I released Hilda from her Ball and she materialized in a flash of red, snarling, her claws bared… but she did not throttle Shane, even though he was mere inches away. Hilda would never get violent unless I gave the order. However, no matter how warped his morality may have been, I wasn't sure if that was an order I was comfortable giving.
She looked at me expectantly… but I just barely shook my head, and the Ursaring blew out an unhappy sigh.
"She's well-behaved," said Shane, eyeing my Ursaring.
"Yeah, well, you should thank your lucky stars that her head is cooler than mine." I raised my voice, half out of anger and half to speak over the din of the construction equipment.
"If it were up to me, then you would be a chew toy by now," I said.
"What do you mean by 'if' it were up to you?" said Shane.
"Your cousin," I said. And then, "Chase." Louder the second time. "I'm going to leave it up to him."
"Chase. He's a good kid," said Shane.
"Yeah, he is, dammit."
I'm not sure what it was, but something in Shane's tone filled me with rage. I thought of Chase reduced to quivering rage by his cousin's disappearance, and of how he had broken down into tears in my arms in Driftveil City. And my carefree young protégé had been so stoic when he learned that Shane's disappearance was intentional all along...
My brother had been taken from me, and I had been powerless to do anything about it, and now ten years later I still had no idea of his whereabouts. And Shane was not only unrepentant of his mistreatment of those thousands of starter Pokémon under the Lopunny Club, but utterly unconcerned about the boy who had idolized him?
"Anyway, at least let me show you what you came all this way for," said Shane.
I felt like telling him that he had no idea what I had come for… but I allowed him to lead me around yet another canvas drop, while Hilda stalked behind me.
We were in the very center of that damned forest clearing now; a few tents had been set up on the far side towards the trees, but the digging crew had taken an interest in this spot right there in front of us… and when I saw the scope of the work that Team Plasma had already done, my blood turned as icy as the ground at my feet.
The pit was thirty or forty feet in diameter; tough to tell with all the dirt piled around the edges, and the backhoes still working. But the depth is what alarmed me the most – were I to jump in, the walls would have extended well over my head. How deep had the Chasm been the first time I had been here?
"Shane, wait," I said.
"What, getting cold feet?" said Shane.
"You have to tell your guys to stop digging," I said. I grabbed his shoulder and he shook me off, roughly.
Hilda growled and took a step forward.
"Don't touch me," said Shane.
"No! Shane, listen. This isn't going to end like you think it is." I grabbed at him again and he shoved me, roughly… I don't think he was trying to hurt me though. He couldn't get free, so he smirked instead of struggling any harder.
"I knew it. You can't comprehend greatness. You can't even recognize it when you see it."
"Shut up," I said. "I'm not interested in your philosophy."
I let him go and I backed away. Maybe I should have tried to put him in a chokehold and let Hilda subdue him… but that would have left me very vulnerable, and I wasn't sure I could outmuscle the greasy man. So I backed off, and Hilda stepped in front of me, and Shane's hand went to the Poké Ball on his belt. He knew what was coming.
"This is your last warning," I said. "Tell your men to stop digging, and put your hands up."
"No, I don't think I will," said Shane.
Fine. I nodded to Hilda, and she growled; it was a low, rumbling sound that all but disappeared under the diesel chorus, but still thrummed in my eardrums and the soles of my feet. I spread my feet and threw out a hand and pointed at Shane. With that gesture, my judgment was passed. The power of the whole Pokémon League flowed through me and out my finger and into Shane's core like a spear… regardless of whether or not he felt it as physically as I did.
"Shane Cambria! You've confessed to crimes against Unova, and against all Pokémon! In the name of the Pokémon League, I command you to surrender now and submit to the Elite Four for their judgment!"
Shane's only answer was another sneer and a flick of is wrist, and in a flash of red light his Ninetales emerged from its Ball and sat down obediently.
I thought about sending out Grit, and trying to overwhelm my foe street-style… but, no, I was a Gym Leader. If I was backing my threats with the gravitas of the Pokémon League, then I'd play by their rules… at least until Shane inevitably broke them.
"Pain in my ass," I muttered. "Leader Krista Strauss, now commencing forceful intervention!"
Hilda bellowedat my proclamation and charged head-first at the Alolan Ninetales… and I raised my voice to yell over her roar:
"I hope you choke on it, you bastard!"
The ensuing battle could only be described as thunderous… or, perhaps vicious. I had always been wary of that Ninetales; the Fox Pokémon, and especially it's Alolan variant, was not a pocket monster that you saw every day. I may have mentioned that some indigenous Alolans worshipped Ninetales as gods… and in my experience, they probably weren't far off. I had heard legends of Ninetales living for centuries, if not millennia, and they were as smart as they were deadly.
Shane's Ninetales ducked under Hilda's first Fire Punch, and I suddenly became aware of hail falling from the sky.
Part of the problem of Ninetales being such an exceptional Pokémon, of course, was its choice of trainer. I obviously did not think highly of Shane Cambria… so what did that terrifying Ice-type see in him that I had missed?
Hilda launched a wicked uppercut at her foe, but the Fox Pokémon easily danced backwards, out of Hilda's reach. Hilda, in turn, was sent ducking for cover when the Ninetales flash-froze a dozen ice crystals in her fur and sent them flying at the Ursaring, razor-sharp and lightning-fast.
