhirl appearing behind the two boys – looking pretty heated as well, for a Water-type – caught Danny's attention. She pushed a gentle Bubble out into the backs of the pair, to some very satisfied sighs. "Running in this weather? Really?" Danny asked them.

"If you wanted to play with water, could've just asked," Max interjected, sitting up in the corner of Danny's vision. "And not have your Pokémon drop balloons on us."

A pang, yelp, and splash followed in short order, and Max got drenched in water. Danny looked up, spotting poochyena with something blue dangling out of his mouth, looking a bit wet as well.

And directly above him, he saw familiar pads and black be not quite hidden by a branch.

That probably meant… "Call butterfree off," Danny told Evan. "Now."

Both of them gave him looks that were just a bit too genuine – at least they hadn't had that as a motivation – and the butterfree fluttered on down, gently dropping the balloon in Serena's lap before landing beside her. "How… How did you know?" Evan asked as he slouched, probably a bit annoyed that the prank failed. "We told them to be quiet."

"I know what you are thinking," Max said, trying to look and sound mysterious, but failing completely on account of wet blue hair nearly falling into his eyes. "Oh, and one of the balloons was sticking out of your rear pocket, Chris."

That explained how Max knew it had been balloons. And he would've felt the Dark-types in the quiet area. He'd told Danny that it was easier to sense Dark and Ghost-types when nobody else was around and he could just relax.

Evan's houndour jumped down from the tree, landing without puncturing the water balloon, which was placed near Danny's feet, which caused Chris to glance at it. "Bleeh, stupid mistake," the curly-haired teenager said, hand going to the rear pockets Max had mentioned. "Really thought we'd get you all wet."

"You got Max wet at least," Serena replied as she walked up. "Not that he minds, I think. You could've just told us and then we'd have packed swim stuff. Or went to some river. Don't think anyone would've said no." She sighed, tilting her head down in exaggerated sadness. "And I don't think you will either."

She threw the water balloon at Chris, and the green hit him right in the ribs, splashing him and causing a loud yelp. Evan, who'd been behind him from where Serena was standing, turned to laugh.

Danny scooped the red balloon up, instantly taking aim and launching it at the boy's torso. His aim was a bit low, but true anyway, and from the side of his stomach onwards, Evan, too, was drenched in water, and the three older teenagers started laughing.

Even as they did so, Danny's eyes met Max's, and the younger and wetter nodded his head in Serena's direction just a bit.

Yeah, they had to tell her. Later.

~~§~~§~~

The room was pretty full, but between the bed, two chairs, and a desk, the four teenagers and three Pokémon managed. "Is it okay if I stay even if I don't have anything to add?" Serena asked, sitting on one of the chairs and petting the zorua that had jumped onto the desk after walking around the room to test Max's senses.

Which was harder than normal, thanks to being in the Pokémon Center, but he had convinced Serena that no, he wasn't crazy. Or crazier than she already thought he was. It was fair, though – Ghost-types like doublade, who was to Max's left on the pillow, did give off an aura at times.

"As if we'd let you go right now," Danny said, and a drawn-out rolling crack of thunder proved his point. "That sky looks green. You'd be crazy to go out."

To prove the point, Max felt pikachu's cheeks spark – hitting both him on the bed and Ash on the other chair. "Yeah, just stay. You know our teams too."

"Anyway," Ash said, leaning forward to rub his starter's head and getting a slight static shock for it. "Both of you in the quarter-finals. That's gonna cause people to look at your teams hard. You really can't take Pokémon you're not certain about if you want to win."

"And if the weather holds, Fire-types won't be good either," Danny added drily. "Pity. Marcus has all sorts of Bug-types."

"Type specialists know their weaknesses and will cover for them. Better not use them unless they're close to making the cut anyway."

"I know, I know." Danny sounded disappointed anyway. "I was thinking I'd just use a lot of my stronger Pokémon. Maybe it's predictable, but… I think I've got a better chance if I play to my strengths."

Ash grinned at him. "Probably a good idea. Marcus has a Mega Stone of a very physical Pokémon, so you'll need swampert and aggron."

"How do you know that?" Serena asked before either Max or Danny could. "Doesn't look like they know it, so how..."

"Scott invited Marcus to the Frontier in April. He's got two Symbols, and Greta told me about the Mega." He looked at his wrist, where the Mega Ring with Key Stone would normally be. "I'm going to guess I should tell you which Pokémon. Unless Max wants to show-off."

