By the time Seulgi's last class let out that afternoon it seemed like the entire school knew about the upcoming battle between her and Jennie. Moonbyul and Namjoon had even used their dorm captain privileges to secure one of the school's battlefields for the occasion, and as she walked out of the art building she saw a stream of students making their way down to the arena. As a group of them passed her she heard them chattering with each other about who would come out on top.

"I've got my money on Jennie," one of the girls said confidently. "She's in one of my strategy classes and some of the stuff she comes up with is seriously impressive."

One of the other girls shook her head, "Nah, there's no way she'll beat Seulgi. You all saw her battle with Wendy."

"Gotta say I'm with Yuna on this one Chaeryeong," their friend added, tilting his head as he considered their opinions. "Seulgi's not one to be taken lightly."

Seulgi brushed by them carrying her art portfolio, a slight smile on her face. She had to admit it felt nice to have people being on her side. Gathering her thoughts, she walked across campus to the arenas, going over her strategies one more time for posterity. She was nervous, her stomach doing flip-flops in her belly as the arenas got closer and closer. Was this what Irene felt like before a big match?

Speaking of the Kalos Champion, she hoped Irene would be there to watch the battle. Seulgi didn't know where exactly their relationship was leading but she couldn't deny that every time she looked at her roommate her heart thumped with excitement. She knew Joohyun was the one of them with actual Champion credits but it would be nice to have her see Seulgi win. Oh Arceus, she hoped she won.

The stands circling the battlefield were already packed full of curious students. There was a clear divide among them as well. A good half of them were cheering for Seulgi, with Wendy, Joy and Yeri leading the pack. Irene sat next to them, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Even Moonbyul and her girlfriend had shown up, and as Seulgi gave them an awkward wave Moonbyul gave her a spirited thumbs-up in return.

The remaining students were cheering for Jennie, but none of them appeared to have any animosity towards Seulgi. Everyone just wanted to see a good Pokémon battle. Their referee for this match was none other than Jihyo, who promised to be fair with her judgements. The dorm captain took her place in the center of the arena and waited for the flood of gathered students to die down before putting on a microphone and addressing the crowd.

"How's everyone doing this fine Monday afternoon?"

The answering cheers were deafening.

Jihyo smiled, "I'm surprised we have such a big turnout for this match, most if not all of you know why this battle is taking place but I'm just going to take a second and reiterate. Our final dorm competition of the year is on Friday and final team compositions are due in only a few days. A challenge has been called for the right to poach a teammate from an opposing team. The winner of this battle will add said teammate to their roster."

"What am I, a piece of meat?" Irene grumbled in her seat, glowering petulantly at Jihyo. She knew there was no avoiding this match, but that didn't mean she liked having her autonomy being taken away. Damn fine print.

"You're a Champion piece of meat," Wendy supplied, not being helpful in the least. She really hoped Seulgi would be able to pull off a win, if Irene did get poached by Jennie and her friends it would make the competition that much more difficult.

"Thanks for that, Wendy," Irene said sarcastically. She began bouncing her left leg up and down, a sign that she was really nervous about the upcoming fight.

"Are both challengers ready?" Jihyo called out. Seulgi and Jennie both nodded their heads. "Very well. This battle will be a traditional 3v3 match. First Trainer to knock out all three of her opponent's Pokémon will be declared the winner."

"May the best Trainer win," Jennie said to Seulgi. She was pleasantly surprised to see that the other girl had accepted her challenge. The fact that Seulgi came through with her declaration to see Jennie on the battlefield earned her a lot of respect in the other girl's eyes.

"And no hard feelings regardless of outcome," Seulgi replied, a fire starting to build in her gaze. She'd win this for Irene. But more importantly, she'd win to prove to everyone how dedicated she was to her Pokémon.

The two met in the middle of the battlefield and shook hands. Jihyo tossed a coin to determine who would make the first move and Jennie called it correctly. While the first move in a battle was important, Seulgi knew she couldn't let it decide the outcome.

"Alright ladies, let's have a nice clean battle." Jihyo waited for both of them to return to their respective sides, whistle in her hand.

