An old sofa squeaked softly and repeatedly within a white condominium living room as an energetic young girl - no older than nine - bounced excitedly in her seat as the match began to unfold on the TV in front of her. "C'mon, big bro!" she called out over her shoulder, "the match is getting ready to start!"

A lean young man of about sixteen years entered the room, holding a glass of lemonade in either hand. "Iggy, what did Gran say about unnecessary exertion of energy?" he scolded softly. "You need to think about your condition, remember; you wouldn't want to fatigue before the battle even starts." He placed the glasses down on a wooden low table in front of the sofa and used one of his now-free hands to move some stray locks of his platinum-blonde hair out of his face . "Otherwise, you could pass out and miss all of it!"

"Sorry Weston…" Iggy sighed, looking down with a hint of guilt. In an instant, however, her exuberance returned to her; she just couldn't seem to control herself. "I'm just so excited!" she exclaimed as she tried to quell herself from bouncing in her seat again. "Bede and Klara are two of my favorite trainers ever, and they're battling the champion together!"

Weston smiled. "I see… so, you're wagering towards Team Monkshood's victory, then?"

"Yuh-huh!" she replied without hesitation. "Bede's Pokemon are all fairy-types, which means that they'll have type-advantage over Marnie's dark-type Pokemon. You said so yourself, big bro - that sort of thing is just a no-brainer, right?"

Weston smirked. "You've become quite astute in your studies of Pokemon, haven't you, Iggy?"

Iggy beamed brightly. "Yeah! I've memorized all the combinations of type-advantages and disadvantages!" she explained proudly. "I know I've gotta study really hard if I wanna fulfill my dream of becoming a Pokemon trainer that's as good as you are, Weston!"

The young man smiled warmly, radiating with pride. "You're certainly well on your way." He gave her a playful smirk. "Although, I'm going to have to spoil this moment for you; there is no possible way, in my professional opinion, that Team Punkblade will lose this match."

"Pffft, come on, bro, it's no fun thinking that nobody stands a chance because they're going against the champion," Iggy groaned. "I mean, Champion Marcus is really good, and he's really smart and stuff, but even he's not unbeatable, right?"

Weston nodded in agreement. "Right you are. Champion Marcus is wise and cunning, and his Pokemon are positively incredible in how well they've been raised and trained. Yet even despite his mountain of accomplishments, being undefeated is no longer one he can cling to." He smirked. "But what if I told you that he's not the unforeseen variable in this duo?"

"What?" Iggy scratched her chin as she tried to wrap her mind around her brother's words. "You mean Marnie, then?" She asked. "You really think she's gonna be able to overcome her Pokemon's disadvantage against Bede's team?"

Weston smirked, his face slightly twisted as if a bittersweet taste lingered on his tongue as he watched Marnie through the television screen. "In my time away from home, perhaps the most important lesson that I learned about battling is that type-advantages make up only eighty percent of a battle, on average."

"Well, yeah," Iggy agreed. "And eighty percent is a lot."

"This is true," Weston chuckled. "But as high of a value as eighty percent is, it's still not a guarantee for success by itself."

Iggy scratched her head. "I don't get it…"

"You see, young Iggy," Weston explained as he looked upon his sister, "that remaining twenty percent can prove absolutely crucial. Some of the best trainers in the world are able to use that meager percentage to develop unique and cunning strategies that completely overwhelm trainers who rely on that eighty-percent. To the most elite trainers in the league, type-disadvantage is nothing." He redirected his eyes to the TV. "And of all the trainers I've ever battled, none have ever demonstrated an understanding of that fact with such clarity as her."

"Whoa…" Iggy looked with wide-eyed admiration towards Marnie as she appeared on screen. "Hey, Weston, she's the one you battled in Wyndon after you came back from your journey, right?"

Weston nodded with a sigh. "She's also the only Galarian trainer I've ever had the displeasure of losing to," he recalled begrudgingly. "Despite every type-advantage my Pokemon held over hers, despite how pre-calculated my strategies were to counter hers, even despite the fact that she wasn't even allowed to Dynamax in our battle… I lost outright."

"Oh, wow…" Iggy was utterly bewildered. "She must be really good if she managed to beat you, big bro."

Weston managed an almost lighthearted smirk as he clung to his quintessentially cocky demeanor. "Well, in my defense, she did manage a few lucky shots…" He digressed with a sigh and a conceding smile. "But I can certainly speak from experience of Marnie's unpredictability. And if Team Monkshood didn't come into today's match already afraid of her, then they didn't come prepared."

