Storm Warning: The Rise of a Champion

by Atomitrox

The tale of a young trainer and his Squirtle as they take destiny into their own hands, whether their journey carries them through the sun or the shadows. Adventure, friendship, love, hardships, and lots of teenage drama... A lot can happen in just three years. Original region and characters. DISCONTINUED. Explanation in the first chapter.

58. Chapter 58: The Heist of the Century

Chapter 58: The Heist of the Century

He could have hardened a Slugma with the amount of sweat he felt running over his skin, even in the air-conditioned gym of Crystal Cliffs. They'd really have to wash out the battle uniform he was wearing after the match. His nerves had been getting to him the night before and he only managed to get two hours of sleep. He didn't feel tired, thanks to his last cup of coffee and the pre-match adrenaline coursing through his veins. But as he stood there in the hallway to the arena with Heather and Brooke, he felt ready to explode into a million pieces.

"You look terrible," Heather stated bluntly. "Maybe you can ask that they push this match back an hour? Get a quick nap and-"

"No, they got a full crowd. They got cameras out there, and I'm not sick. Just nervous. I have no excuse to step out of this battle aside from cowardice. I just need to do this." But he doubted he'd ever feel ready for a badge battle with Veronica Lee.

"Okay, just remember the plan. Remember your strategies. Remember what we went over," his friend reminded him.

"Right," he murmured back, only feeling slightly reassured. Over the past week and a half, they had studied nearly every pokémon in tiers six through eight, even the ones that Cody didn't think would be used. From there, they tried to formulate an idea of what to expect from Veronica Lee. They had a few plausible scenarios planned out, but nothing was set in stone, since they couldn't plan for every possible outcome. He knew that she would try to throw curveballs at him, so he had to prepare for the unknown, and even though he was good at thinking on his feet, could he keep up with a former champion like her?

"You're going to kill it out there," Brooke reassured, using a tissue to wipe away some of the moisture from his forehead. "We'll celebrate tonight if you win, alright?"

"You have far more confidence than I do," he replied, smiling weakly. Looking back at Heather, his smile faded. "You realize how crazy this is, right? This whole plan is hugely based on what pokémon Lee brings to battle. Even if things fall into place just right, I'm still at a disadvantage. And if I lose, there's no way I could pull off the strategy against her again. I'd have to start from scratch."

"You're overthinking this," Heather told him, touching his left shoulder. "There are a lot of unknowns in what team she brings. That part is luck. But we've planned for that. You have a plan that will put as much control on your end as possible. That's all you can do to prepare for something like this."

"Yeah… you're right." Every battle would have an element of mystery. That's why he trained for as many scenarios as possible, not just for his next battle, but for every battle he entered.

"It's now or never," he whispered. He gave Heather a tight hug and quickly kissed Brooke on the forehead before heading down the hall and out into the arena.

Even though it wasn't his first badge battle, the atmosphere of the arena was unlike anything he had yet to experience. Battles at the seventh tier and up were typically considered high tier fights, and high tier fights had a lot of publicity. The arena was full of chattering spectators, all eager for a fight. There was even a camera crew that would be broadcasting the battle to a local battling channel, and if the battle was considered good enough, there was a chance it would be shown to the region as a whole on a later date. There were even two broadcasters who would be covering the fight, move by move, and the whole thing made Cody feel uneasy. He felt a lot more pressure to succeed, or at least not get obliterated. A one-sided match wouldn't be covered beyond the local channels, but he didn't want another embarrassing battle on his record, regardless.

As he walked forward, he wondered if any of the crowd knew about his last fight in the gym. It wasn't as if the scandal had much coverage, but he knew that rumors would get out. But he was most concerned with the gym leader and former champion herself. Unlike the last time he battled her where she was only concerned with testing his ability, the Lee that stood before him shot him an icy glare as he approached. He could tell just by looking at her that she would do everything in her power to not only beat him but utterly humble him as well. But he wouldn't let her have that pleasure. He was grateful for the second chance and he had no plans of wasting it.

"Mr. Storm," she greeted coldly.

"Champion Lee," he replied, his anxiety ringing in his voice. "Thank you for this opportunity. I promise you that I won't disappoint you again." He held out his hand to shake hers, but she did not respond right away. She looked at his hand, then back at him, expression unwavering.

"Don't presume that your newly found respect for my gym means that I have any respect for you, Cody Storm," Lee replied, unimpressed with his statement. "Truly, this battle is just a formality and we both know how this ends. But, if you manage to make it past four of my pokémon, maybe I'll let you try at the sixth tier again." Then, she shook his hand. She probably wouldn't have done so if it weren't for the crowd and the cameras. To maintain her image, she had to display courtesy. Her handshake was one of the firmest he ever felt, as if she were trying to break his bones.

Four pokémon? He felt a brief wave of relief as he let those words sink in. That wasn't so hard, right? Battling other trainers at the seventh tier, he could totally defeat four pokémon with a full team. Problem was, Lee was no ordinary trainer and if he had her pegged correctly, she'd probably use at least one eighth tier monster in those first four. He planned for that, but he'd still have to hope that he had predicted who that eighth tier would be.

No. Don't think like that. Even if beating four would get him an easier shot at the badge, he wouldn't battle to beat four. He had to aim to beat the whole team. The closer he'd shoot towards the target goal, the better.

"Let's get this over with," she muttered under her breath as she released his hand.

As he returned to the other side of the battle arena, the crowd hushed and the referee began to speak.

"This battle is for the Cerebral Badge!" The referee announced, the crowd erupting in cheers as he did. "Challenger Cody Storm vs. Crystal Cliffs Gym Leader, Veronica Lee."

Lee's name brought even more cheers, but she didn't turn to face the noise, still glaring at the challenger. Cody looked to the side to see Heather and Brooke cheering for him, but he wouldn't let himself get distracted by the noise either.

The referee continued with a second announcement. "The challenger is competing for his sixth badge, but has requested to battle at the seventh tier!"

Some confused murmurs were heard in the audience, as they didn't understand why a trainer who had only been battling for a little over a year would request such a thing. Cody, however, was more irritated with the fact that the referee announced that he requested it. Technically, he wasn't wrong, but he wouldn't have asked for it under better circumstances.

"Trainers! Ready your pokémon!"

Cody readied Bastion's pokeball, holding it to his lips and whispering, "show time, old friend." He glanced at the crowd again to see Heather and Brooke, anxiously waiting for the battle to begin. He winked at them, kissed the pokeball, and when the referee shouted "Begin!", he threw it onto the battlefield.

His Wartortle emerged first, looking confident and strong. He was definitely the best choice to open the battle and counter any humiliation tactics Lee was looking to employ. As for Lee's first battler it took Cody a second to understand what he was looking at. When the light of the pokeball's opening faded, what stood before Bastion was a formless, pink blob, but it only remained that way for a second. Not even a second after emerging, its body contorted and its color changed to match the form and color of the opponent it was facing. Bastion was looking at what appeared to be another Wartortle. It was an uncanny thing for both trainer and pokémon to witness.

Oh, I see how it is.

It was a Ditto. Judging by what Cody knew of the registered gym pokémon, it was Dopple, a sixth tier Ditto of the Crystal Cliffs Gym. The Ditto in question did not belong to Lee, but one of her gym trainers, and from Cody's searching, it had very little footage that he could study. The presence of the Ditto alerted Cody of two things. First, since that particular Ditto was a sixth tier pokémon in a seventh tier battle, that meant that there would be at least one eighth tier monster in the fight, as Cody had suspected. Second, Lee was definitely trying to pull a humiliation opener. Ditto were a common gimmick for that tactic, since in general, there was nothing more disheartening than one's well-trained pokémon losing to a copy of itself. Cody had to admit to himself that Bastion starting the battle and losing to a Ditto would be upsetting, but he was more focused on the individual match itself. He needed to keep up with Lee as much as possible in their fight, and it all likelihood, while he expected Bastion to be able to win one fight, he couldn't hope for much more than that. The turtle had tweaked his left knee a few days before, so Cody had decided to let one of his other pokémon work the mid-battle; one of his fastest and more durable. But he had to focus on the task at hand.

The Ditto-Wartortle didn't move at first. Both it and Lee were waiting for Cody to move first. They were going for a reactionary strategy. Bastion would have to move first, so Cody figured getting a guaranteed hit was the best move.

"Aqua Jet!"

Bastion was so quick to launch the move that he hit the Wartortle clone before it could even react. Bastion's shell bounced back after the hit and then the turtle went for a Tackle, only to be stopped by the Ditto, who locked hands with the original turtle. The Ditto quickly threw Bastion backward over his head, spun around, and hit the real turtle with an Aqua Jet of its own. When Bastion tried to hit back with a Tackle, the Ditto dodged and hit Bastion with a Tackle of his own.

Very smart, he thought to himself. Ditto were a very analytic species, picking up on the moves and movements of their enemies, as well as how to battle in a style that would incorporate the moves and the form that the Ditto had taken on. That Ditto, in particular, was incredibly quick on the uptake, hitting Bastion two to three times for every one hit that the real Wartortle got in. Additionally, Lee hadn't uttered a single command. The Ditto may not have needed any direction to do what felt natural while simultaneously reading its foe like a book. Bastion would have to change his approach. "Water Pulse!"

Normally, attacks like Aqua Jet and Water Pulse wasn't a good option against fellow water-types, but it wasn't about the moves being "super-effective". Aqua Jet was used for the physical impact with the possibility of bruising or straining the foe. The Water Pulse was for the possibility of confusion. Unfortunately, when the water rings hit the Ditto, it didn't seem phased. The second Water Pulse was dodged entirely. He'd have to be sneakier than that.

"Tumble," Lee said, uttering her first command of the battle several minutes in.

That wasn't a move or technique Cody knew of. In all likelihood, the Ditto knew it as code for some sort of strategy. On the surface, the command was exactly what one would have expected. The Wartortle clone rushed forward and tackled Bastion into a quick tumble. The two rolled around on the ground, throwing punches at each other until the one Wartortle was blasted off the other with a Water Gun. And it was then that Cody caught on: everything happened so fast that he lost track of his Wartortle. He'd like to believe that he'd be able to tell the two Wartortle apart since he could identify his pokémon from others of his species, but from the fluffy ears to the fluffy tails, the Wartortle clone looked exactly the same.