Seulgi went over her strategy in her head. Whoever Jennie sent out first would determine how she should respond. Remember what Irene taught you. Stay calm, stay focused and most importantly, understand the flow of the battle and adapt as it changes. No battle is over until the last Pokémon is down.

"Let's go, Milotic!"

XXX

Jennie's first Pokémon was a Milotic. Fitting, Seulgi thought as the Water-Type appeared on the battlefield, waving its beautifully scaled tail. Milotic were known to be powerful special attackers, and they could also learn multiple self-healing moves, which could spell trouble for Seulgi and her more offensively minded team.

The stadium was silent as all the spectators waited for Seulgi's response. Several of her Pokémon were weak to water and ice-type moves, so she really only had one clear option for this fight.

"Come on Bewear!"

Her trusty partner Pokémon popped out of his Pokéball and faced down his opponent, barrel chest rumbling as he growled at Milotic. Jennie looked unbothered by the aggressive display and smiled. "We'll start things off. Aqua Ring!"

The entirety of Milotic's serpentine body glowed with blue light as a ring of water ran over its scales, forming a thin protective layer. Seulgi took note; every turn Jennie's Pokémon would be able to heal a bit of damage. The obvious answer was to deal enough damage in a small window of time to negate it. But there was something about Milotic that made her hesitate.

"Bewear, Brick Break!" Her Bewear charged forward and leaped for the Milotic, crashing down on it with a heavy thump, stirring up the arena's dirt floor and sending clouds of dust billowing up into the air. As the dust cleared however Milotic looked none worse for wear.

Damn it, her Milotic must be trained in defense, Seulgi swore. Worse, what little damage she had been able to do to it was quickly washed away by Aqua Ring. Things were not starting out so well.

Jennie's strategy seemed to hinge on her taking advantage of Milotic's defenses. The next few turns saw her using Safeguard, Coil and Recover to further bolster her already impressive defenses. Now not only was her Milotic immune from any status conditions it was also getting even stronger. If Seulgi didn't stop her now, Milotic would sweep her entire team.

"I saw your battle at the last competition," Jennies said as her Milotic managed to pull off another Coil. "Your strategy to stack Bulk Up on Bewear was impressive. I wonder how you'll deal with it being turned against you?"

By now Seulgi was running out of ideas. They'd exchanged several blows already and Bewear was slowly starting to look worn. Milotic though looked as hale and healthy as ever. Her Bewear was strong but every time his attacks connected they did less and less damage. She'd have to…no, that was an unthinkable idea.

Bewear seemed to notice her thinking though and he slid back to her side, head tilted questioningly. I really don't want to have to do this buddy, but that Milotic is getting way too strong for my liking. Are you willing…?

And though Seulgi wasn't physically talking with her partner everyone could see that they were sharing some sort of conversation with each other. Her Bewear warbled once and nodded his great head. He knew what he had to do.

"Bewear, use Giga Impact!" There was a noticeable ripple throughout the crowd as Seulgi called out her order. Giga Impact was an incredibly powerful move but it came at a heavy price. Should the attack connect, the recoil damage would also hurt the user. And with the hits her partner had already taken he would definitely get knocked out from the recoil.

"What's she doing?" Wendy said, her eyes wide as Bewear began glowing the same brilliant white he did at the last dorm competition. "Bewear is just going to knock himself out!"

"Believe in her, Wendy," Irene replied, watching the battle with an eagle-eyed expression. Seulgi was by no means an amateur battler. "She knows what she's doing."

"I sure hope so," was the response.

There was a deafening boom as Bewear connected solidly with Milotic and the serpentine Pokémon was blown back a dozen feet. It wobbled uncertainly in the air, still able to use its power to hover several inches above the battlefield. It looked much worse for wear though as even its high defenses couldn't protect it from Bewear's sheer strength.

Seulgi's partner had done his job, but as everyone expected the attack was just too much for it to bear and it slumped on the ground, knocked out of the battle.

Jihyo waited several seconds to see if Bewear could get back up and called it once it became very clear that he was out. "Bewear is unable to battle. Milotic wins."

Jennie grinned. Sure, her Milotic had taken more damage than she would have liked but she could heal next turn and get rid of all the damage her Pokémon had taken. What was Seulgi thinking, sacrificing her partner like that.