Iggy looked at Weston with a raised brow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Why don't we cease with the chatter," Weston chuckled softly as he raised both glasses of lemonade from the table, handing one to Iggy, "so you can see for yourself."

Iggy's eyes lit up behind her thick round-lensed glasses and her wayward light-blonde bangs. "Yeah, okay!" she exclaimed, "I can toast to that!"

With a mutual titter, the two siblings clinked their glasses together before taking small sips from their lemonade; a sweet taste to enjoy over a fierce battle that would no doubt be one worth savoring.

. . .

Bede's red-striped aqua-colored Great Ball and Klara's crimson Pokeball flew forward from their hands, giving forth bright white lights in which their first two Pokemon took form. It seemed as if the rumors had been true - the two gym leaders were indeed utilizing the strengths of new Pokemon for this tournament.

Before Bede stood Alolan Ninetales, her head poised high and proud as she allowed her pale-white tails to flow gracefully in the afternoon wind. Meanwhile, standing next to Ninetales in stark juxtaposition to her dignified and beautiful posture was Galarian Slowking, who stood slightly hunched over with both hands clasped together behind his back and a disquieting smile on his face, as if he was in the middle of plotting something sinister.

"Well, would you look at that!" the commentator cheered. "What a diverse combo coming out of Team Monkshood for the first round! Bede's first Pokemon is the elegant Alolan Ninetales, and Klara's first Pokemon is the frightening Galarian Slowking! How will Team Punkblade respond?"

Marcus and Marnie turned to one another and smirked with one final nod of affirmation before lunging forward and planting a foot in the grass in front of them. In perfect synchronicity, Marcus hurled his jet-black and canary-yellow-striped Ultra Ball forward as Marnie let loose her glimmering jade-green Dusk Ball.

"Scizor, showtime!"

"Bisharp, let's go!"

With a unison flash of ivory and ebony, Scizor and Bisharp emerged before Marcus and Marnie, respectively. Scizor clasped her metallic claws together and scraped them against one another, sharpening their edges as she stared fiercely into the eyes of her opponents. Meanwhile, Bisharp stood beside her with equal ferocity as he brandished the blades on his forearms towards Team Monkshood, ready for battle.

"Whoa! Team Punkblade comes right out of the gate with yet even more surprises for our spectating eyes!" the commentator announced with excitement over an equally boisterous audience. "Both Marcus and Marnie have also taken to putting new Pokemon on display for this tournament, with Marcus' first Pokemon being Scizor, and Marnie's first Pokemon being Bisharp!"

"Bisharp's looking good, Marn!" Marcus praised with a grin to his partner. "By the way, you never told me how you ended up meeting him."

Marnie smirked. "Piers caught him as a Pawniard n' gave him to me to train," she answered before following up with a sigh as she shied her face away from the light to hide a growing blush. "Said that e'ery princess needs a good knight to fight for 'em…"

Marcus beamed, his eyes nearly sparkling. "That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard."

"I will punch you," Marnie threatened in jest.

"Attempting to play towards type-advantage right off the bat, I see," Bede pondered as he placed his chin within the crux of his right thumb and index finger. "However, it won't be enough to see you to victory today. Ninetales!" he called forth. "Let's start by showing everyone the vast reach of your elegance!"

Ninetales cocked her head to the side with a sassy smile and extended her tails behind herself in a fan pattern. With this simple motion, a chill quickly pervaded across the air of the stadium. Slowly but surely, small dense chunks of ice began to drop from the sky.

"What's this!?" the commentator shouted. "Folks, I know that autumn is upon us, but the local meteorologists didn't say anything about snow or hail today!"

"Snow Warning…" Marcus recognized this as Ninetales' special ability immediately. "I think I know what Bede's game is for this round."

Marnie nodded in agreement, having an inkling that she understood as well - it was a strategy Marcus himself used against her in battles with his own Alolan Ninetales. "That's gonna be trouble if we don't nip it in the bud, n' fast."

"Yeah," Marcus concurred. "Scizor can handle Ninetales if you and Bisharp can deal with Slowking."

Marnie smirked. "Consider it done. Bisharp, use Throat Chop on Slowking!"

Bisharp didn't hesitate for a second before charging forth with both arms extended behind his back as he swiftly closed the gap between himself and Slowking.