"Aqua Jet!" He ordered. His intention was to see which Wartortle listened to him, but he was disappointed to see that both listened to him. One of the Wartortle went first and the other followed a split second later, catching the first Wartortle in mid-jet. But which Wartortle landed the hit? Had the Ditto bided its time or did Bastion, smart as he was, finally pick up on the clone's antics? He'd have to figure it out somehow. "Water Pulse!"

The both turtles used the move, however, not right away. Like with the Aqua Jet, one turtle waited slightly longer after dodging the first attack. However, the Wartortle that landed the Water Pulse was the Wartortle that got hit by the Aqua Jet. Thankfully, the Water Pulse didn't cause confusion in its target… or was that a bad thing? The point was that even if it was the same Wartortle, he still wouldn't know who was who.

Wait, this is simple. "Bastion!" Cody called out without adding a command, expecting his Wartortle to turn his head. But this plan failed the moment both Wartortle turned to look at him at the exact same time.

Shit, it's smart. He really thought that would work. One of the Wartotle took advantage of the distraction first, hitting another Aqua Jet, but Cody couldn't tell if that was a good thing for his team or not. Beyond the battlefield, Cody noticed Lee breaking her dead serious expression, smirking ever so slightly. Her plan was working. Even though Cody didn't expect Bastion to have much impact beyond the first battle, he needed to beat the Ditto. Any leg up he could get before the rest of Lee's team would count for something.

This is impossible. I just need a sign. At that point, both Wartortle had locked up again, pushing each other back and occasionally throwing a punch. Suddenly, with a quick burst of energy, one of the Wartortle took the advantage as the other wobbled and fell to its knee, specifically, his left knee. And that was when Cody figured out which Wartortle was his. Ditto were capable of copying an enemy's appearance and strength, but they would copy the enemy at their full power (or as close as the Ditto could reach, based on its own power and experience.) It was then that Cody remembered Bastion's tweaked knee, which was definitely showing as he was overpowered. Despite its intelligence, the Ditto never picked up on that, considering that its knee never seemed to be hurt. Who would have guessed that a minor injury would have actually been advantageous? And since Cody was able to identify which Wartotle was his, he could call out a command that would be impossible for the Ditto to complete. He just hoped that he wasn't wrong.

"Bubblebeam to the chest!"

In the Ditto's position, towering over the real Wartortle, it couldn't hit its foe in the chest from that angle without relinquishing its grip and potentially leaving itself unguarded. Bastion hit the foe in the chest, blasting the aggressor backward. Bastion stood up, shaking his bad knee out a little to stand properly. That Wartortle just had to be his.

"Keep using Bubblebeam!" Cody ordered. He wasn't about to lose track of his Wartortle again, but he needed a failsafe. That was where Bubblebeam came in. While not a strong move against fellow water-types, the beam of exploding bubbles hit with a lot of concussive force, causing significant muscle soreness. The soreness would slow the Ditto down and not only would a slower target be easier to hit, but so long as Bastion didn't get hit by the same move, he would be easier to identify by his speed.

"Strafe left and use Bubblebeam!" Lee ordered, officially giving away which pokémon was hers. While the Ditto was able to dodge the next Bubblebeam, it was far slower in doing so and it missed the much faster Bastion by a mile. It looked as though the tables were finally turning when something bizarre happened. After narrowly dodging an Aqua Jet, the Wartortle clone closed its eyes and released a stream of water from its mouth. Rather than the water flying away like a typical Water Gun, it flowed into a circular ring around the Ditto's body. All the while, some of the water from the ring was steaming off of the loop, blowing inwards toward the user.

Is that an Aqua Ring? Cody had never seen Bastion use that move before, but if the Ditto was using it there, that must have meant that Bastion had the potential to use it too. The problem was that Bastion had not been trained to recognize the command. There was a chance that he'd understand what his trainer was talking about, but trying to use an unknown move on the fly could prove distracting. The new strategy would be for Bastion to finish the battle as quickly as possible from that point on. Aqua Ring would not be as potent of a healing move as Rest or Recover, but it could help keep the Ditto healing off minor injuries. It was time for Cody's first pokémon to pull off something unexpected of his own.

"Jet into Iron Tail!"

He had reserved from calling for Iron Tail for a reason. Iron Tail was not a move that was typically learned by a Wartortle, so there was a chance that the Ditto didn't instinctually use it and Lee would never have guessed that her Ditto had copied it. Even though the move would be weakened against a water-type, the blunt force of the steel tails slamming into a target's face would still hurt like a bitch. Before the Ditto could react, Bastion was flying towards it, re-emerged from his shell, performed a forward flip, and smashed each of his iron tails into the skull of the enemy. That took the Ditto by surprise for sure, but it would persevere, swinging an Iron Tail of its own, but with reduced speed, it missed wildly. Bastion threw another Iron Tail, which the Ditto blocked with a Protect. The bubble shattered after the blow, so the third Iron Tail Bastion threw hit the shell of the withdrawing Ditto. From there, the imposter used Aqua Jet to shoot away in desperation, but Bastion was ready. When the Ditto came out of its shell to check its new surroundings, it was hit right in the face with a fully-charged Bubblebeam. Even with the Aqua Ring, the final assault proved too much for the Ditto as it returned to its pink, gooey form, settling on the ground.

"Ditto is unable to battle! Wartortle is the winner!"

There was a modest applause and a few cheers as Lee returned her first battler. Bastion stood where he last struck his foe, breathing heavily and taking a knee. In that brief break, he had set up his own Aqua Ring, understanding what the move was after the fight. However, the move's effects were gradual and it would not aid in healing any of the more powerful blows that he had taken, but it bought him some time. Lee seemed to know this, as she didn't mind talking a little bit of time before sending in her next pokémon after returning Dopple to its ball. She wasn't worried in the slightest

"Impressive. You've proven that you're clever enough to adapt to unique situations. If this was a sixth tier battle, I'd say you'd have an excellent chance of winning." She plucked a new pokeball from her six and held it up. "Unfortunately, basic cleverness will only get you so far against me. This is now the beginning of the end."

What? That was a strange thing to say before introducing one's second pokémon of six. She must have been pulling out one of the big guns, and if that were the case, he'd have to hope he could make his plan work.

"End this, Hank!" she called out as she released one of her most famous pokémon into battle.

There was a lot of excited murmuring in the crowd directed at Hank "The Tank" when he emerged, and it was well deserved. Hank was a Skitrexian legend and even if he was only a shell of his former self, he was still intimidating as he stood there, steam fuming from his nostrils as he snorted and small tremors rumbling as he stamped his foot, rearing for a fight. In his old age, the Buffoulant had lost a lot of his bulk, and his hair, from that which covered his body to the thick afro nestled between his horns, had grayed. But even if he had weakened as he aged, he was still a force of nature at the eighth tier with decades of experience to back him up.

Cody tried his best not to let his nerves show, but he was beginning to doubt his own strategy before the fight even began. Instinctually, he wanted to call for Bastion to use Rain Dance and set up for Elesa to use Thunder, but there were a few reasons (knowing that particular Bouffalant) as to why that would be a bad idea. Additionally, the field needed to be dry for Cortez's phase of the fight. The plan he had in mind was risky and involved five members of his team, and in his mind, it was stupid and convoluted enough to work, even if everything had to go exactly according to plan. He couldn't let himself falter before the fight or he would suffer too many losses in a battle with Hank "The Tank".

"Aqua Jet!" Cody ordered. He wanted to see if Bastion could get the jump on the old bull, but he should have known better. Without any wasted motion, the Bouffalant bucked the incoming turtle shell up with a flick of his head, not even using his full power. Bastion landed on the ground and shot a Bubblebeam, but with a slight tap of the Bouffalant's foot, it used Stone Edge, not on Bastion, but as a defensive tactic. A large, jagged stone shot up from the earth, rising about eight feet high, blocking the bubbles, and before Bastion even knew what was happening, the old bull crashed through his own stone, headbutting Bastion again with a stupidly strong force behind his charge. When the injured Wartortle landed, the Bouffalant decided to finish the job. Stamping his foot, his afro lit up with electricity and he charged at the turtle. Right before hitting the target, Bastion erected a Protect. Naturally, the Protect shattered following that attack, but it bought Bastion a little more time.

"Water Gun!" Cody commanded.

There was a reason why he was going for that move instead of something stronger like Bubblebeam or Water Pulse. While those moves were more powerful, for water-type moves, they didn't leave the opponent all that wet. Bastion followed the order, dodging further Stone Edges and shooting the buffalo with Water Guns. He did try to aim for the Bouffalant's afro where he generated electricity in order to negate his charge, but the old bull was too clever for that. During Bastion's final adrenaline boost, the Bouffalant care to keep his head away from water blasts with either dodges or Stone Edge walls. But the rest of the bull's body was wet, and with that, Bastion fulfilled his role on the team. He was too injured to be worth Cody's only mid-battle switch, so in a way, while Cody prayed that he wouldn't have to fight Hank at all, he was at least glad that Bastion would be setting the bull up for another team member. That may not have been the case if Lee had sent out somebody else.

"Aqua Jet to the back of the leg!" Cody ordered, but Hank's sixth-sense kicked in, blocking the charge with another defensive Stone Edge. The stone walls would retreat into the earth as quickly as they rose. In a way, the stone walls were like Hank's way of using Protect or Reflect. Bastion crawled up one of the defensive rock blockades as quick as he could before leaping toward the buffalo and hitting him in the skull with an Iron Tail… and the bigger pokémon didn't even flinch. Bastion didn't even hit the ground before Hank slammed his front hooves into the battle plot, forcing a huge stone to jut upward, sending Bastion almost high enough to hit the ceiling. As he fell down, the Bouffalant hit the falling Wartortle with an electrified headbutt; a Wild Charge without the charging.

That did Bastion in as he slumped to the floor unconscious. While he did dispatch the Ditto and played an important set-up role for a later teammate, Bastion had barely made a scratch on the old bull, even with one of his best moves. What was more astounding and discouraging was that Hank had done all of that without a single command from his trainer. Following decades of far more perilous battles, Hank didn't need any help, and he knew it, snorting confidently at his fallen foe.

"Wartortle is unable to battle! Bouffalant is the winner!"

As crowd applauded wildly, Cody returned Bastion, said encouraging words the fainted turtle under his breath, wiped the sweat from his brow and peered over at his friends. Both of them looked stunned. Even Heather, whom Cody devised his plans with, looked as though she had lost confidence. But Cody had to push forth. He really wanted to send in Elesa, but that was just his instincts talking. He had to stick to the plan. Hank needed to be poisoned.

"You know the drill, Ferrari!"