"I only know two, and Marcus doesn't have a heracross from what I saw," Max returned. "Is it Pinsirte?"

"Scizorite. Greta said it was the usual scizor stuff, just more powerful. How'd you fight that normally?"

Danny didn't have to think too long. "Swampert or aggron in hand-to-hand, or froslass to avoid and annoy, if houndour is out," he answered. "Hang on, what does Mega scizor even look like?"

Serena and Danny both got their Pokédex out, and Max leant over to check as well. It wasn't a big change, similar to how manectric was basically the same but different. The legs looked a bit different, and the claws definitely looked a lot different, and painful to get caught in, but the strategy should be the same. "Okay, so you're probably taking those three," Max said, and Danny hummed in agreement. "Dunno about the rest, though."

"Let's look at who you're not taking first," Ash suggested. "Narrow it down."

"Well… Not houndour, not litwick," Danny started, counting on his fingers. "Spritzee's trick won't work again. Dusclops and helioptile aren't rested… What field am I on again, tomorrow?"

"I'll check," Serena said, standing up and causing zorua to grumble. "You want me to check for you as well, Max?"

"Might as well."

Serena turned the monitor on, quickly tapping a few keys to move away from Marcus's page. "Says here you're on the grass field, Danny. And Max has water." She scoffed. "Not much of a water field. Barely any water in it."

Max had to agree. It was pretty much the standard arena taken down one size, with the difference being made up of a twenty feet deep by ten feet across moat. Swampert had trouble moving freely in something like that. It did give him an idea, but he filed it away. Now was Danny's turn. "Bet you're really wishing houndour or litwick were available now."

"Wet grass doesn't catch fire that easily," Danny countered, but Max could tell that he was of the same mind. "Anyway, that's drapion out. He needs solid ground, and that field's going to be muddy two minutes in."

"Which leaves… Which Pokémon? Exploud, diggersby..." Ash started.

"Gulpin, klefki, ferroseed, masquerain, magneton. Gulpin's got the same problem as drapion, and masquerain isn't fast enough to ignore the rain." Max glanced over at the window as Danny said that, but the rain was still not coming down. "It's supposed to last until late tomorrow, and I'm up third. Around three or so."

"Wouldn't magneton be useful? Because of the rain?" Serena asked, and zorua jumped into her lamp with a bit of a thump. "'Water conducts electricity,' or so the announcers keep on saying."

A flash blinded them and nearby thunder just about deafened them through the window and walls, and Max had to blink spots out of his eyes. "Good point," he said. "And diggersby would love the mud."

"So that leaves..." Danny said, quickly doing a count. "Klefki or ferroseed who are fully rested, and exploud, dusclops, helioptile who aren't." He sighed. "That's a tough choice. Don't think dusclops or helioptile are going to make it, though."

Brainwave. "Did ferroseed get that new trick to work?"

"What new trick?" Ash and Serena asked in unison, with the girl giggling after. "You didn't use that in the spars, right?"

The sort-of grey-haired teenager shook his head. "Ferroseed's trying to learn how to explode, but he's not able to do it without knocking himself out. The speed's okay, though."

That wasn't a problem. "So you use that as a last move. Go out with a bang."

Everyone looked at the teenager with the most battle experience for a verdict. Ash seemed a bit surprised under the sudden attention. "Marcus could be expecting it. You already did a trick like that with Destiny Bond on dusclops," he said, but Max could tell there was more to it. "But it's a good opener and if ferroseed can do what spritzee did, that's a good result for you." A quick mumble that Max didn't catch. "Does mean you're weak to Fire."

"And Marcus has a volcarona..." Danny said uncertainly. "But I'm not sure exploud's going to do much better. And I guess I'll just bench klefki because he'd also be weak to Fire."

"No need to decide now, though. I know you like choosing early, but I used to just wing it," Ash told them. "You've got something like seventeen hours until you have to choose. See how exploud is tomorrow, decide then."

Another crack of thunder, followed by a sudden patter on the window. It went from mild to pouring in maybe five seconds, causing Max to double check if they had actually closed the window.

They had.

"Okay," Danny said, speaking up louder in response to the first bit of rain in weeks in the area. "You convinced me." He stretched, carefully so that he didn't deck Max. "Still, got further than I hoped and haven't had to use aggron yet."