"Wow, he's fast, too," Marcus remarked. "Well, we'll go in swinging, too. Scizor, use Bullet Punch on Ninetales!"

With a heavy slam of her metal claws in anticipation, Scizor began flapping her wings at such a rapid speed that they became hardly visible to the naked eye. She slid her right foot back behind herself on the ground and pressed hard against the earth, pushing herself forward and into the air and propelling herself towards Ninetales at breakneck-speed.

"Now there's something you don't see every day, folks!" the commentator noted aloud. "Two steel-types with that kind of speed certainly means trouble for Team Monkshood!"

"Here they come…" Bede said to Klara under his breath. "Try not to botch our plan, would you?"

Klara nodded with a confident smirk. "As if I'd come this far just to fail now!"

With his left hand, Bede adjusted his unusually coiffed platinum-blonde hair out of his eyes. "See that you don't," he replied with a grin. "Ninetales, counter with Confuse Ray!"

An underhanded smirk crossed Ninetales' lips as she stabilized her footing in preparation for the oncoming confrontation with Scizor. An aura of rainbow energy began to emanate from her person, glowing like radiant spheres drawn from a kaleidoscope. Folding her tails forward, she directed that light into a ray that struck Scizor in the face with swift and effortless precision.

Scizor was caught completely blindsided by Ninetales' counter and collapsed to the ground from the air mid-dash, her iron-solid exoskeleton grinding against the soil and causing all of her forward momentum to come to a standstill. Scizor quickly sat upright and rubbed her eyes to try and relieve herself of her daze. Upon opening them once more, however, she became completely overwhelmed by the setting around her; the massive arena, the unfamiliar Pokemon before her, the thousands of roaring voices from the audience that seemed to thunder around her like a raging tempest. Her pupils narrowed as panic began to set in - it was as if she had no idea where she was or what was happening.

"And Scizor's attack is completely halted by Ninetales' Confuse Ray!" the commentator narrated. "Scizor seems to be caught in a daze, and is not looking too good right now!"

"Scizor!" Marcus called out.

"Now it's our turn", Klara giggled. "Slowking! Use Protect!"

As Bisharp's Throat Chop fell upon Slowking with the momentum of a sword swing, the Hexpert Pokemon slowly unclasped his arms from behind his back and raised them forward in front of himself with palms extended. From his hands, a green-glowing translucent barrier appeared just as Bisharp's attack was about to land its mark, deflecting all of the attack's momentum backwards the instant it made contact. Bisharp staggered back, trying to maintain his footing in the soil as Slowking stared menacingly back at him.

"Whoa! Now Bisharp's attack has been cancelled out as well! Team Monkshood has completely shut out all of Team Punkblade's attempts at an early-game offensive!"

"Well now, time to put this hail to good use," Bede declared.

"Ugh, PLEASE," she whined with an eye-roll. "If you're gonna pelt us all with ice, at least make it worth our while!"

Bede smirked forward, paying hardly any mind to his partner's complaining. "Ninetales," he called forth with the snap of his finger, "use Aurora Veil!"

Once more, a multi-colored light began to beam off of Ninetales' body. Directing her tails towards the sky this time, she cast the luminescence into the air, creating an aurora that blanketed the air over the stadium whose rays cast themselves down upon Team Monkshood, radiant and elegant.

"Sheesh, with all the spectacle they're makin' out o' this so far, you'd think this was a contest battle or somethin'," Marnie snarked.

"Yeah, well don't be distracted by the light show," Marcus forewarned. "They just boosted their team's defenses big time."

"They're testin' my patience is what their doin'," Marnie growled in irritation as she continued to be buffeted by the hail. "It's high-time we got to steamrollin' 'em, yeah? Bisharp! Charge in n' use Iron Head on Slowking!"

Once more, Bisharp made a fierce dash forward, charging towards Slowking head-first with the axe-like protrusion on his skull extending outward like a glaive.

"That's right, Marnie," Klara whispered to herself with an unsettling grin. "Send your toy soldier straight into our trap… Slowking, use Trick Room!"

Slowking extended his arms to either side of himself and concentrated his psychic energy towards creating a perimeter. Suddenly, a transparent box that seemed to shimmer like glass appeared around the pitch, trapping the Pokemon inside.

Marnie's eyes widened. "Now what!?"