There was a moment of awe from the crowd as the shiny, purple Whirlipede glistened under the gym's lighting. But neither Hank nor his trainer were impressed. The battlefield was covered in rubble from all the Stone Edges that Hank had used, as even though they retreated into the ground after use, some remained shattered on the surface. But Ferrari would be used to the rough terrain. Still, bulky as the bug was, one solid Stone Edge would severely injure him. Thankfully, he had superior speed. He'd have to use that advantage to survive.

"Toxic Spikes!"

Logically, that was the safe option: place poisonous shards all over the field and avoid the Stone Edges. Ferrari did just that, narrowly dodging the jutting rocks as it circled the bull as it spread spikes across the field. He decided to take a risk and went for a Steam Roller, but the Bouffalant greeted this charge, locking the Whirlipede down with a Headbutt before throwing him back with his far higher strength.

"Crush them!"

It was the first command that Lee gave the old bull and he knew what she meant. With one quick stomp, he obliterated the nearest Toxic Spike under his right hoof, leaving nothing but purple-coated dust.

Shit. Cody knew the Bouffalant's hooves were tough, but tough enough to destroy spikes without injury? "Ferrari, poison him with your spikes!"

"Tlick, tlick!" the bug clicked as it rolled in for a "Poison Tail", but the bull quickly whipped around backward and struck with a powerful Double Kick before returning to crushing the spikes. Ferrari went in again, only to be blocked a second time. Old and stiff as he was, Hank was reading every incoming strike. And between each strike, he'd crush more spikes. Cody's strategy was falling apart before his eyes. If the Bouffalant was poisoned, he could get in a few Venom Drenches before switching Ferrari out. He needed to poison the Bouffalant and he needed Ferrari intact for the mid-game.

"Okay, backup and use Poison Sting!" Cody ordered. Even a lighter grade of poison would do, but the Bouffalant effortlessly dodged the projectile stings with a defensive Stone Edge. So, Cody had one last plan. "Screech!"

Ferrari let loose a screech comprised of high pitch clicks that forced the buffalo cringed for a second. After years of experience, a distraction like that did little to stall him, but it gave Ferrari the opening he needed.

"Rollout!"

The Whirlipede hit his first Rollout, but the bull barely budged. Dodging a Zen Headbutt and another barrage of Stone Edges, he hit the second Rollout, forcing the bull to budge a little bit more. The idea was for Ferrari to either hit the foe with his poisonous spikes or at least knock him over so that he'd fall into the remaining spikes or into a prone state, open for more attacks, but on the third go around, Hank finally caught him, smacking the Whirlipede with one of his horns.

"Iron Defense!" Cody shouted, but it really didn't matter. Ferrari had fallen on his side and the Bouffalant began repeatedly stomping the bug's carapace as if he were curbstomping him. Cody shouted out every command he knew, but it was no use. The bottom line was that he needed Ferrari for the later match-ups and he planned to use his switch on his Whirlipede. He raised Ferrari's pokeball to signal to the referee that he wanted to return his pokémon, but the ref waved him off. Because Ferrari was currently "engaged" (essentially code for being in the midst of strikes between the enemy and himself), Cody would have to wait until a standstill or at least until Ferrari was free. But Hank knew better than to let his target free. When he was done stomping, he leaped upward, and upon hitting the ground again, the largest Stone Edge yet shot up from the earth, blasting Ferrari skyward. All the Iron Defenses in the world couldn't have saved him.

"Whirlipede is unable to battle! Bouffalant is the winner!"

This is not good. His plan for battle was already unraveling. If he made it past Hank, he had planned his third phase of the battle centering around Ferrari. But without him, he'd have to split that role between Elesa and Reflet. Elesa, he wasn't worried about, but Reflet wasn't ready to carry that weight. However, he noticed one saving grace as he caught the Bouffalant gingerly lifting his front-left hoof. It appeared to be cut, probably by one of Ferrari's spikes during the stomping. Hank was probably poisoned, which was what Cody was going for. The Toxic Spikes plan failed, as all of the spikes were crushed, save the few that had been scattered directly outside of the battlefield's lines, but in the end, physical attackers risked that sort of injury against a pokémon like Whirlipede. Poison probably wouldn't be a death sentence for Hank, but it would weaken him slightly. Cody's team would take what they could get at that point and the longer he was poisoned, the better. Gonna have to stay the course.

"Your turn, Elesa!"

If there was any member of Cody's team that could hold their own with Hank, it was Elesa. She was faster than him, strong in her own right, and Hank had no moves that would do extra damage against her (he could use Earthquake when he was a younger Bouffalant, but not in his old age.) However, he had a way of coping with electric-type moves, and he still had years of experience on the Zebstrika. In a regular fight, Elesa probably only had about a 10% chance of winning. Those were not good odds and he needed to preserve her. She was only there for one thing: Thunder Wave. The problem was pulling the move off.

"Neeeeeeeeeeiiigh", his Zebstrika whinnied as she ran forward at top speed. The bull charged, though not as fast. In a collision, he would win, but Cody knew that already.

"Flash kick!"

That was code for a two move combo: Flash and then Double Kick after repositioning around the blinded foe. Before the two collided, Elesa flashed brightly before leaping over Hank to his right side to hit a Double Kick into his ribcage. But when the Flash extinguished and she was ready to kick, she was greeted with a mule kick to the chest. Somehow, Hank had predicted her movements. From years of battling, he seemed to know exactly what she was going for.

"Damn it, back up and use Shock Wave!" he ordered, remembering what he had Bastion set up earlier. Hank had a way of coping with electric attacks, but with his fur still damp from the Water Guns, his body would attract the Shock Waves, negating his tactic… or so Cody thought. Hank swiftly turned and absorbed the electricity in his bulbous afro. While Hank was not part electric-type, he had learned to absorb electricity-based projectiles in his afro and release them in the form of Thunder, ridiculous as that sounded. Fortunately, there was little he could do with Thunder against a Zebstrika who naturally absorbed electric attacks, but he could hold onto that attack and use it against somebody else.

I'll have to remember that. So much for that Water Gun set-up. "Get in with a Spark!" he ordered.

"Swords Dance!"

That was the second order that Lee had given to her Bouffalant. The bull charged at his enemy, his head tilted to allow the tip of his horn to sharpen against the stiff earth below as they glowed light. A strong hit from those horns could severely injure any foe. Thankfully, Elesa was faster and able to avoid the bull's charge, but he had all his bases covered. As he ran, Stone Edges were rising and falling at his sides, protecting where he was most vulnerable to attack. There was no way Elesa could get through the rocks without hurting herself, but at that point, Cody had no choice. He needed to get that Thunder Wave in, so Zebstrika would have to sacrifice her wellbeing for the betterment of the team.

"Through the rocks!"

"Neeeeiiiiaaaaagh!" she whinnied, bursting into a Flame Charge and powering through the current Stone Edge, shattering the rock, leaping over Hank, and Double Kicking him in the side on the way down. Finally landing a strong hit, the Bouffalant was knocked onto his side, not severely damaged, but shaken up. In fact, Elesa took the worst of it. Despite her strength and endurance, her body was not built to crash through stones like that. But through her pain, she got back to her feet.

"Now, Thunder Wave! Before it gets up!" Cody ordered, excitement in his tone. It was the opening they needed. And Elesa took charge, stomping the Bouffalant down before he could stand up again and with a piercing shriek, she channeled a massive amount of electricity into the bull's backside, not to drain his health but to stun his muscles. She had to put extra juice into the technique, due to the bull's natural ability of absorbing electricity, but it did the trick. Despite dealing with the effects of the Thunder Wave, Hank managed to spring back to his feet and kick Elesa backward, but he seemed a little stiff. The Thunder Wave mixed with the poison was taking its effect.

Could she do this? Cody wondered to himself. Versus a crippled Bouffalant, Elesa's chances were better, but still not good. Even with two ailments, he had barely taken any hits and if he could keep pulling up Stone Edges, she wouldn't get through without taking damage. It was time for a switch.

"Volt Switch!" he shouted, and his Zebstrika burst forward, crashing through a second Stone Edge and hitting the Bouffalant in the face for not much effect aside from returning to her pokeball in a flash of light. And Cody was ready with his next entrant. "Reflet, you're up!"

Upon her entrance, the Espeon looked at her much larger opponent and shuddered. She knew she'd probably have to face Hank from the beginning, but perhaps she expected him to be more damaged? Even with his afflictions, he was still stomping his hoof and snorting steam.

"Facade!" Lee ordered.

Ugh, I should have known. "Dodge it and keep running! Take some pot-shots if you can!"

Reflet, being much faster than the buffalo, sprinted out of the way across the rubble-filled arena, dodging Stone Edges and using Psybeam. Most of the beams were blocked with Stone Edges, but the one that hit glanced off of the bull's thick hide. She'd have to get a headshot, but that was easier said than done when a Bouffalant that could take her out in one hit was charging at her.

"By the way, Ferrari went down! You have to replace him in the later match-ups!" Cody called out as Reflet kept dodging rocks.

[What? Why? I can't! That's not what we planned!] she called out with her telepathy.

"Battles are spontaneous like that," he reminded. "For now, do what you can to get in!"

[Right! I'll do my best,] but she did not sound confident. Originally, she was supposed to go into the Bouffalant match-up with the intention of taking a fall, following her part of the plan, but without Ferrari, she'd have to do far more.

Reflet unleashed a Signal Beam, but that too was a glancing blow at best. The Bouffalant's speed was beginning to slow from all of the status-induced fatigue, but that didn't mean he was out. Far from it. He would manipulate Reflet's positioning via Stone Edge, which he would use to block her running. When he had her pinned in a corner of the arena, he ran in with a Wild Charge. The Espeon blocked it with a Reflect, but the barrier only lasted a second against Hank's sharpened horns before Reflet had to dodge again.

"Remember what we talked about! You need to get close now!" Cody ordered.

[I'll- I'll try!] she stuttered, terrified of having to be in close quarters with Hank. Up close, she dodged his stomps and Horn Attacks, but each attack Hank threw, he got closer to a ht. Meanwhile, Cody was holding his breath. One hit from Hank would one-shot Reflet, but she just needed to wait, dodging between the bull's legs.

"Enough! Stone Edge!" Lee ordered.

"Disable! Now!" Cody shouted, almost gleefully.