Seulgi didn't look too broken up over her loss though. As a matter of fact she gave Jennie a wry smile. Seulgi tossed another Pokéball into the air. "Finish this, Garchomp."

Her second Pokémon appeared and the crowd went wild. Garchomp was a popular Pokémon to have on one's team, its high speed and attack meant opponents had to be very careful about how they handled it.

"Good girl," Irene praised from the sidelines, seeing Seulgi's strategy.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!" Before Jennie could even react Seulgi's Garchomp dashed forward in a blaze of speed and rammed its head into Milotic, sending the Pokémon flying backwards once again. Only this time it didn't get up.

Jennie's jaw dropped. Exactly how fast was Seulgi's Garchomp? It had moved before Jennie even had time to blink. She was going to heal this turn but Garchomp had completely ruined her plans.

The audience seemed to share Jennie's thoughts because once again the stadium was eerily silent.

Jihyo's voice broke the silence. "Milotic is unable to battle. Garchomp wins."

As if that sentence was a catalyst, the arena once again broke out into wild cheers. Seulgi had pulled off a wonderful counter.

"You planned on sacrificing Bewear to inflict enough damage and then trusted that Garchomp would be fast enough to finish off Milotic before I got a heal off?" Jennie was impressed. Maybe she shouldn't have challenged Seulgi…

"While Bewear and Milotic were battling I took a look at how your Pokémon reacted to attacks. I figured if it was so defensively trained it wouldn't have been fast." Jennie nodded, acknowledging the fact that Seulgi one-upped her.

"You won't be laughing for long though Seulgi. Delphox, make that Garchomp regret knocking out your teammate!"

Jennie's second Pokémon was a Delphox. The Fox Pokémon twitched its large ears back and forth as it analyzed the Garchomp before it. Seulgi had a type advantage since Delphox was weak to ground moves but she knew it would be stupid to rely on a type-matchup. She couldn't underestimate the Delphox.

A statement that turned out to be true when Jennie called, "Delphox, use Will-O-Wisp!"

Garchomp roared in pain as the attack hit. Seulgi swore. Will-O-Wisp wasn't a damage move but it would inflict Garchomp with a burn that would whittle down some of its health every turn. And not only that, but a burned Pokémon would deal half damage with physical attacks. Which Garchomp relies on, Seulgi thought.

Seulgi found herself becoming nervous. For every blow she dealt to Jennie, the other girl swung right back with smart plays. If Garchomp was fast and strong, cripple it by taking away the strong.

Both Pokémon swung at each other for several minutes, trading blows and weakening each other. Delphox's high special attack stats made it a dangerous combatant at long range, and Seulgi tried to compensate by going in for close range attacks. Garchomp's burn made attacking difficult though.

The two Trainers stared at each other, both trying to predict the other's next move. Seulgi shook her head. Now wasn't the time to get sucked into the battle. Irene's voice rang in her head. Stay focused.

"Delphox, you've played with your prey enough," Jennie called, eyes glinting. "End this. Dazzling Gleam."

Seulgi's eyes widened and she tried to call Garchomp back out of range. How could she forget that Delphox was able to learn a Fairy-type move? Dragon-type Pokémon like her Garchomp were extremely vulnerable to Fairy-type attacks.

Garchomp tried to backpedal out of range of the attack but Delphox was prepared and had the shark Pokémon firmly in its sights. Seulgi swore again, realizing that no matter what she did Garchomp would have to take the attack.

"Garchomp this is your last chance buddy." Her Pokémon turned back to look at her. "Use Earthquake."

Garchomp nodded and the ground underneath everyone's feet began to rumble, setting Delphox off-balance. Seulgi could only hope that her attack connected.

Meanwhile Jennie's Delphox had raised the stick it carried around with it and with a flash of dazzling light Garchomp was brutally taken out of the fight. But as everyone's vision slowly returned after the attack they noticed that Delphox too had fallen to the super-effective Earthquake.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle," Jihyo declared.

Seulgi recalled her Garchomp, whispering an apology to her friend as she did so.