Bisharp's Iron Head was mere inches away from striking Slowking true before the Hexpert Pokemon suddenly vanished. Bisharp stumbled forward and narrowly managed to maintain his footing before turning around and looking for his opponent.

Slowking seemed to move instantaneously from one place to another, maintaining an effortless posture with both hands behind his back and a grizzly grin on his face as he disappeared and reappeared from one end of the field to the other like a phantom - it was as if he were teleporting. His ability to maneuver so quickly from one corner of the pitch to the other and then back again was so blindingly swift, it was almost dizzying to anyone trying to keep track of his movements. This included Bisharp, whose eyes continued to dart frantically across the stadium as he tried in vain to keep up with his adversary's newly-found speed.

"Wow! First Snow Warning, then Aurora Veil, and now Trick Room! Team Monkshood is sparing no expense in ensuring their absolute control over the battlefield!"

Marnie grimaced. "Great, now they're twistin' dimensions on us…"

"Tee-hee!" Klara laughed, "you've gotta admit; my darling Slowking is super special, huh, Bede?"

Bede sighed. "If I admit that your ability to follow directions and execute this plan is satisfactory, will you please stop fooling around?"

Klara's shoulders seem to sink slightly in disappointment. "You're so uptight, Bede… Fine, have it your way. Slowking, Blizzard!"

In one final flash, Slowking apperated before the wary Bisharp and extended his hands outward. Bisharp was too late to react, and could not counter nor avoid the oncoming attack; Slowking unleashed Blizzard upon the Sword Blade Pokemon and point-blank range and consumed him instantly in an opaque layer of thick white frost whose bone-chilling cold could be felt all across the stadium.

Marnie's eyes broadened with concern. "Bisharp, no!"

"Bisharp is swallowed by an impressive Blizzard from Slowking! And as the attack continues to spread across the pitch, it looks like Scizor could very well be next!"

"Scizor, you've gotta get out of there!" Marcus called out urgently.

Unfortunately, his cries fell on deaf ears, as Scizor was still lost amid a case of frantic confusion as a result of Ninetales' Confuse Ray. As she struggled to find her place in this overwhelming world she found herself surrounded by, a layer of ice began to creep across her metallic frame and encase her to the ground.

Marcus grit his teeth. "I've got to snap her out of that confusion… Scizor! Listen closely! Keep calm and use Swords Dance!"

Scizor froze in place amid her hapless struggle for the briefest of moments, as if something Marcus had said had managed to get through to her. While her eyes illustrated no evidence of this, as they were still narrowed with uncertainty, she slowly brought her metal claws together and slowly began grinding them against one another. The resulting sound was nothing short of dreadful; a cluster of dissonant metallic pitches that screamed even above the howling winds of the ongoing Blizzard around her.

Then something snapped in her.

Suddenly, Scizor began violently shaking her head from side to side, as if forcing herself to awaken from a dream. Her eyes which were once lost in deep confusion now seemed focused, sharpened, and hyper-aware of everything going on around her. She quickly grinded her claws against her body, cleaving the coat of ice that was encroaching across her person while simultaneously completing her Swords Dance. Having now broken free, she sprang into the sky and took flight, hovering above the icy barrage.

"I don't believe it! Scizor managed to snap out of her confusion and escape Slowking's Blizzard!"

Klara's face paled in disbelief. "But how!? I thought this plan was full-proof!" She turned to Bede in a huff. "Bede, you said that they'd never see this coming!"

Marcus grinned. "I condition all of my Pokemon to be able to snap themselves out of states of confusion when they're exposed to certain stimuli," he explained. "In Scizor's case, it's the sound of her claws grinding together that brings her back to reality."

"Ugh! Typical Marcus!", Klara whined. "You've just always gotta have a plan for everything, don't you!?"

"Focus, Klara," Bede ordered. "Not everything we do will go exactly how we imagined it, especially with those two as our opponents. Keep that in mind, and let's move on to the next step."

"Ugh, fine, whatever," Klara huffed with an eye-roll.

With this exchange, both gym leaders recalled their Pokemon with a dual flash of streaming light.

With Slowking's withdrawal from the field, the winds of the blizzard began to die away. Amid the aftermath, Bisharp stood, frozen in place and unable to move.

Marnie scowled at the scene, helpless to do anything to aid her petrified Pokemon as Team Monkshood cast forth their next two Pokemon. "Those two… what're they up to?"