The Bouffalant summoned multiple jutting stones, but Reflet narrowly missed all of them by hiding under the bull's body. When the stones sunk back into the earth, she ran out from under the Bouffalant and slapped his legs with her forked tail, releasing what looked to be a blue electric shock. It barely hurt Hank, who tried to use Stone Edge again, only to fruitlessly stomp his foot. The move had been disabled, but only for a short time. The final part of his plan was ready.

As Reflet got out of the way of the next Wild Charge, Cody held Reflet's pokeball above his head and the referee nodded, granting the switch. He called Reflet back, muttered a word of praise to her pokeball, and released Cortez into the fray. Without Stone Edge in play, his odds were far better. The crowd awed at the presence of the giggling, golden Lampent, but like with Ferrari, Lee wasn't impressed by the newcomer's color.

"Do you honestly think we need Stone Edge to beat a Lampent?" she asked, calling out Cody's plan. "Wild Charge!"

"Wil-o-Wisp!" Cody shouted.

"Hehehehe HA-HA!" He was hoping to get another status ailment on Hank, but the running bull extinguished the flame as he charged straight through it. Cortez dodged, but even though he could levitate, he was far slower than Bastion, Elesa, Ferrari, and Reflet while being almost as defenseless as the last pokémon on that list. The big difference was that his attacks packed more of a punch… or they would have if they hit properly. The Lampent spit out a Flame Burst, but it missed.

"Get into the air and attack from there!" Cody commanded. Without Stone Edge, Hank wouldn't be able to attack without leaving himself open. Upon rising high above, the Lampent began unleashing Flamethrowers. Hank dodged, but just barely. With the lingering poison and muscle fatigue, he was getting more sluggish. Without a command, Cortez then went for a Hex, but it did little, due to the move's typing. The Lampent should have known better, but Cody just hoped that he wouldn't use Curse. A Curse on the graying Bouffalant would have weakened him further, but it would leave Cortez weakened as well and would likely cost him the match. He needed his strength.

"Now! Thunder!"

Oh shit, I forgot about that.

Hank had absorbed that electricity two battlers ago and had been holding on to it for the moment when he needed it the most. Rather than leaping into the air and making himself an easy target, he shot a beam of lightning from his afro, sniping the cocky Lampent. The ghost let out a shriek and began falling, but Hank wasn't done. He finally lept towards Cortez, striking with a Zen Headbutt. Cortez floated back up, but he looked pretty shaken. They'd definitely need to reevaluate.

"Smog!"

"BEEELCH!" Cortez burped, spewing a poisonous fog across the field before fading into the black. While both Lee and her pokémon scanned the darkness for the ghost, it gave Cody a minute to think.

With Stone Edge disabled, Cody thought that he could weaken Hank enough to get off the final part of the plan, but Hank was still holding his own. Cortez needed to get off a charged Flame Burst attack, but Hank wouldn't give him an opening. In a perfect world, Lampent would go invisible to charge, but he couldn't charge or use attacks in that state. He could use a massive Inferno, but that would take time and energy to charge. Setting the Smog ablaze could work, but an explosion could potentially harm Cortez as well (even a fiery one.)

Stick to the plan. Keep it simple. "Confuse Ray! Then charge a Flame Burst!"

"Hahaha!" Cortez giggled, his eyes glowing in the dark smog. That alerted Hank of his position, but it was too late. He was hit by the ray, Cortez took his moment to rise above the smog, charging a fireball in front of where his mouth would be if he had one. The Smog was clearing below, but the Bouffalant was dazed, staggering in his stance.

"Focus," Lee ordered, a calmness in her voice that matched her unphased expression. "That Lampent can charge all day, but one Flame Burst won't be enough."

You're right, but it doesn't need to be, Cody thought to himself. It was another moment of peace as Cortex charged his fireball high above the ground and Hank stood stoically in the middle of the battlefield, eyes closed, in deep meditation. He was wise enough to know that acting in confusion would expend extra energy and hurt himself in the process And so, he did nothing. Aside from the charging Flame Burst, the entire arena was silent. Even the audience fell into a hush, waiting for the next big thing to happen. And it was Hank who moved first, opening his eyes after the confusion had dissipated.

"Zen Headbutt!"

"Fall and release!"

Without access to Stone Edge or Thunder, Lee probably thought that Cody would have his Lampent stay high above the arena like he had asked for earlier. She was also confident that her Bouffalant could break through a charged Flame Burst with a Zen Headbutt, but that wasn't Cody's plan. Cortez descended and released the fireball, which collided with the Bouffalant's chest. As expected, it didn't end the match, but it did what Cody wanted.

"Rooooooooh!" Hank mooed as the impact of the blast knocked him out of the air to Cody's left, and into the barriers that separated the arena from the spectator seating. More importantly, the sprawling Bouffalant was out of bounds. And on the jumbotron that displayed which pokémon had been introduced in the battle and which ones had fainted, a timer started counting.

1… 2…

"Now! Inferno! Trick Room!"

"WAAAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!" Cortez cackled like a true villain as he erupted Cody's left half of the battlefield in flames reaching far above the Bouffalant's head when he stood up again. Then, over the flames, he cast a dark void. It was a modified version of his Night Shade technique in which he controlled the movement speed of everything inside.

3… 4…

The old Bouffalant stomped his foot, attempting to break up the Inferno and the Trick Room with a Stone Edge, but it was still disabled. If he had saved his Thunder from the electricity he absorbed, he'd have a good shot at sniping the Lampent, but he didn't, so he couldn't. And due to his status ailments and that last blow, he couldn't jump the fire without risking landing in the center and burning to a crisp.

5… 6…

"Wild Charge!" Lee shouted, actually looking afraid for the first time in the battle. The Bouffalant tried to follow her command, but the moment he passed over the boundary line, the forward half of his body entered the Trick Room, he slowed to a Torkoal's pace, but the flames had not. The bull caught fire and he released a pained moo as he did his best to get back out of the void and away from the fire. His front half was scorched and if he tried anything like that again, he'd severely hurt himself. At the urging of his trainer, he stuck a hoof in, but the cursed fire crawled up his leg at an unnatural pace, so he withdrew. If there was any silver lining, the timer on the jumbotron restarted.

Lee's face paled as she realized what Cody was going for: a ring-out gambit, something that few trainers ever went for. Cody had seen a video of Martin Hornsby pulling it off, but it was a close call. Ring-out rules were pretty confusing and they rarely came into play since most trainers just made sure their pokémon stayed within the lines. But as Cody had learned during his first gym challenge, a pokémon out of bounds for a consecutive count of ten would be disqualified. The additional ruling stated that every time a pokémon outside of the lines was "interacted" with by its foe inside the lines, the count restarted. That prevented a pokémon in the ring from keeping the enemy out of the ring with a barrage of moves, forcing a ring-out that way. Because of those rules, going for a ring-out victory was usually inefficient… unless one had set up the right conditions, and that was what Cody had done. Reflet had Disabled Stone Edge, so Hank couldn't break up the fire. He couldn't set foot in the ring to restart the count without touching the Trick Room void that would slow him down or the cursed fire that would cover his body and severely injure him, if not cause him to faint. He only had one option: since Cortez couldn't reposition the Inferno or the Trick Room he had set up in the middle of his performance, the Bouffalant would have to make it around one-fourth of the battle plot to where there was no fire or trick room.

1… 2…

"Get to the other side!" Lee ordered, clearly worried.

3… 4…

Hank trudged forth, but it was finally happening: all of the effects of the battle were weighing heavy on him. Ferrari's toxins, Elesa's Thunder Wave, Cortez's burns, and the critical Flame Burst he took… Despite all of that, the brute still had the energy to fight, but he couldn't move that fast.

5… 6…

"Keep it up!" Cody shouted to his Lampent. Cortez was still laughing maniacally, though holding the Trick Room and Inferno simultaneously at that scale was a massive strain on him.

7… 8…

As the Bouffalant limped as fast as he could, a murmur broke out within the audience. How many of them knew what was happening, Cody wondered to himself. Brooke looked confused, not knowing about the strategy, but Heather looked pretty assured.

9…

Hank was within feet of the unscorched earth, but the fatigue was getting to him. If he did make it back, Cortez would be an easy target. He could potentially recover some of his strength and keep fighting. He'd be far easier to beat than earlier, but-

10.

Cody breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the deafening buzzer rang, causing everybody to look up at the jumbotron. It was then that Cortez's Trick Room dissipated and his Inferno died out. As he wilted and sunk to the ground to rest, he looked exhausted, as if he had been battling for days nonstop.

"Bouffalant has remained outside of the designated battle space for a count of ten! Therefore, Bouffalant has been disqualified!"

It worked. His incredibly risky and convoluted plan worked. He knew that none of his pokémon could have beat Hank one on one in fair fight. His whole team may have been able to beat him in a series of slugging matches, but then they wouldn't have had anything left for the rest of the battle. So the plan for Hank: poison him, cripple him, limit his options, and then strand him out of bounds. It was an incredible gamble that required a specific set up that ultimately reduced the casualties on Cody's side. There was no way Lee would have guessed that was what he, a young trainer she thought was an idiot, was going for. Her mouth was agape, and she looked over at Hank, who still had energy to fight, but was forced to be returned back to his pokeball.

The audience was unsure of what to make of the situation. Among the gasps and the anxious murmurings of shock, there were quite a few boos. Cody wasn't sure if those boos were directed at the referee's decision or at him, but he didn't care. A few minutes ago, the chances of him winning were near impossible, but suddenly, they were just unlikely. That was still an upgrade. He looked over to see Brooke, who still seemed a bit confused over what had happened. However, Heather nodded her head at him and grinned. He nodded back.

"I don't know what to say," Lee admitted, shaking her head. "I didn't expect that from you. It was very… very Hornsby of you. You planned for this, didn't you? You knew I was going to use Hank and you knew facing him directly would have been disastrous. So, you devised a plan to take him out?"

Cody didn't answer with words or any sort of physical acknowledgement. He didn't want to say anything that Lee could latch onto. He just continued to give her his cold, self-assured stare. However, she took his silence as a confirmation of her theory.

"It was clever of you, but what do you have left? I have four pokémon left. You have four as well, but your Lampent is drained, your Espeon is ill-prepared, and you revealed your Zebstrika. As for your fourth, it really doesn't matter. You've revealed too much of your hand in your little attempt to hold your ground."

Again, he said nothing. She was right about him revealing many members of his team and about Cortez being on his last limbs, but it was a necessary play. The team would just have to endure whatever was left.

"Very well. Picasso, you're up!"