"The two of you are each other's best rivals. You keep pushing each other to become better and better," Ash said, and this time, his pikachu joined in with the looks being given. "Hey, I can say smart stuff."

"You used up an entire month's worth," Max snarked, to raucous laughter from the yellow mouse on the floor. "But yeah. You're getting nervous for no reason. I told you you didn't need to worry about Full Battles."

"I know that," was the reply, which surprised Max. It was too certain, not slightly eye-rolly in vocal form. "Just… What did Dad call it again? Too much thinking late at night and then your brain conjures all sorts of stupid ideas." A shrug shifted the mattress slightly. "And that's very much pot and kettle."

Max couldn't deny that, and the blush gave it away to boot. He cleared his throat, knowing it wouldn't do anything to stop them if they wanted to. "So… That's Danny sorted. My turn for Cara?"

"Sure. Guessing you finally want to break out gardevoir?"

"I know this is kind of strange coming from me, but what's your plan for Dark-types with him?" Ash said, and Max half-rolled his eyes, hopefully expressing his disbelief that Ash was coming up with that comment. Even with the preface. "I saw her round of sixteen. Two Dark-types in five Pokémon."

"She's used three total. Weavile and honchkrow yesterday, and skuntank earlier," Max replied. "She'll probably use one or two."

"Probably not honchkrow. It got knocked out pretty hard, and manectric." A chuckle went around the room. "Any Ground-types on there apart from the flygon that she used?"

Danny shook his head, but lights flickering caused him to pause, and all of them to look at the lamps. "No," he said once it became clear it was a one-time thing. "But her starter's a jolteon. That's going to be hard for manectric."

"Still have Flamethrower. In the rain, though… Bleh." Max shook his head. "Anyway, gardevoir and manectric are in, sceptile, baltoy, vulpix, and shelgon were used yesterday, so… They're out?"

"Poliwhirl," Serena stated, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the window. "Same argument as you used for diggersby."

Yep, that was true. "Good one, Serena. And I haven't used doublade here at all, so… That's four? Not like I have to worry about her magmar." He cast his mind through who he had used so far. "Haven't used meowstic either."

"Leaning into that Dark-type weakness..." Serena said, unconvinced. "Right Ash?"

Ash nodded, but Danny beat him to the punch of saying something. "Hang on. It could actually work out. If we think about it, you'd only expect Max to use two Psychic-types, right?" Two nods of agreement from Max and Ash. "But would you expect doublade and two?"

The Frontier Brain in the room seemed torn. "I don't know, Danny… That's a lot of wishful thinking." He sighed. "But I know Max is convinced, and honestly… Gardevoir can probably knock out one Pokémon and do a good bit with a second one." A shrug. "And that's all you need. Either of you. I wouldn't have won two Leagues if my opponents had been as tenacious as you at holding an advantage."

"Let's hope it's enough, then," Danny said, but Max could tell that he, too, was feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise. "Or we'll go out with heads held high."

~~§~~§~~

There was one thing that had kind of confused Max when he'd been looking at Cara's Pokémon. For someone who had come from Prudan with its Pokémon, she didn't have a lot of ones that he knew lived there – or at least as far as Hugo had told him. But the announcer for their match – a woman, which was definitely a rarity – went into a bit of an explanation of who both battlers were before the match.

He'd walked up through the tunnel, stopping just around a corner, only to hear a list of some of his Pokémon, and his results in Kalos and Hoenn being discussed. She then followed it up with Cara's file, revealing that she'd only moved to Prudan a few years back. Cara had been born there, but her parents had migrated when she was seven, and so the younger her had left to travel in the Home Regions before returning to the other end of the planet.

And now she was back, having blazed through the Gyms in two months flat, and from overhearing a discussion while he was getting breakfast in the Center, Max gathered that some or another website favoured her to win the match.

Well then, time to prove them wrong.

The rain hadn't stopped, though the wind had, making it now come down basically straight. Luckily, the organisation provided them with rain coats, but unfortunately, it was still pretty warm, making the plastic coats uncomfortable as hell. They didn't have hoods either, and for some reason, there wasn't one in Max's size, meaning that he had to hike it up to get to his belt and that the lower end came perilously close to the ground.

Honestly, it felt like someone had just taken a trip to the nearest large town and bought a couple without taking the Trainers in the quarter-finals into account.