"And so it comes down to this," Jennie called, tossing her third Pokéball from hand to hand. They'd been on equal ground this whole match, giving as good as they had gotten. But Jennie had a secret weapon. She knew that Seulgi's remaining Pokémon were all weak to Ice-type attacks. And her final Pokémon would bring her the victory. "It's been nice battling you, but I think it's time for you to give up now."

She threw her Pokéball and out popped a very angry looking Weavile.

"Have fun trying to get past an Ice-type when all your Pokémon are weak to it," Jennie couldn't help but taunt Seulgi a little bit. She was confident she'd won at this point.

"It's not over until the last Pokémon is out," Seulgi replied. She held her third Pokéball almost reverently in her hands. Her final Pokémon had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. "Someone very important to me taught me that." Seulgi cocked her head at Jennie. "And who said all my Pokémon are weak to Ice-types?"

Seulgi called out her last Pokémon. Her secret weapon. "Let's go, Alanis!"

XXX

Irene couldn't believe what she was seeing. Hadn't it only been a few days ago that the two of them were on a date and she commented on how cute Seulgi's Vulpix was?

Because standing on the battlefield wasn't the cute little fox Pokémon she'd been snuggling. No, standing proud and waving all nine tails menacingly at Weavile was the most beautiful Ninetales she'd ever seen.

When had Seulgi evolved him?

Irene looked at the expression on Jennie's face and had to stifle the snort that threatened to come out. Just a second ago Jennie looked confident that she had won the battle and now? Now Jennie looked like she was about to be sick.

Never underestimate Kang Seulgi, the Kalos Champion grinned.

Wendy, Joy and Yeri too looked completely awestruck by the majestic Fire-type Pokémon on the field. "There's no way we're losing now," Yeri bounced up and down in her seat excitedly.

Back on the battlefield, Alanis growled at Weavile, who at least had the decency to look a little afraid.

"But your—and wasn't he just a Vulpix a couple of days ago?" Jennie was at a loss for words.

"We've been training for years now," Seulgi said, looking at her Ninetales proudly. "He only recently let me know he was ready to evolve."

Jennie gulped. She was counting on Seulgi to send out her Togekiss or Tyranitar, not a Ninetales. Speaking of Ninetales, was it just her or was it getting hotter and hotter by the second?

"Ninetales has the Drought ability," Joy breathed. "That's quite rare, Ninetales usually carries the Flash Fire ability."

The sun above everyone's heads seemed to intensify, sending rays of sunshine cascading onto the battlefield. Ninetales seemed to relish in the wave of heat, contrary to Weavile who paced back and forth uncomfortably with the abrupt change in weather.

"It's been nice battling you," Seulgi smiled, unable to resist throwing Jennie's words back in her face. "But I think it's time for you to give up now."

Jennie huffed, nodding at Seulgi. She knew when she was outplayed. And damn, maybe she should have thought about poaching Seulgi away from Wendy instead of Irene.

"Alanis, let's show everyone just how strong you've gotten. Fire Blast!"

Powered up even further by the sun, Seulgi's Ninetales began charging his attack. His eyes began to glow orange and the tips of each of his nine tales began to smoke with energy. All Weavile could do was stand there, utterly terrified.

"Weavile is unable to battle," came Jihyo's call a moment later as she knelt down to examine the black scorch mark on the battlefield, a blackened and burnt Weavile at the center. "Seulgi wins."

The stands erupted into cheers as Seulgi was declared the winner.

Wendy, Joy and Yeri all hugged each other, cheering for her wildly.

A rush of fierce pride burned its way down Seulgi's body as she looked for Irene in the stands. She'd defeated Jennie and managed to keep Irene on their team for the competition. What could be better?

Irene looked up at her with the widest smile on her face before standing up and marching over to Seulgi. Any words of greeting that Seulgi was about to say were completely smothered when the Kalos Champion wrapped her arms around Seulgi's waist and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

The gathered students all began to whistle appreciatively at the scene.

When Irene pulled back Seulgi was left almost completely breathless, her heart still hammering in her chest from the victory she'd pulled off. "Whoa."

Irene tilted her head mischievously, "It's probably a little cheesy of me to say this but damn Seulgi. Look at you being my Champion for a change."

The blush that spread across Seulgi's cheeks could be seen from a mile away.