It was well-known that Veronica Lee liked abnormal normal-types, and Picasso was no exception. He was a Smeagle, and an odd looking Smeargle at that, as he was an albino. He had red eyes and white fur, save some of the light gray fur patterns where his darker hair would have grown. The only color on it that stood out was the liquid on his paintbrush-like tail, which was a dark blue. He was a seventh tier threat and his Sketch technique allowed him to copy numerous moves. And like with Bastion versus Hank, Cody knew that Cortez couldn't win the fight in the state he was in. His best option was to soften the enemy up as much as possible.

"Flamethower!"

Despite his weakened composure, Cortez managed to hit the first attack, but the Smeargle shook off the flame and did something strange: when the ghost spit out another Flamethrower, the painter pokémon dodged and ran towards the ghost, dragging the tip of his paintbrush tail against the stream of fire. He hopped over the stream of fire when Cortez altered his aim before slapping the ghost in the face with his tail. The albino Smeargle seemed to have used an improvised Mud-slap, getting the blue paint all over Cortez's face.

"NAH!" Cortez screamed, blindly shooting multiple bursts of flame but not hitting Picasso at all. Meanwhile, the eccentric Smeargle appeared to be dancing as his body glowed.

Quiver Dance? Swords Dance? Cody couldn't tell, but he didn't want to wait and find out. "Smog! Make yourself scarce!"

"Air Slash!"

Cortez did produce another poisonous cloud, but the Smeargle cut through it immediately with an Air Slash by slashing at the air with his tail, creating a burst of wind from the tip, hitting the ghost as well. Before the Lampent could figure out what happened, Picasso aimed the tip of his tail at Cortez and unleashed a high-powered blast of water to the face.

Hydro Pump. He knew it was over.

"Lampent is unable to battle! Smeargle is the winner!"

"Good work. Return." He recalled Cortez and tried to think up a new strategy. He knew Antonia could beat this crafty Smeargle, but he needed to conserve her for whatever Lee was saving for last. Elesa could handle the Smeargle, but as his second strongest remaining monster, he wanted her to act as a buffer for what was left. He would have used Ferrari if he was still in good shape to fight, but he wasn't, and he didn't think Reflet was ready to fill that role. He'd have to bite the bullet and use Elesa then.

The moment Elesa burst from her pokeball, she opened up with a Flash. PIcasso was not nearly as seasoned as Hank, so he was unable to adapt, getting hit by the following Double Kick. But that dance move it had used earlier must have been a Quiver Dance, because the Smeargle dodged the next few attacks without hesitation. Elesa did try to counter the evasiveness with a Shock Wave, but Smeargle threw up a Protect that endured the hit.

This thing's got quite the arsenal. "Flame Charge! Speed yourself up!"

Dodging a second Hydro Pump, Elesa lit on fire and circled around, closing in for a hit, but then the painter pokémon shot a bulbous ball of mud.

Damn it. That was a smart move. Thankfully, Elesa didn't seem too injured for tanking a ground-type move, but it wasn't even the damage that worried Cody. Getting hit with a ball of water and earth shorted out Elesa's electricity. No electric moves, Flash, or Flame Charge (which she powered with electricity), she'd have to build up her charge again. Against an extra evasive Smeargle, that was not a good sign. Thankfully, there was one move she had going for her that didn't rely on her element.

"Hidden Power!"

"Neeeiiiaaagh," the Zebstrika whinnied, shooting green orbs of energy at all angles, dispersing the Spore atrack that the Smeargle tried to use on his weakened foe. One of the orbs hit Picasso and she tried to follow up with a Stomp, which was dodged. On Elesa's second attempt, the Smeargle dodged the Hidden Power and used Protect against the Stomp. After strafing sideways, Picasso shot another Hydro Pump, Protecting against the incoming Double Kick after his last move missed.

That Protect just won't break. "Sand-Attack!"

That wasn't a move he called Elesa to use all that much, since Flash was a far more convenient way of blinding an enemy, but that was probably why the Smeargle wasn't prepared. Elesa went in again for a Double Kick and the Smeargle used Protect, but a kick didn't come. When the painter's shield fell, he dodged backwards to dodge a delayed kick, but Elesa greeted him by kicking dirt into his eyes. Taking her moment, she let out another shrill whinny as she charged up her electricity. She immediately used Discharge, which the Smeargle used Protect against. Thankfully, while the attack didn't hit the foe, it broke his shield, but he Smeargle was ready, shooting another Mud Bomb at Elesa, which she narrowly dodged.

Cody knew he had to swap Elesa out at that point. She could beat the Smeargle, but if she got hit by another Mud Bomb, it would reset her charge. Even with the Smeargle's Protect finally down, Cody didn't want to risk losing her. No, it was Reflet's time to shine.

"Mud Bomb!"

"Flash!"

Elesa got the Flash out right before Smeargle could aim his tail. The Mud Bomb missed and when the Smeargle could see again, he had to focus on dodging the Hidden Power. By her trainer's command, Elesa reluctantly landed her Volt Switch, returning to her pokeball for the second time that battle.

"Okay, Reflet! Take him to school!" Cody shouted, releasing Reflet back onto the battlefield once more.

Reflet immediately had to dodge a Hydro Pump the moment she entered the fray. She shot a Psybeam, but that move missed. Seconds later, she threw up a Light Screen to block a Flamethrower that the Smeargle had sketched from Cortez, but the shield was already beginning to crumble.

[I don't know if I can do this,] Reflet confided, dodging the second Flamethrower after her Light Screen shattered.

"I have faith in you," Cody called out. "Remember what we've practiced this week! He can't use Protect anymore, so keep aiming Psybeams at him! Eventually, you'll hit!"

Reflet followed the command, but none of her beams hit. Meanwhile, Picasso moved into a more physical approach. The albino Smeargle kept closing in with punch attacks (except with his tail), so Reflet kept having to back away as she struggled to land a single hit. She did get in a surprise Quick Attack, but the foe blocked her second attempt at the move. Finally, the Smeargle had her backed into a corner, ready to punch her again, but as the Espeon pulled up her Reflect, she simultaneously gave the Smeargle the saddest looking expression imaginable, so much so that the painter hesitated.

Fake Tears. She finally got it right. It was the combination of sadness combined with a slight, psychic-imbued mental push that forced the Smeargle to feel a little bit disturbed. But it also left him wide open for a Signal Beam that went straight through the Reflect, hitting the albino Smeargle in the chest.

"Sketch that!" Lee ordered.

"Reflet, why did you- Nevermind, don't get hit! That move has bug-typing!" There was a reason why he specifically asked her to use Psybeam earlier.

[I'm sorry, I-] That was all she could get out before getting hit by one of the Smeargle's new attacks. She stumbled back a little bit dazed and confused, but she threw out another Light Screen to guard against future Signal Beams. But she had done it too early and she knew it, since there was nothing to stop the Smeargle from running in with a punch attack. Panicked, her body started vibrating again. She had been trying to turn that into something during their training all week, but she still couldn't pull it off.

"It's now or never! Whatever you're trying to do, you need to do it and do it now!" Cody shouted as the Smeargle closed in with a Mega Punch.

"Riiiiiii!" she shrieked in her physical voice as she seemed to vibrate into a blur. The Smeargle had closed in, broke through the Light Screen, and… he missed. Because the Espeon vanished from the battlefield with a sudden flash of blue light.

Before Cody conceptualized what had happened, Reflet instantaneously reappeared on the other side of the battlefield. The Smeargle looked confused, Lee raised an eyebrow, Reflet looked terrified, but Cody just laughed.

"Holy shit," he chuckled under his breath. It wasn't Double Team that Reflet had been trying to use, but Teleport. He hadn't even thought about that move, since it was one of those moves that an Espeon could learn, but not always, depending on the individual. And when she realized what she could do, her face lifted from terror to unadulterated joy.

[I… I can teleport?] Closing her eyes, she did it again, teleporting back to her trainer's side of the field. [Holy Arceus, I can teleport!] She began rapidly teleporting across the battlefield, feeling the rush of her new power, controlling it perfectly.

"Good, you figured it out! Now use it!"

[Got it!] she replied, teleporting behind the Smeargle and hitting a Psybeam from behind. The Smeargle tried using Signal Beam, but the Espeon hit the combo again. She reacted to the Flamethrower the same way. No matter how quick Picasso had become, he couldn't keep up with Reflet's strategic, yet seemingly random teleportation.

"Spore!" Lee called out.

Her Smeargle began releasing numerous spores from the tip of his tail, but Reflet was quick to dodge and shoot them down with Psybeams. The problem was that if a single spore touched her, she'd be out like a light and prone to attack. But that was where she did something that Cody didn't expect. He had forgotten that there were a few Toxic Spikes that had been scattered outside of the battlefield's lines, but since they were produced by a pokémon, they were still in play. Between Psybeams, she used her telekinesis to pull the spike towards her at top speed and slammed it into the Smeargle's chest. The impact combined with the toxins was a shock to Picasso's system, but Reflet wasn't done. She rushed forward with a Quick Attack, but after hitting that move, she teleported a few feet behind the Smeargle and hit him in the back of the head with a Psybeam at point-blank range. By then, the rest of the spores had fallen and so had he.

"Smeargle is unable to battle! Espeon is the winner!"

[Wow, I did it,] Reflet mused happily as she looked around at the audience who gave her a modest applause for her efforts. [I mean, I had help, but I did it, right?]

"Damn straight," Cody replied, giving her a reassuring smirk. "You think you can handle one more?"

[I… I don't know… But what the hell, right?] She sounded a bit more confident, almost seeming to smile back at him. But that "smile" faded upon seeing Lee's next fighter.

Twins the seventh tier Girafarig (likely named as such for the head it had for a tail) was not a foe that Reflet would want to face. Like her, he was a psychic-type, but also had normal typing, and although Girafarig typically didn't have as potent psychic powers as an Espeon would, that Girafarig had far more experience using his arsenal. He also wouldn't be as fast, but he made up for that with far better physical attacks and bulk than she had. One or two good shots from that thing would take her down.

[Advice?] Reflet asked.

"No more playing it safe. Take risks. If you go down, take him with you," Cody told her, and she nodded back.

[I'm afraid you'll find that task to be quite impossible.] It was a dreary, tired voice that sounded like that of an old man. Cody had to assume it was the Girafarig who had said it. That was actually a violation of the rules, as pokémon were not allowed to telepathically get in the head of the opposing trainer, as that was seen as tampering. But Cody wouldn't make a fuss unless it happened again. The battle was far too fun.