Ten steps into the raucous arena – which wasn't rain-proofed either, leaving everyone on the front rows wet – Max already felt soaked, but he made his way over to the box without tripping over his feet. Cara was already there, her violently blue hair serving as a beacon between all the grey.

She had to go first, choosing a flying Pokémon that wouldn't care one bit about the rain: her skarmory.

The plan that they'd come up with called for revealing doublade and meowstic early, and though Max had wanted to start with ninjask in case the rain became worse – the forecast wasn't certain on that – he couldn't justify it into a Steel-type.

Meowstic would do, though. Skarmory were pretty light for Steel-types, meaning she could even try to move it instead of just hurting it, and the moat on the sides looked like a good place to dump it in. "Stay close to the water," he ordered as the match officially begun, with Cara's Pokémon flying high into the air, hiding from Max's sight in the rain.

The white-and-blue feline didn't care, instead setting up a pair of barriers: Light Screen on the outside, Reflect just inside that, close enough that it was tricky to spot even with good visibility. The area she'd given herself was about twenty feet across, which was more than enough to dodge any ranged attacks that did make it through.

A set of Swift starts flew out from the rain, revealing skarmory's location, but they found the barriers that had been set up; the smaller ones vanishing, the larger ones falling easy prey to a psionic sweep before meowstic took a step outside of her bubble, launching a Disarming Voice into the rain.

Skarmory did a half-roll to avoid it, best Max could tell, before gaining a lot of speed all of a sudden – Agility, probably – and vanishing from his sight, back into the rain.

It reappeared in Max's vision the moment it struck through the Reflect with a snap that sent the entire barrier shattering and fading, but the Agility-aided Aerial Ace missed meowstic despite its reputation for never doing so. Barely, and the white Pokémon was close enough that the wind unbalanced her, but she was safe, dropping the Light Screen and sending a burst of Disarming Voice after the flying Pokémon.

Unfortunately, skarmory was too fast, and Max saw it wheel around near him, unleashing a quick Swift attack to keep the Psychic-type busy while also going back in; this time with a glowing wing, and the combination was successful to some extent. Meowstic was clipped, but it didn't do much, and without the extra speed, a burst of psionic energy was able to catch up, instantly creating a downward pressure that failed to do anything but lower the altitude of the flier.

Again it wheeled, but this time, something else came out: something Dark-typed. "They can learn Dark Pulse?" Max mused out loud as the attack was swatted aside by a Disarming Voice. Then he shook his head, feeling droplets of water fly from his hair, and started formulating a plan.

Two came to him almost immediately, both looking to take advantage of the flyby nature of skarmory's attacks. One was harder to execute, though, and he shelved it for later. "Light Screen, no Reflect," he said, and meowstic dutifully did so. "Now wait."

A tentative Dark Pulse went out, but Disarming Voice wasn't needed. Swift was swatted away as well, and meowstic tried a few long-range attacks of her own while waiting for Cara's Pokémon to take the bait.

It took a minute, but in the end, the Steel-type slipped into an Agility again, but this time, the angle was lower, and with a Steel Wing. Didn't matter. "Jump!"

The landing wasn't perfect – on the wing that wasn't glowing white, but before skarmory could do anything to deal with its unwanted passenger, meowstic unleashed a Psychic. Muscles stopped working, locked in mental agony, and flight quickly turned into a crash-landing that flung meowstic off. She used her powers to cushion the landing, then gathered them into a spear that went straight for a silver torso, connecting just as it tried to get up again.

The Dark Pulse follow-up hollowed out the second barrage of psionic power – its weakness the only reason that some still connected, but the hold Max's Pokémon went for was too weak and the Armor Bird took to the sky again, quickly using Agility to get out of range.

And wheeling back fast, this time going for a triple combination: Steel Wing, Agility, and Aerial Ace.

But the moat was maybe ten feet away, directly behind her. "Spike up!"

It was painful to see something just over his weight crash into meowstic with that speed, but the spike had disrupted the attack enough that it was no longer wings or beak that hit her first: it was the upper half of the body as skarmory went into a wild vertical spin. Meowstic was under it for a moment before both of them hit the water.

Where she had all the cards, and skarmory none.

Meowstic left the water first, shooting out of it by what could only be psychically-aided momentum off of something solid, and she landed, before creating an aura of blue around her.