I shoved my hands in my pockets as Hilda scrambled back to her feet, largely unharmed. Sure, my Ursaring could shake off attacks like that all day. But I couldn't. If Shane had wanted, I would have been toast right there and then.
Dammit… what the hell had I been thinking, betting my safety on a fair fight?
I watched the struggle unfold in front of me, my feet rooted in place. My instincts screamed at me to turn and find cover, but I didn't. If Shane got the impression that I was trying to flee, he could flick his wrist and end me in an instant.
As for the fight itself, I was less concerned. The Ninetales, mighty as it may have been, hadn't yet shown flashes of anything that could actually lay Hilda low… not while she was at full strength, at least.
Suddenly, the space around Hilda seemed to bend in a peculiar fashion, and the Ursaring grunted as she was assaulted by a peculiar psychic force… but the Ninetales needed to take an instant to channel that Extrasensory attack, and Hilda capitalized. Shrugging off the blow she leaped forward, and I nodded in satisfaction as she struck the Ninetales with a bone-shattering kick.
And yet, even as his Pokémon landed hard on the ground, Shane looked unperturbed.
"What are you trying to accomplish?" he said.
"I told you, I need you to stop those excavators. I'll have Hilda crush every single one of you, if I need to." I scowled.
"I'm sure you will, and I'm sure she could," said Shane, shrugging. "I guess I just don't see the point."
I started to speak again, but Shane cut me off.
"You're afraid of the power under there, aren't you?" he said.
I glanced back over at the battle in progress; Hilda looked as if she was about to get her claws on the Ninetales once again, but she was repulsed by a laser-accurate Ice Beam. For a second, she looked unsteady, but she got her feet back under her just in time to duck below the Ninetales's next beam attack.
"Yes, I am," I said.
"I don't think that's all though," said Shane. "You're afraid of greatness… conceptually."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I said, but Shane only shook his head smugly.
I looked over my shoulder; a crowd was forming now. Five or six or seven Plasma grunts had crept up behind me while I was wrapped up in the battle. They stood idly by, watching intently… not obviously menacing, but they all wore Poké Balls attached to their clothes.
"Let me ask you, Krista. Why do you fight?" said Shane.
I started to speak, but I was interrupted by a bellow from Hilda as she landed another strong strike on the Ninetales.
"You're not the first person to ask me that," I said, carefully.
"I'm sure I'm not, because it's so obvious," said Shane. "You're just fighting for the status quo. You're fighting for your right to stagnate comfortably and rot away."
I got a sour taste in my mouth, so I spit on the ground.
"Shut up, sleazebag. You don't know me." I pulled my second Poké Ball off of my belt and released Grit behind me.
"Watch my back, would you?" I said to him, and the Desert Croc grunted. "And the rest of you goons standing back there had better not try anything funny!"
"Wow, an Ursaring and a Krokorok. Some Gym Leader you are. Kudos, Krista." Shane grinned, and I gritted my teeth.
He was trying to get a rise out of me, but I couldn't let him.
"I mean it though, I can't let you stop us now," he said, suddenly growing serious. "I'm sorry to break the rules of fair play…"
I squinted at another flash of red, and I swallowed as a slender, humanoid Pokémon materialized out of Shane's second Poké Ball…
"Gardevoir, sorry to ask this of you. Will you look out for me?" said Shane.
And, to my amazement, the Gardevoir put a hand on Shane's shoulder and fixed its eyes on me. Grit snapped his jaws shut behind me… but the Gardevoir didn't attack. It didn't even move into help the Ninetales, even though the Fox Pokémon appeared to be losing steam in the face of Hilda's assault. Relentless as a slasher movie villain.
First a Metagross, then a Ninetales, and now a Gardevoir? Those were three very powerful Pokémon, regardless of who was training them. And given the fact that they all seemed to truly trust their trainer… what the hell had I walked into? Just who was this greasy-looking man?
"Krista, I need you to understand… I've just been trying to be polite," said Shane. "You're a better trainer than I am. I'll give you that, without a single reservation. But I truly can't allow you to stop me here. And so, if you won't call back your Pokémon…"
Shane stopped talking, and he looked at me expectantly. In response, I raised one specific finger on one hand.
"Fine. Then I won't enjoy this, but I also won't feel bad about it."
And as soon as he spoke, I heard the sound of Poké Balls opening behind me. Grit snuffled in alarm, and I turned to see a dozen Pokémon standing at the ready among the assembled Team Plasma grunts. Watchogs, Swoobats, a Toxicroak, a Heatmor, a Herdier. Shoot, where had Mitzi gone?
Grit took a step forward, stoically placing himself in between me and the hostile horde. Hilda glared back at Shane and his Gardevoir for as long as she dared to take her eyes off of the Ninetales that just would not quit…
And I put on my goggles and put my hand on the Poké Ball in which my brother's Honedge slumbered. I took it off of my belt as the entire enemy force charged at Grit all at once…
And then the hideous and unmistakable cry of a Steelix cut through the noise, and everything stopped, save for the drone of the construction machinery. Team Plasma's ferocious Pokémon stopped what they were doing and tried to locate the source of the screech, and Hilda and the Ninetales paused their struggle, each panting for breath.
And Chase Cambria spoke:
"Alright, that's more than enough of that."