Another Great Ball and Pokeball were thrown forward, and from the light they gave, Bede and Klara's next Pokemon were summoned to battle. Before the Ballonlea gym leader stood a Pokemon in stark juxtaposition to his usual party members; short, somewhat portly, and deep blue with rabbit-like ears. Meanwhile, in front of the poison-type gym leader, a large brown and purple serpentine figure hovered slightly above the ground, its many leaf-like appendages feathering through the cold air.

"After a sudden change in Pokemon from both members of Team Monkshood, Bede and Klara have chosen Azumarill and Dragalge as their next two Pokemon!"

"Azumarill, Belly Drum!" Bede commanded without missing a beat.

Azumarill gave a competitive grin before balling her hands into fists and striking them against her belly in a consistent rhythm; she was preparing for war.

Marcus caught on immediately. "Not good," he said to himself. "Scizor, use Bullet Punch on Azumarill!"

Scizor nodded and proceeded to wind an arm back in preparation for the attack.

"Dragalge, Focus Blast on Bisharp!" Klara called.

With the dimension-bending properties of Trick Room still in full effect, Dragalge zipped immediately over towards the incapacitated Bisharp and began charging a particularly volatile-looking Focus Blast.

Marnie watched on in horror, unable to do anything. "Bisharp, ya gotta get outta there right now!"

Marcus clenched his jaw. If I have Scizor go through with this attack, I might stave off whatever Bede has planned with Azumarill, but I'd be leaving Marnie's Bisharp completely undefended… He was running out of time - he had to make a final call.

"Scizor!" he yelled. "New plan; use Bullet Punch on Bisharp and get him out of there!"

The command shocked everyone who heard it. Even Marnie was dumbfounded, to say the least - who in their right mind would call an offensive maneuver on their own teammate? Nevertheless, Scizor was loyal to her trainer's every word, and swiftly propelled herself towards her comrade, completely bypassing the properties of the Trick Room that continued to persist around her. With a single mach-speed punch to the torso with expert precision, Scizor shattered the ice that encased Bisharp in place before grabbing hold of him and taking flight, allowing the two to just narrowly avoid Dragalge's Focus Blast at the last possible moment.

"Unbelievable! Thanks to the champion's quick-thinking, Scizor managed to help Bisharp escape a super-effective Focus Blast completely unscathed!"

Scizor placed Bisharp on the ground, where he collapsed to his knees immediately as his feet touched the earth, panting heavily as he tried to collect his barings after having been frozen solid. Scizor stood close to his side and helped him back up to his feet after he'd taken a moment to collect himself.

"That was a close call…" Marnie sighed. "Thanks for the help, Marcus."

Marcus smirked. "I know you'd've done the same for me." His expression quickly fell serious as his eyes stared out across the pitch. "But now we've got bigger problems…"

Azumarill struck her belly with her fist one final time and let out a high-pitched battlecry. Her Belly Dance was complete, and she was ready for battle.

"Everything has fallen into place," Bede gloated. "Now, Azumarill, dazzle them all with your gargantuan strength! Use Aqua Jet on Scizor!"

A veil of water encapsulated Azumarill before she bounced into the air and darted towards Scizor like a missile.

Marcus's eyes widened - he had to act fast. "Quick, Scizor! Counter with Bullet Punch!"

Once more, with claws sharpened and ready, Scizor lunged forth at breakneck speed to meet his adversary's attack head on. If she could just be a little faster than Azumarill, then this one attack could be enough to finish this round.

Unfortunately for Scizor, however, due to the ongoing world-distorting effects of Trick Room, Azumarill was able to carry herself across the distance faster than Scizor was able to anticipate. Aqua Jet slammed into Scizor's torso with the force of a bullet train. With a gutteral yelp, Scizor recoiled backwards and fell out of the air and onto her back, where she slid across the soil before the friction finally caused her to stop.

"Scizor!" Marcus cried out.

The rotom drones hovered over Scizor's motionless body for a few seconds of silence, a clear deliberation present among them before a final verdict was given…

"Scizor is unable to battle!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and screams of both excitement and disbelief.

"I don't believe it, folks! The champion's Scizor is down for the count after just a single blow from Bede's Azumarill, putting Team Monkshood in the lead right off the bat!"

Marnie was flabbergasted; to see one of Marcus' Pokemon go down in battle at all, let alone so soon, was such a rare occurrence that she could barely believe it even after just witnessing it firsthand. "Did that… did that really just happen?"