Max couldn't fully see it, unfortunately, thanks to the rain, so he went to the next best thing. "And meowstic is keeping skarmory in the water. It's taking all her strength to do so, but the Steel-type is stuck in there, and now its head goes under. Bad news for Cara: skarmory needs to snap out of it or it'll be ruled out!"

Max counted the seconds, and at fourteen, the referee's flag went up. "Skarmory has been retired. Meowstic wins."

It was kind of Cara to not have meowstic use sixteen more seconds of her power to make it a Technical Knock-Out, but if a Pokémon couldn't escape in the first ten seconds, it probably wouldn't later either. Not in the water without anything to use as leverage, not without breath. And she probably recognised that too.

"Ruthless, but fair fighting here. Using the field to his advantage, Max's meowstic forced skarmory into a position it had no power in after two well thought-out counters to this Flying-type's best weapon: momentum. It's Cara's turn to select a Pokémon again, and will she choose a Dark-type to counter one of the three Psychic-types that have been used so far?"

Okay, Max liked this announcer, if only for not actually referencing his or Danny's age every single recap. The accurate summary of what happened helped.

He wasn't surprised when skuntank came out, and he gave meowstic, who had helpfully moved closer to him, a look. It didn't reveal too much, and he snapped his fingers to catch her attention. "You okay to go on?"

She nodded, but hesitated first – which told him that she'd rather rest, but that she'd could still fight. She didn't make a motion towards him though, which would've told Max that she didn't want to fight something that had such a big advantage over her.

The choice was all his.

And he kept her in. "Go to the water," he told her before signalling that he wasn't making a substitution after all.

Skuntank rushed forward with impunity, using a Flamethrower to get rid of the weak Disarming Voice that meowstic sent its way before unleashing a Snarl that meowstic barely avoided with a deft roll, at the cost of letting Cara's Pokémon come closer than was comfortable.

But she knew her Trainer's mind, and Max didn't even need to tell her before she hauled a large globe of water out of the moat and gave the skunk a very unwilling bath with considerable force before grabbing some more and shaping it into a vaguely whip-like thing.

Skuntank responded by using a Snarl to try and disrupt the psychic construct, but meowstic yanked it and moved herself out of the way before bringing it down on the purple Pokémon's nose as it tried to get another ranged attack in.

That tore it, and the Skunk Pokémon rushed in with a Night Slash on its claws, and in the blink of an eye, it slashed meowstic twice, sending a Flamethrower after when a blind pulse downwards sent Max's Pokémon hurtling away. The fire was barely diverted in time, and a roll avoided a Snarl at the cost of being grazed by some rock chips.

Then meowstic stood up, and stood still.

Skuntank gleefully unleashed a Snarl, but the Dark-type move didn't stop Max's Pokémon from belting it with a block of water compressed to probably be hard as ice. Twice.

Then it fell apart, and Cara's Pokémon cleaned up with another Snarl, but Max returned her, not even wanting to wait and returning the favour that his opponent had done him earlier. His first Psychic-type had done enough despite already taking out skarmory.

Now it was time to take advantage of the weather.

Poliwhirl was in her element, and she shot off like a bullet the moment she was allowed to, sliding across the arena at speeds that caused the announcer to gasp, and the audience to laugh when she overshot straight into the moat behind skuntank after a surprisingly nimble dodge. The Snarl did nothing, and Max's Pokémon surfaced fifteen feet away from the impact, unleashing a Water Gun straight at the nearby skuntank.

The skunk withstood the attack, moving in with a Poison Jab the moment that the Water Gun ended, but poliwhirl dove back into the water before repeating the previous sequence.

The Dark-type moved back to the middle of the arena, also moving back towards the other end of the arena a bit so Max couldn't see it as easily, but he knew where it was and where it would stay: as far away from the water as possible to make sure that poliwhirl couldn't use the moat as get-out-of-attacks free terrain.

Not that it mattered. She had this in the bag.

Sliding towards the middle, she was intercepted by a Snarl, but the attack didn't stop her. Instead, she crashed bodily into skuntank, which sent both of them onto the ground, but poliwhirl, having been prepared for it, recovered far faster and managed to unleash a powerful Water Gun to blast skuntank back several feet from pure pressure. A Bubblebeam also connected before a Snarl and a Water Pulse blew up on each other.