Cody didn't give any orders at first. Rather, he waited to see what Reflet would do since she was riding a wave of confidence. Following some of the damage she took earlier, he didn't think she could beat Twins, but maybe she'd surprise him. Sure enough, she was still having a lot of fun with her new trick. The Girafarig immediately shot a Shadow Ball, but it missed, as Reflet teleported right above the giraffe's back, smacked him in the back of the neck with her forked tail, delivering a weak slap and a tiny shock. That not only delivered slight damage and irritated Twins, but it also disabled his Shadow Ball. Smart.

"Light Screen and Amnesia," Lee ordered.

A psychic-barrier in the form of a bubble emerged around Twins, looking more like a Protect than the Light Screens that Reflet had been using, which were more like walls. Meanwhile, the Girafarig entered a state of meditation, fortifying itself for future attacks. Reflet reacted as she had for the past few minutes of battle: teleporting. She tried to teleport above the Girafarig's back again, but she reappeared at the protective bubble, recoiling as if she had hit an electric fence.

[I can't get in! It's blocking my teleportation!] she voiced in disbelief. She kept teleporting across the battlefield, shooting Psybeams and Signal Beams at her target, only for the beams to get blocked. A few managed to phase through the shield, but they were weakened by the barrier, and in his Amnesia state, Twins didn't even flinch. It was then that his tail seemed to wake up. The creepy looking appendage began shooting Psybeams of its own, all of which were allowed access through the Girafarig's barrier. The tail managed to snipe the teleporting Espeon right before she could launch another beam attack.

[How- how did he-]

"Reflet, I know you like your new trick, but enough with the teleporting! He's predicting it! Get in there with a Quick Attack!"

The Light Screen wouldn't defend against Reflet's charge. She burst through the bubble, dodging a Stomp and striking the Girafarig's front right knee. Twins didn't react in time, falling too that knee, and Reflet began a far more savage assault. She hopped onto the Girafarig's back and sunk her carnivorous teeth into his neck, channeling dark energy through a Bite. The Girafarig let out a shriek and that was when the tail struck again, trying to bite Reflet itself. The Espeon did some fancy movements to dodge the fangs, but one good bite would end her. Once Twins was back on his feet, he began stomping and flailing about, forcing Reflet to latch even tighter as the Girafarig tried to buck her off. It was as if Reflet was a bull rider on a feral Tauros, but the Tauros's tails were also trying to kill her. She was eventually thrown off, but she landed on her feet and shot a Signal Beam at the Girafarig's chest. The bigger pokémon didn't even blink. His Amnesia meditation rendered him far more durable.

"Dance around him! Give him everything you got!" Cody shouted.

Reflet obeyed, sprinting (and occasionally teleporting) across the battlefield, dodging the Girafarig's attacks while shooting Psybeams, Signal Beams, and Swifts at her enemy, but they seemed to do very little. To make matters worse, the Girafarig had set up another Light Screen bubble, so those attacks were weakened further. Reflet had to go in on foot with a Quick Attack, but the Girafarig had learned from his mistakes, getting in a Stomp when she approached. When he moved into attacking with Psybeams again, Reflet was forced to get behind a Light Screen over her own.

[I'm out of options,] she desperately acknowledged as she strained to hold the Light Screen up against the Girafarig's assault. While holding his attack, he was stepping closer, ready to hit another Stomp. [He's smart. He's countered everything!]

"Not everything!" Cody reminded her. "Remember that thing we talked about?"

[What thing? You mean-]

"Yes, that thing!" Cody interrupting, though he was worried that maybe Reflet had forgotten. "It's now or never!"

[Got it!] With an impressive leap, she sprung high above the Light Screen, ready to shoot her strongest attack yet… only to be sniped in midair with an equally powerful, if not more so, Psybeam. Taking the beam in midair, she fell to the earth, hitting the ground with a thud. Satisfied with his work, Twins scoffed, lowering his Light Screen in the process as the referee had raised his hand.

"Espeon is un-"

Reflet's eyes opened and she instantly aimed her jewel to point directly at the Girafarig's face before critically striking it with a Signal Beam. She had just pulled off one of the oldest tricks in the book: playing dead. That was what Cody had told her in code, and it took everybody, including the referee, by surprise.

In the official battle rules and regulations for Skitrex, there was one rule that stated the following: a pokémon has only lost once it is permanently withdrawn or fully declared unable to battle. Essentially, if a pokémon was withdrawn by its trainer without the use of a legal switch or switch move, or if it was declared unable to battle by a referee (either by fainting or an extreme injury that put its life at risk), it could not compete in the battle further. However, the "fully declared unable to battle" rule was important. Professional battle referees were highly trained in making calls in regards to whether or not a pokémon had fainted. That sort of call was not always easy to make, as sometimes, a pokémon would be knocked down, looking as though it was out, but would be able to get up and fight the next second. Other pokénib incorporated an appearance of helplessness in their battling as a tactic or defensive strategy. Therefore, a rule was in place that said that a referee had to fully state who had lost and who had won in order to make things official. It seemed like such an archaic rule: if a referee raised his hand to make the call, why did it matter if the pokémon in question could keep going? Couldn't tricksters take advantage of that rule? The answer was "yes," but that sort of trick didn't always work. Plus, the measure existed to acknowledge that the referee could make a mistake in his call. Most pokémon had enough sense to know from experience that if a referee deemed them unable to fight, they were done, so monsters who still had energy left would respond. If the referee had completed his phrase before Reflet moved, she would have been out regardless of if she could go or not.

But the point was that she wasn't. After the abuse she had suffered in the past at the hands of her former trainer, she had adapted by learning a convincing "passed out" state that she would use to fool her trainer into thinking that she had fainted at his hands. She mentioned it to Cody and he asked her if she'd be okay using it in battle, assuming it didn't trigger her. She was and she used it to fool both the referee and her foe. And Twins, smart as he was, he had forgotten one of the most important laws of battle: never let your guard down.

Reflet had little left to offer, however. Even though she faked fainting, she still took that last blast at full force. She shot another Signal Beam, but it collided with a Shadow Ball, the move no longer disabled. Before the Girafarig could pull up a new Light Screen, Reflet teleported onto his back and latched her teeth into his neck again. Twins frantically tried to buck her off and use Crunch with his tail, but Reflet was prepared for the latter. Since the Disable on Shadow Ball had worn off, she could use the move on Twins again, except that time, she used it on the tail, which fell limp after a quick whip of her appendage. Still, she was exhausted and if Twins managed to buck her off, she was done for.

"Hold on tight! Use Last Resort!"

[Yes!] "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" she screamed as she began creating silvery packets of pure energy that surrounded the two of them of on the battlefield. Each packet was humming as it formed while the Espeon channeled her energy into the orbs. Twins desperately stopped bucking and started shooting Psybeams at each packet, but to no avail. Every time he shot another one, Reflet created two more. Eventually, Twins stopped struggling. Perhaps he knew that his defeat was inevitable. It was then that he turned his head to face Cody.

[Well played,] he said telepathically while giving a quick nod. It was then that all of the energy packets zoomed inward and hit both Reflet and Twins, creating multiple silvery explosions that everybody in the room could feel resonate. When the dust had settled, the Espeon and Girafarig both lied motionlessly on the battlefield. That time, there was no ambiguity on if one of them had fainted.

"Both Espeon and Girafarig are unable to battle! This match-up is a draw!"

Light gasps erupted and startled applause erupted in the audience, as this was not the expected outcome. For Cody, a draw was the best he could hope for in that match-up. It kept the battle even with two pokémon a piece. Granted, Elesa had taken some damage, but nothing too injurious. Things were looking better and better for Cody and his team.

"You were amazing," he whispered to Reflet's pokeball after recalling her. But he didn't draw Elesa's ball yet. Because Elesa was in a pokeball and Antonia was in a great ball, he didn't want to give away who he was bringing in next. He wasn't sure if Lee had been paying attention, but he had to be wary.

"You really have surprised me, Cody Storm," Lee said calmly, drawing her next pokeball. "I did not think you would have made it past Hank, but here you are as I draw my fifth pokémon. You have clearly prepared yourself for the challenge, and so, I will uphold my end of the bargain."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," Cody replied, as cold as she had addressed him earlier. He wasn't trying to earn back his challenge at the lower tier. He was there to win, and he planned to do that, whether or not Lee believed he had a chance.

"Confidence and arrogance are nearly indistinguishable at times. Make sure you know the difference." And as she threw her next pokeball, Cody threw Elesa back into the fray.

Perhaps he had spoken too soon, as he expected Elesa to be facing any pokémon other than the one who stood before him: Jacqueline IV the Persian. He felt the color drain from his face as that sleek, arrogant, jeweled cat lied down on the rubble-covered battlefield and licked her left paw, blatantly disrespecting Elesa by not taking her seriously.

New plan! Cody had expected the descendant of Jack "The Giant Killer" to be in the fight, but he figured that Lee would release her last instead of second to last. Perhaps he was the one getting played that time around? Either way, while Jacqueline was still in training, having yet to reach her prime, she was more powerful than any monster he had. Since he had doubts on whether or not Antonia would be up for the task, he knew Elesa couldn't win. So the plan was simple: Volt Switch, bring in Antonia, and go from there.

"Volt Switch!"

"Pursuit!"

He should have known that Lee wouldn't fall for that trick for a third time in a row. What was weird about the attack was that the Persian actually let Elesa hit her (not that the move did much), but as the Zebstrika was converting herself back into light, the Persian's body took on a black aura and she struck the horse down, mid-conversion. Cody had never pictured what a horse would look like if it had the wind knocked out of it by a punch to the stomach, but that was what Elesa looked like as her eyes bulged in horror and she struggled to catch her breath. Not only did that Pursuit hurt her, but that meant she wouldn't be able to Volt Switch out and she was left wide open for attack.

"Flash!"

"Swords Dance!"

Cody had expected for Jacqueline to attack, but instead, she began preparing her claws for a more powerful assault and the Flash didn't deter her from doing so. Elesa made it to her feet, pissed off, but very winded. She released a Shock Wave, but Jacqueline powered through the burst and slashed the Zebstrika across the chest. Elesa tried to rebuke with a Hidden Power, but the Persian had produced a Shadow Ball which she threw at the Zebstrika with a swipe of her paw, absorbing the Hidden Power in the process before hitting the target.