Marcus let out a resigned sigh. "Well, I guess not even the champion and his Pokemon are perfect, huh?" He chuckled unenthusiastically. "Though, I suppose by now, you probably know that better than most."

It was a side of Marcus that Marnie wasn't expecting to see today, especially given how confident and poised he'd presented himself to be throughout the entirety of the first battle. In that moment, his bravado was abandoning him, giving way to a wave of self-doubt that continued to cascade over him, fueled by the mixed reactions of the roaring crowd, the expressed disbelief of the commentator, and even Marnie's own incredulity. In her mind, she suddenly found herself flashing back to their argument after the previous battle, and to a spiteful interrogation she had asked;

When's the last time you've had to prove a thing to anyone!?

She recalled those words to herself regrettably as she stared at the young champion. Even though they'd only been allowed to escape her lips due to frustration and stress, she now felt a guilt building in her for ever having said them in the first place. Because now, it was completely clear to her; the gravity of the burden that Marcus carried with him every day as champion. To prove to himself, to his peers, to his sponsors, and to his fans that he deserved the claim to the title he was so apprehensive to take in the first place. To serve as a worthy opponent to his rivals in every battle he participated in. To act as a worthy tag-team partner to Marnie in the tournament. To put on the kind of performance that everyone had come to expect from the champion. Every. Single. Time.

Her breath felt shallow as she began to empathize with him and understand the truth. He did understand what it was like to have to prove himself to someone; he had to do it every single day. And right at that moment, the look on his face was that of someone encumbered by guilt, one born from his fear that he was letting everybody down.

"Hey… Marcus-?"

With a deep exhale, Marcus began trying to force himself out of his lackadaisical state - it was unbecoming of him to look so defeated so soon, and he didn't want anyone to catch any signs of his weakness. He was the champion, after all, and the show had to go on. He recalled the unconscious Scizor back into her Ultra Ball. "You gave it your best, Scizor," he said to the ball with a soft smile. "Now get a good rest." He placed the Ultra Ball into his right pocket as he looked across the pitch towards Azumarill, who stood with her hands to her hips and a confident grin on her face. "It was just as I'd thought," Marcus called across the field to Bede. "Huge Power and Belly Drum for physical dominance, and Trick Room and Aqua Jet for guaranteed priority speed under all circumstances… that's a pretty top-notch strategy, Bede…" He smiled playfully at his rival, reattaching himself to his performer's bravado. "...But it's not very pink."

Bede smirked dismissively. "The Power of Pink goes far beyond the visible spectrum of color, Marcus. Not that I'd expect someone like you to understand..."

Marcus shook his head and chuckled - all he could make out of this situation was that it was payback for telling Nessa about Bede's little secret...

Marnie took a step inward towards Marcus; a subtle gesture to remind him that she was right beside him no matter what. Marcus made note of it and nodded with an appreciative smile.

"It can't keep goin' like this, Marcus," Marnie finally said. "We gotta hit 'em hard with a counterattack, n' we gotta do it now!"

Marcus placed his chin within the crux of his thumb and index finger in thought - fear was always his enemy, and today, he had to be able to deny that enemy in order to allow himself to think rationally.

Then, as if someone had just flipped a switch, Team Monkshood's plan started to become clear to him; it certainly was the type of plan that only the likes of Bede and Klara could execute so perfectly as they had so far.

"What if that's what they're hoping we'll try and do?"

Marnie looked at her partner quizzically. "Whaddaya mean?"

"From the moment they hit the pitch, Bede and Klara have done nothing but try to get to our heads," Marcus explained. "They've played off of my anxiety, they've played off of your temper, and they've played off of our frustration."

Marnie began to piece together what Marcus was saying. "So you're thinkin' they're gonna try lurin' us into another trap?"

"I can almost guarantee it," Marcus affirmed.

"Well, we can't just sit around doin' nothin'. Between the hail and the Trick Room, we're sittin' Psyducks out here!" Marnie closed her eyes and placed an extended index finger along the side of her face. "We've gotta make a move eventually, Marcus; we're runnin' outta time here, just standin' around like this…"

"The only way we get through this in one piece is if we manage to find a way to break apart their strategy, but it looks like they've covered all their bases pretty well here…" Marcus pondered aloud.

"Yoohoo!" Klara called out from across the pitch with an unassuming grin. "If you two are done talking sweet-nothings to each other, Bede and I would love to get back to mopping the floor with you!"