Skuntank rushed through the explosion with something on its claws, and poliwhirl dodged it with a quick drop onto the ground, giving herself a little push with and causing Cara's Pokémon to miss entirely before being hit from behind, causing it to jump up and around.

Max took his glasses off, moving them underneath the coat and wiping them on his shirt to get the moisture that had accumulated off, but even with his terrible vision, he could still see that the battle was going his way. The way that he knew skuntank was moving was enough proof: too erratic to be anything but on a harsh defence against a poliwhirl as fully in her element as she could be outside of a body of water. The rain helped her sustain attacks for longer, allowing her to put more into them, and Water Absorb was almost unfair in the heavy rain that was coming down.

It took a few more exchanges, during which Max's Pokémon did get hit with two Snarls and one set of slashes, which was worrying because he had seen Poison Jab, before the skuntank fell, exhausted, battered, and washed up.

If he hadn't been certain that Cara was going to save jolteon for when manectric would appear if possible, he would've expected it to be sent out now. As it was, he lazily pointed his Pokédex at the opposing Pokémon, ignored the chattering about how granbull were actually timid – true though it was to the best of his knowledge – and checked what moves they could learn.

Thunder Fang was on there, and apparently, so was Thunderbolt, as granbull opened with it the moment it was allowed to. It was a shot from long range, poliwhirl having retreated to Max's end of the arena after skuntank fell and the rain had subsided to be the least dense it had been all battle long, but it undoubtedly set the tone for what was to come. "Midrange fight."

Granbull tried for another electrocution before poliwhirl got at her preferred range, and she started the offensive with a Water Pulse into Bubblebeam combination that forced the Fairy-type to roll under the first and power through the second in order to try and get at her, but before it could even lunge forward, poliwhirl skated on off on the soaked arena floor.

But Cara didn't get here for nothing, and after skuntank's trouncing, she was eager for payback. Granbull shot into motion, moving far faster than Max had expected it to go, and it intercepted poliwhirl, delivering a single Thunder Fang before being blasted off bodily. It stuck the landing, and again, it crossed the distance at a far more rapid pace than Max would've held possible.

This time, Water Pulse intercepted it, exploding in the Fairy-type's face, which allowed poliwhirl to hurl herself away, stopping only when she'd crossed half the arena and then having to side-step a Thunderbolt sent her way.

Huh. Granbull's approach was a lot slower this time. "Long range now."

A Water Pulse bombardment ensued, poliwhirl staying put and lobbing them at first, forcing the purple-pink Pokémon to move to the side as it approached. Nothing really hit, but some were close.

When her opponent came too close for her liking, poliwhirl dropped onto her belly, used Water Gun, and instantly went for another location in the arena. The first time she did so, she passed within ten feet of granbull, but sadly, it didn't make an attempt to lunge for her.

Poliwhirl would've loved that.

It was an unceasing assault, and tiring because of it, Max knew. There was only so much Water Absorb could do, and skuntank had left marks too, as had the Thunder Fang. But poliwhirl's unrelenting offence was something that the granbull seemed to have some trouble dealing with. Maybe it was too used to being on the offensive itself, or maybe the Water-type was too slippery for it, but unless Cara came up with something, they'd go into the break with Max up two – barely – Pokémon.

At the fifth time poliwhirl switched positions, the jig was up. She waited just a bit too long, and before she could do a belly flop, granbull Roared, startling poliwhirl and causing her to fall backwards onto her bum.

It was the one moment that granbull needed, and it struck with Thunder Fang before going into an Outrage to cause it to be uncaring of anything that poliwhirl flung at it. She did try, but Water Gun didn't have enough strength to push back an unleashed rampaging Pokémon weighing as much as Max did, while Water Pulse and Bubblebeam connected, but did nothing to deter the Fairy-type.

So she settled to get as many hits in as she possibly could, Max could tell.

"Granbull delivers a nasty swipe, poliwhirl throwing a pu – Bubble in return as it goes down to the ground. Cara's Pokémon pounces, pushes through the Water Gun, and that should be it!"

It was, but even from a distance, Max could tell that granbull was extremely tired and unlikely to get better even with rest. He knew the stance well enough, having seen it so many times on sceptile and manectric in the past.

If she was anything like him, Cara wouldn't switch it out. She'd want information on the next Pokémon, and maybe get a hit on one of Max's weaker Pokémon if possible. It would fall instantly to anything truly top-tier anyway.