She's getting creamed out there, Cody thought to himself, cringing at every hit his pokémon took. Even if Elesa was at full strength, he wondered if she could do much better than she was then. The Persian was just far more acrobatic than she was and she was hitting like a train. When Elesa tried to stand again, the Persian sprinted in and slashed at the joints of her four legs. Elesa crashed to the ground again, still conscious, but in pain and unable to make it back to her feet. She was done for, but not ready to quit just yet.

"Discharge! Full power!"

"Assurance!"

"Neeeeeiiiiiaaaaaagh!" Elesa whinnied put the last of her electricity into one last blast and while it did damage Jacqueline, it didn't hurt her as much as Cody would have liked. Part of that was due to the Persian being significantly stronger, but it also had to do with Persian biology in general. The Meowth-line wasn't immune to electricity, but their muscles didn't suffer from fatigue as many other pokémon's would. Electric-attacks typically had a way of hindering efficient muscle movement, but such attacks did little against a Persian who was designed to counter such moves. But the fancy cat did take damage and she reversed that damage in a powerful Assurance, powering her clawed paw into the side of Elesa's face. If the horse wasn't done before, she was then.

"Zebstrika is unable to battle! Persian is the winner!" the referee announced.

"Return." He called Elesa back and grimaced. The situation wasn't pretty. Good as Antonia was, he was hoping that Elesa would have gotten more hits in after beating whatever sixth tier Lee had brought with her. His Skarmory would have to beat the Persian and then whatever was coming out afterward. But if anybody could do it, it was her. Thankfully, he had a working strategy for the Jacqueline match-up, and if it worked, winning, while still unlikely, was definitely possible.

"I told you that you were going to be my main event, my show stealer, and my anchor," he whispered into Antonia's pokeball. "Show this prissy cat what's up." He gave the pokeball a quick kiss before releasing his final monster onto the field.

As usual, most of the crowd awed at the sight of the beautiful Skarmory. Cody had taken extra care to polish her armor so that her grand entrance would be even more impressive to behold, as sometimes, presentation offered an additional layer of intimidation. However, Lee just stared, unflinching. Her Persian just continued to sit and lick her paws, unmoved, but Antonia displayed just as much arrogance, screeching as loud as she could so that she would not be ignored.

The sooner this ends, the better. He knew Antonia could beat the sixth tier pokémon Lee had left, no matter what that was, but she'd have to have enough energy left if she could even beat Jacqueline IV. Still, he had to get his strategy in play.

"Spikes around the outside!"

At any given time, Antonia only had a limited number of metal shards that she could spread. Usually, Cody would have her spread them on the battlefield, but a Persian would be agile enough to dodge them. Instead, he commanded Antonia to spread them along this outside of the plot. The command raised a few eyebrows, including Lee's, but there was a reason for his bizarre strategy. Ultimately, Cody knew he couldn't get a ring-out on the Persian, and touching the spikes that his pokémon placed would reset her count regardless. But the surface area outside of the lines was far more compact than inside, so the spikes were closer together. But Lee would have none of that.

"U-Turn!" she shouted.

"Don't stop!" Cody shouted. Lee's switch out did affect his plan, but he needed those spikes set. The Persian quickly caught up with the Skarmory and landed a headbutt (that wouldn't do much against a Skarmory) before reverting back into energy to be sucked in by her pokeball. Apparently, Cody wasn't the only one playing switch out tricks.

"That's an impressive looking Skarmory you have," Lee commented, putting Jacqueline's pokeball back on her belt. Meanwhile, Antonia had finished placing the spikes and landed in the center of the plot, waiting for Lee to send out a new enemy. "I looked up the currently active pokémon you have registered. After seeing your first five teammates, I determined that your sixth would be either your Skarmory or your Diglett, and it was easy to make a guess at which one of those you would use… Jacqueline can beat her, but I don't take unnecessary risks. Better to soften her up." And she released her sixth pokémon.

The final member of Lee's team was a Chansey without a nickname. Cody had seen numerous Chansey working in pokémon centers, but he had yet to actually battle one. At the sixth tier, that particular Chansey was tough, but for Antonia, in theory, it would be a quick battle. Chansey could endure a lot of punishment, but they were very injury prone to physical attacks, which happened to be Antonia's speciality. Still, Cody had one minor concern.

"Steel Wing!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Cody's first concern was alleviated. Chansey had a decent amount of power with special attacks, but even with Antonia's Achilles heel element, her attack wasn't super strong. On top of that, the metal spikes pulled away some of the electricity, weakening the attack further. Antonia flew through the lightning bolts and slashed the pudgy, pink pokémon across the chest. The Chansey tried hitting back, but her Double Edge did barely anything to stop the armored bird. However, even after taking significant damage, the Chansey was far from ready to fall.

"Screech!" Cody shouted out and Antonia's high-pitched voice forced everybody in the room to cringe and cover their ears, including Cody himself. But since there was little the flinching Chansey could do, he decided that the more Antonia could set up for her final opponent, the better. "Agility!"

"Skreeee!" she screeched again as she devoted energy to her speed. She circled the Chansey before flying in for a Steel Wing, but Lee was waiting for that.

"Counter!"

"CHAAAAAAIIII!" The Chansey absorbed some damage from the attack, but with an uncharacteristic roar, she threw her body against Antonia, reversing some of the power and actually taking Antonia off guard.

"Seismic Toss!"

What followed looked absolutely ridiculous, yet it somehow worked. The pudgy, pink Chansey tightly grabbed the armored bird with both of her stubby arms, and with a considerable amount of strength, she suplexed the bird, which wouldn't be nearly enough to end Antonia, but it did stun her. After the suplex, the Chansey lifted the egg from her pouch, chucked it upward, and when the egg fell back on her head, cracking open as it made contact. The silvery liquid in the egg was immediately absorbed by the Chansey's skin. Most of the injuries caused by Antonia seemed to have healed instantly upon the egg making contact.

Chansey were pretty unique pokémon, and Cody had read up on the species before the battle, just in case he had to face the one listed on the gym's website. The "eggs" on their bellies weren't actually eggs at all. Chansey were mammals who gave birth to live young and many people mistakenly believed them to be monotremes, thanks to the "egg". The eggs were full of antibodies and enzymes that could not only restore a Chansey's minor injuries, but upon using said egg, the enzymes were absorbed and recycled into forming a new egg within a matter of minutes. Theoretically, a Chansey could keep healing herself continuously. The caveat, however, was that she couldn't pull that endless energy supply off with teammates. A Chansey could heal another pokémon with her egg (as many Chansey would generously offer), but then she would lose the enzymes and would have to reproduce them on her own, which took more time than a battle would allow. Antonia would have to keep her from using the egg, or the battle would run on forever.

"Fury Attack!"

There was a reason why Cody called for that move. Rather than striking the Chansey with single, powerful strikes, hitting her with multiple smaller strikes from wings, talons, and beak was a far smarter move. Chansey could do much with her tiny arms, she could not grab hold of the moving target for another Seismic Toss, she couldn't unleash a sufficient Thunderbolt, and using Counter on a small hit would yield poor results on her part. The problem was, Antonia wasn't damaging her opponent fast enough. They could play the long game, but Cody knew his Skarmory and that she'd get frustrated and sloppy if she had to be too patient. Plus, playing the long game would lead to her tiring out before facing Jacqueline. "Steel Wing!"

"Counter!"

He expected Antonia to be knocked back again, but that time, he was prepared, and so was she. Antonia was not as shaken up that time and began an onslaught of Air Slashes right outside of the Chansey's range. A Chansey could tank indirect attacks such as those far easier, but she was being whittled down. By then, the Chansey's egg had reformed in her pouch, and like before, she tossed it up in the air to break it.

"Drill Peck it!"

Performing an aileron roll, Antonia flew forward, shattering the egg and absorbing the nutrients for herself. The startled Chansey tried to fight back with a Thunderbolt, but feeling the egg's enzymes seeping into her skin, Antonia was in a state of pure adrenaline, slamming a final Steel Wing into the Chansey.

"Chansey is unable to battle! Skarmory is the winner!"

A modest applause errupted. Just like that, his odds increased a little bit more. Cody looked at his Skarmory, beaming with pride as she proudly stood over the fallen Chansey before the pink pokémon was returned to her pokeball. Antonia had only taken a few hits in that fight (most negated by the egg), so she was still near 100%. But was 100% even good enough?

"And so, it comes to this. It was a surprising pleasure battling you, Cody Storm," Lee said, whipping out her Persian's pokeball once more. "But we both know how this ends."

I think we have two different endings in mind, he thought to himself. But he remained silent. He desperately needed to focus on the final fight.

"Finish this, Jacqueline!"

Once more, the Skarmory and the Persian stared each other down. However, the Persian seemed to recognize the gravity of the fight and she seemed to take her foe seriously. Antonia stood silently, not caring who the Persian was. At the end of the day, she only wanted one thing, and that was domination. The toughest fight of her career thus far had begun.

"Swords Dance!" both trainers ordered simultaneously. Rather than attacking each other, the Persian and the Skarmory spent their first moments powering up. It was a weird moment, as usually, moves like those were best used when one had a spare moment to not get hit. But apparently, both Cody and Lee wanted to hit as hard as they could.

"Screech!"

"Agility!"

Jacqueline avoided the Screech, choosing to strafe to her left and speeding past the foe, picking up speed and loosening up her muscles. Even if Antonia was working with boosted speed, the Persian would be far faster, albeit slightly more flimsy. But at a higher tier, some of that weakness would be negated. Antonia would have to hit hard.

"Steel Wing!"

"Skreeeeeee!" his Skarmory roared as she flew towards the Persian, readying her wing for a deadly strike… and she was stopped in her tracks. Using one of her paws, the Persian clashed with the wing, being pushed back some by the force, but ultimately not succumbing. The Skarmory desperately tried to overpower the jeweled cat, but before she could make any progress, Jacqueline swiped at her with her other paw, slamming Antonia into the ground with such force, one would have thought she had been body slammed by an Aggron. Cody was hoping that he could have brute forced his way through Jacqueline, but that wouldn't work. Thankfully, he anticipated the match-ups difficulty, and he had a plan that offered a little bit more finesse.

"Push back with a Fury Attack!"