Marnie's face turned hot with anger and embarrassment as she bit her tongue to not resort to using the arsenal of choice words she'd learned from her brother, words that he'd made her promise to never use under any circumstance.

"Wow, those two seem awfully confident right now," Marcus chuckled awkwardly. "I guess the match is going pretty well for them so far, though…"

In that exact moment, inspiration hit Marnie like a powerful gust of wind. "Confidence… that's it!"

Marcus looked at her, perplexed. "Heh?"

Marnie smirked. "You're right; they've been playin' us all along," she explained. "They've been playin' off our personal weaknesses n' usin' 'em to their advantage. And there's no denyin' that their strategy in battle is rock-solid… but it ain't perfect. They've left one weakness perfectly clear to us all along; their overconfidence."

Marcus nodded as he pieced Marnie's explanation together. "I see… so you think that their hubris could be their downfall?"

Marnie shrugged. "I 'unno what that word even means, Marcus, but I'm gonna assume you're talkin' 'bout their pride, n' that's exactly what I mean. They've been playin' their cards real safe n' precise so far, not optin' to attack unless they can almost guarantee a success from it. But if we play off o' their overconfidence in this strat o' there's..."

"...It could make them feel more comfortable with the idea of making riskier plays and cause them to lower their guard?" Marcus inquired.

Marnie nodded. "Exactly."

Marcus placed his hands to his hips and sighed, a puff of white vapor expanding from his breath as it heated the frigid hail-filled air. "It's a risky gambit, Marn, even for you. But neither of my two remaining Pokemon are equipped to resist a water-fairy type very well, so I guess I'll have to play along, whether I want to or not, huh?"

"C'mon, Marcus," Marnie insisted with a smirk. "To trainers like us, type-disadvantage don't mean a thing, yeah?"

Another nervous exhale from the anxious champion. "That sounds like the perfect excuse for a mistake… I don't know that I can afford to make another one today."

"Relax, will ya?" Marnie reassured with a warm smile, reaching into her pocket. "I've got your back."

"You've got a plan?" he asked.

"Nah, but I've got an idea," she answered, taking hold of a Dusk Ball and withdrawing Bisharp from the field. "The way I see it; if we stick together, it'll all come together, one way or another."

Marcus grinned. "You're awfully optimistic, despite the direness of our circumstances."

Marnie grinned back as she took hold of another Dusk Ball. "I learned it from you, champ."

"Folks, this may still only be the beginning of the battle, but the odds are already stacked quite highly against Team Punkblade! With the champion down his first Pokemon and the Spikemuth gym leader making an unexpected substitution, we're left to wonder; will they be able to turn this around!?"

The young champion took hold of his second Ultra Ball and poised himself, ready to throw it forward at a moment's notice. "On your mark, then?"

Marnie mirrored his form and nodded. "Ya read my mind."

AN: Anyone else remember Weston? I've been wanting to do more to develop him as a character since his introduction in Dark Times. Some of you closer readers might be thinking; Avery, what's he doing with a kid-sister? Didn't he introduce himself as an only child? I intend to delve deeper into his background in another one-shot that's currently in development. I haven't the faintest idea when it will be published, but it's underway...

Through psychological tactics, control over the elements, the protection of Aurora Veil, and the control over movement-priority with Trick Room, Team Monkshood's strategy is complete domination of the match from start to finish. With how easily Marcus was able to breeze through the first match, I thought it would be fun to write a battle that would test not only Marcus' ability to adapt to major and unexpected changes in the tone of a battle, but also his and Marnie's abilities to coordinate their actions with one another. With the pressure now on, will they stand united on the pitch, or break apart in a fit of desperation...?

"How does Bullet Punch manage to help Bisharp escape from Dragalge's Focus Blast with Trick Room still in effect?" Great question; priority moves like Bullet Punch bypass speed-checks, including those under the influence of Trick Room. Does it make sense narratively speaking? Maybe not, but I'm committed to staying true to the strategies of the source-material, and I like to think that the resulting sequences do make for an interesting read, all the same...

But what do you think? Where do you think Team Punkblade will go from here? How will they overcome the obstacles at hand? Let me know in a PM, a review, or both! If you're new to my work and you like what you've read so far, please consider favoriting and following for updates on this story as well as future releases.

As always, thank you all so much for the support! Stay tuned for more!