Ninjask went out, ninjask released a spray of Shadow Balls, ninjask was grazed by a few Stone Edge shards, and ninjask made the score three to two.

"Why didn't it use Stone Edge against poliwhirl?" Danny wondered as Max sat down on a wet bench, giving Max a bottle of water before reaching down and also handing over a covered bowl. "Not enough time?"

Max shrugged, which was very weird with the coat. "That's my guess. Poliwhirl was relentless. Don't mess with Water-types in the rain, sheesh."

"Think you proved that alright," Danny observed drily. "I don't think Cara is out of it, though. She gave up granbull a little too eagerly."

This time, Max resisted the urge to shrug, but he did feed a strawberry from the bowl to ninjask, who happily scarfed it down. "We'll see. I'm feeling good with what I have left."

"Not disagreeing there. And don't think I missed that little defend-and-counter bit from meowstic."

They laughed, remembering the time when meowstic had done the same against ferroseed, while she was still getting Reflect down. That had ended in Max actually forbidding her to do that because the goal had been for her to defend, and not hit Danny's Pokémon. "Well, it worked. I'll take it."

"Pragmatic."

No other words were said as Max chose to get some food in him – he had eaten beforehand, but battles cost energy even for Trainers and he was a teenager.

"Ninjask returns to the field in the light rain, which is supposed to hold like this for about the next thirty minutes. What Pokémon will Cara send out?"

The answer was a weezing, which made Max instantly wary. They had deceptively deep move pools, including Destiny Bond – as Danny had found out at the Battle Chateau – and Flamethrower, as manectric had found out in the Kalos League semi-finals. They also had the usual slew of poisonous gases at their disposal, and the odds of something exploding in the match had significantly gone up as well.

The trick, then, was to be fast, stay sharp, and probably strike from range most of the time. Ninjask only had Shadow Ball that could do that, but he could work with it. Easily.

The downside to weezing was that they weren't the most mobile in the air, being forced to rely on actual moves to defend itself most of the time. Generic sludge worked well enough to block the long-range Shadow Balls that ninjask sent out as soon as the battle was on. "Just Shadow Ball. Don't get fancy."

It wasn't a Contest where repeated moves cost you points.

But again, Cara was no fool. Her weezing cloaked itself in smoke as soon as ninjask flew off, expelling a ton of it that ended up covering a full third of the arena, at least fifteen feet into the sky.

What was this? Memory lane? Max resisted the urge to chuckle as he remembered another time this had happened against him; with ninjask involved too. And he'd picked up quite a few tricks since that time fighting Flannery. "Let's flush it out."

The speedy Bug-type flew above the smoke, before charging up a set of Shadow Balls and starting a descent, accelerating as he did so. Then he started firing them into the cloud as he went, continuously making and releasing, firing and hoping he'd hit anything.

There was a hit, as Max saw his Pokémon zip upwards, holding onto the Shadow Ball he'd been creating, then flipping over and unleashing it at a far larger size than it had previously been.

It met an obstacle on the way, and the explosion took all sight of ninjask away until he flew back into vision by retreating towards Max. He was unscathed, and immediately turned around to build and release yet another Shadow Ball.

That one caught weezing – now visible because of the explosion whipping away the smokescreen it had thrown up – by the very edge of its body, while a Sludge Bomb shot out in return.

But speed was a powerful advantage, and there was no way that was ever going to hit ninjask. It did buy weezing enough time to reapply the smokescreen, and a moment later, history started to repeat itself.

"Ninjask again flies up above the cloud of smoke, and there's the Shadow Balls that it favours in this match-up. It seems that Max has decided that cautious and steady wins the race, and with him a Pokémon up, it's up to Cara to make a move happen!"

Which, as she had done before, happened, but it was two minutes after the announcer had asked that question, during which ninjask had continued his attacks unopposed, alternating patterns to make sure that he wasn't going to get caught out like that and probably creating a good amount of small craters on the floor near Cara.

Weezing had seemingly hidden itself at the very top of the cloud, and when ninjask flew over, maybe five feet higher, it shot upwards, cloaked in… "They learn Thunderbolt?" Max exclaimed as ninjask put on a burst of speed that at least made it avoid the electricity at the cost of losing its attack run and having to make a very awkward turn at the shielding. "Fine. Ninjask, avoidance."

One became six, all charging a Shadow Ball while weezing started trying to predict two things: which ninjask was real and where he and his doubles would fly. The first attempt at doing so failed miserably, though, as a Sludge Bomb passed through two fakes and a single Shadow Ball hit weezing in return, forcing it down and allowing ninjask to shuffle itself back into hiding.

He was able to do the trick twice more, as Cara had abandoned the smokescreen strategy for some reason, instead preferring to try and get hits on ninjask in. One eventually landed, as a semi-unexpected Flamethrower made its appearance, hitting ninjask fully for just a moment before inertia carried him out of it.

Then, and only then, did it reapply the smokescreen while ninjask sped off in order to not be set on fire again.

The small bug stopped by Max for a moment, and he took note of how much damage even that brief moment had done. It wasn't a lot, but ninjask was flagging a bit. A look at his wings showed why: the rain, though not as persistent as earlier, was starting to soak into them. Ninjask wings being as thin as they were… This hindered a lot, forcing him to expend more energy. "Okay. Try to do as much as you can."

Ninjask was always going to do that, Max knew, and he flew off, splitting off into five as he did so, before heading for the smaller smokescreen that had been thrown up. The five were decently far apart so that no one attack could hit them all, and soon the Shadow Balls started flying anew.

And then, suddenly, a burst of flame turned black into blinding red and an explosion, forcing Max to close his eyes.

He listened to the announcer, and as had happened before, she informed the audience of what had happened, which was the same thing as Max thought had happened.

Toxic gases. probably some invisible top layer that ninjask couldn't easily detect, open fire, boom, knocked-out Bug-type.

Simple, effective, and a Team Rocket staple because of it.

But Max had a Pokémon that was pretty good into toxic gases on account of not needing to breathe. The Flamethrower was a problem, sure, but doublade was agile enough to avoid most of that while on his way to get in close, where only Thunderbolt could be an issue. No more hide-and-seek in smokescreens.

True to form, weezing tried to set the Steel-type on fire, but with an early split of blades that was avoided, and Cara's Poison-type soon found itself under assault from two independently-acting swords. One was using Night Slash, the other stuck with regular old cutting.

And it was leaving doublade unopp... "STOP!"

Too late. Weezing fell as a Night Slash connected, but not before it could trigger the Destiny Bond.

Max glanced in the direction of Danny, who responded by planting his hand onto his forehead.

"Cara finally seems to catch Max off his guard as the battered weezing throws in a Destiny Bond to get rid of the doublade. The match is tied again, at two Pokémon apiece!"

Max returned doublade without a word, taking a moment to calm his raging nerves and to assess everything.

The field? Mostly intact, except for craters over on Cara's side.

The opposing Pokémon? Jolteon and probably something else hard-hitting. Maybe the weavile, definitely not the blastoise – that would've come out earlier because it was dead weight now with manectric looming – possibly the probopass or the tangrowth. He'd really hoped to have doublade to scout.

The stakes? Pretty high, with a semi-final spot for whoever won.

He was ready.

Vaguely, Max heard the referee ask for both Trainers to select their Pokémon, which he did, keeping the Friend Ball shrunken for now, though he quickly flashed it in the direction of the third one in a rain coat present at the arena's edge.

"Send out your Pokémon."

"Gardevoir, I choose you!"

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Name: Cara Sinclair

Age: 23

Region: Kanto/Prudan

Trainer Class:Ace

Style: Pressure/Counterpressure

Odds: 16-1

Notes: Flying through the Gym challenge in two months after a previous League, Sinclair is hungry for a victory after ending on the podium two times in a row in Prudan. She specialises in finding the right moment to strike back and then take over the fight. If left unchecked, she can quickly run away with a battle, but her Pokémon have been observed to have slight weaknesses to speedster-style opponents. Still, the quality and breadth of her team make her someone you can never count out until it is over.

Pokémon to watch: jolteon, weezing, honchkrow

From: Pokébet's profile of Cara Sinclair, retrieved prior to the start of the Silver Conference.


Author's Note: Or, that one chapter with all the Destiny Bonds. Bit of a tit-for-tat there, with karma coming back to bite Max in the rear end after all. Don't celebrate too soon, people: it isn't over until the portulent madame sings.

Also, yes, weezing can have ridiculous movesets. It's not quite rhydon-uses-Surf levels, but it's close.

-Edit- No update last weekend of March. Real life getting in the way.