Like with Chansey, the weaker hit attacks were paying off. Antonia threw multiple slashes and stabs with her wings, beak, and talons in a seemingly random order. The Persian blocked every attack without breaking a sweat, but because she didn't have as many appendages to attack with, she couldn't land any hits of her own, locking them into a stalemate… or so it seemed. Antonia was slowly pushing the Persian backward toward the battlefield boundary line where she had laid all of her spikes earlier right around the right side. A Persian as smart as Jacqueline would know that she could spring backward far enough to get out of range, stepping out of bounds for just a second in order to readjust, but she wouldn't be able to do that as easily with the trap Antonia had laid. There were so many spikes crowded together outside the boundary that she would likely step on at least one, which would damage her feet and slow down her speed and weaken her attacks. Doing so would give her a lingering injury that would allow the Skarmory to take advantage if the battle went on for too long. Both Lee and Jacqueline had enough sense to avoid the trap, but it would cost them.

"Dodge left!" Lee ordered, but all the Persian managed to dodge was the spikes. As she leaped, Antonia responded with a meaty Steel Wing to the ribs, knocking the Persian off her feet for the first time in the fight. The moment the cat was back on her feet, Antonia was already in her face with another barrage, pushing her to the border once more. When the Persian tried to dodge again, she got hit with a second Steel Wing.

"Take a hit and use Shadow Ball!" Lee ordered, realizing that her Persian caught in a bad situation.

That did the trick, as when Antonia used Fury Attack again, Jacqueline took two strikes from beak and talon as she charged a Shadow Ball with her mouth and swiped it at Antonia with her right paw. The Skarmory was knocked back, but she landed on her feet and Cody knew that he had to switch things up again, as the damage trade was definitely in the Persian's favor. But he had expected Lee to counter his strategy, so he had other options.

"Get into the air and use Air Slash on the outside!"

His Skarmory only sort of listened to him. She flew high above the battlefield where the Persian couldn't easily reach her without leaving herself open, and released an Air Slash at the foe, trying to test whether or not attacking from that height would be effective. When the Persian threw another Shadow Ball skyward, it ended up powering through and destroying the Air Slash. The Skarmory dodged, but she couldn't win in a projectile slugging match, so she went back to Cody's plan. By using Air Slash on the spikes that lined the outside of the battlefield, they bounced off the barricade and back into the plot. While the coverage of spikes on the field was far less dense, it would still force Jacqueline to be careful about where she stepped. After throwing another Shadow Ball, she tried to swipe some of the spikes to the side with her paws and tail, only to get hit by an Air Slash that knocked her onto her side and into a few of the spikes. Even though none of the spikes hit her feet, she could still suffer from bleed damage from a few of the punctures.

"Leap into a Shadow Ball!"

"Drill Peck!"

The command on Lee's part was clever. Even though Jacqueline could leap as high as Antonia was flying, doing so would be a very risky move. Instead, the cat would only jump halfway up and shoot a projectile, leaving her less open to attack and decreasing the necessary precision for hitting a Shadow Ball. But Antonia made an aggressive play, spinning in flight and spiraling into the Shadow Ball, cutting it in half with her beak before drilling into the pouncing Persian. That move knocked Jacqueline back into the spikes and the armored bird followed up with a Steel Wing. Cody couldn't help but grin like an idiot at all of this. Was Antonia actually beating an eighth-tier pokémon with minimal outside help? If she hadn't placed those spikes, she could very well be losing the fight, but every little thing she did was building up against her enemy.

"Slash!" Lee ordered, and her Persian knocked he Skarmory back with a strong swipe of her paw. "Now pick up your speed and charge a super Shadow Ball!"

"Take her down! Be relentless!" But Antonia could not hit the cat that was putting ninety percent of her energy into her speed and dodging the spikes. The other ten percent was put into charging the Shadow Ball in a slow charge, rather than putting all of her energy into a quick charge.

She's planning something. So he had a good response in mind. Regardless of what Lee and Jacqueline were trying to pull, Antonia would be safer in the air. When the Skarmory returned to high-flight, she shot more Air Slashes, all of which missed the evasive Persian. So, Cody decided to break out a technique he rarely called out for Antonia to use.

"Whirlwind!"

The move was powerful enough to blow an enemy around, but not strong enough to damage them like Twister or Hurricane. The last time Cody had called upon his Skarmory to use it, it was to blow a coven of wild Trevenant away that would have been dangerous, had they stuck around (the invasive species seemed to have been spreading north.) But the technique wasn't as useful against trainer pokémon, aside from making them a little dizzy, since it wasn't as though Antonia could blow them back into their pokeballs. As she flew in a fast circle, creating a vortex of wind, the spinning wind drew in and picked up the remaining spikes, forming a Whirlwind of steel shards.

When the Whirlwind was fully formed, Antonia could move it across the ground by slightly altering her circular flight. She couldn't move it fast enough to directly hit Jacqueline, but perhaps she wouldn't have to. If the vortex sucked her in, the fancy cat would be torn apart by the spikes. But the Persian kept running and kept her charge going. Beyond that, her Shadow Ball was getting even bigger than it had earlier. If that ball hit, Antonia wouldn't be able to keep flight. It was time for a calculated risk.

"Drill Peck!"

"Shadow Ball!"

Antonia left her Whirlwind, which would keep spinning in her absence, and spun into a Drill Peck, trying to hit the cat and cut the Shadow Ball in half as she had earlier. But because the Shadow Ball had been charged for so long, it was released under extreme pressure, shooting at lightspeed and sniping the Skarmory in midair. The armored bird let out a pained screech, her body slamming into the ground. The Whirlwind continued to spin, but it was a non-entity at that point as Jacqueline pounced on her fallen foe. Slowly, the vortex disipated and the spikes fell back to the earth.

"Iron Defense!" That was another move that Cody rarely called for. Usually, Antonia's defense was strong enough as it was, but it was also because when she used that technique, it would stiffen her body and hinder her movement, including her flight. But she'd need that extra durability to endure Jacqueline's assault. The Skarmory tried to fight back, but the Persian had the advantage, hitting harder and faster. It was then when Jacqueline lived up to her lineage of countering steel-types.

"Assurance!" Lee ordered.

"Hssssss!" The Persian absorbed one of Antonia's weak hits, repaying it with a smack to her face. Then, the cat sadistically stuck one of her claws under the armor right at the joint where Antonia's right wing met the rest of her body. She struck, creating a sickening "squish" sound.

"Skreeeeeeeeeeee!" the armored bird screamed as an unprecedented amount of blood squirted from under her wing. With an enraged Steel Wing, she knocked the Persian off of herself, but that didn't help her much, as even on her feet, she was staggered and her wing fell limp, blood still flowing.

Cody had never seen her bleed since her armor grew in. And he had never seen her scared in battle. For the first time in awhile, his most egotistical pokémon looked genuinely terrified in the face of the arrogant-looking Persian, who while tired herself, still had plenty left in the tank. And the Skarmory's trainer wasn't sure what they could do.

"Iron Defense again!"

That would make Antonia even more rigid, but it bought Cody time to think while Antonia used her increased defense to block against the next wave of claw strikes. Antonia wouldn't be able to fly after two Iron Defenses and an injured wing, and she wouldn't be able to use her right wing without hurting herself. Ideally, she would use Roost, but she had yet to grasp that move. It looked like an unwinnable situation, but Cody and his team had been in those many times before. He just needed to think of something new and he needed to think it up fast.

One thing had to change: because she bulked up with Iron Defense, Antonia was too slow to keep up with the cat. She'd have to speed up again if she wanted to win, sacrificing her defense in the process and hoping she wouldn't take any more heavy hits.

She just needs an opening. "Roar!"

"SKROOOOOOAAAAAAR!" she screeched, but at a louder and significantly lower pitch while her bloodshot eyes narrowed in absolute rage. It was another move that she rarely used, usually because she didn't have to. Most opponents naturally feared the apex predator, but against the arrogant Persian, she had to pull out all the stops. And for the first time in the fight, Jacqueline backed away, clearly anxious of the Skarmory's second wind. Cody doubted that the Persian would have been afraid from an earlier Roar when she was in much better health, but seeing a savage, blood-soaked Skarmory absorbing all of that abuse and releasing a primal, adrenaline-fueled roar was enough to unnerve her just for a second. That was all the time Antonia needed.

"Automize into a Fury Attack!"

Automize was a move that allowed Antonia to cancel out her Iron Defenses. The technique would allow her to move more quickly, but her defenses would be shot. As she was loosening herself up, she ran forward and struck the startled feline with pecks from her beak and strikes from her left wing. However, because of her right wing's injury, she couldn't fly, and that meant she couldn't use her talons in the attack. And though her speed was increasing with each strike, she still was going too slow.

Come on, pick up the pace. Cody took his eyes off the battle to look at Lee. She was clearly shaken like she was earlier when his team had taken down Hank, but even though that surprised her, she had not expected him to get as close as he was to winning. Plus, she had more to lose than he did. If Cody lost, he could always challenge again. Plus, he had put in a better fight than anybody would have expected. And despite his cocky comment earlier, Lee could still possibly give him another challenge at the sixth tier, as she said she would consider. But if Lee lost a match that should have been a sure thing for her to win, it would hurt her pride. Cody may not have tried a humiliation opener as she had, but the thought of losing was humiliating enough for Lee. And Cody would use that to his advantage the best he could.

"Shadow Ball!" Lee shouted, her voice cracking.

Jacqueline smacked a miniature Shadow Ball into Antonia's face with her left paw before making a clean slice at the joint of the bird's left wing with her right claws. Another spray of blood, but that time, Antonia didn't scream. She didn't even flinch. Instead, she swung her freshly injured wing at the Persian. It was a sloppy slice that Jacqueline easily dodged, but the Skarmory splashed the fresh blood into the Persian's eyes. It was a dirty trick, but the armored bird only cared about one thing: victory at any cost.

Blinded by the blood, the Persian started slashing at the air in front of her, trying to get a random hit, which would have definitely crippled Antonia if she could hit, but the Automize had worked, as the Skarmory was swift again, even if she was a little slower than earlier. Meanwhile, the Persian had also slowed down considerably, as her injuries were catching up with her. And it didn't help that Antonia was now hitting Steel Wings with both injured wings, pushing through the considerable pain she was in.

"Back off and charge another super Shadow Ball!"

Finally regaining her sight, Jacqueline retreated while she did another slow charge of one of her super Shadow Balls. Anotnia tried to chase her, but even after using Automize, there was no way she could keep up on ground with a Persian. The armored bird tried an Air Slash, but the attack missed by a mile. Besides, it was weakened by her injuries and from using the attack on the ground. Plus, even if the Skarmory dodged the Shadow Ball, she was still losing a lot of blood from the cuts and exasperating her injuries. Jacqueline was bleeding too, but the fancy cat had far more energy and less severe injuries. All she needed to do was to stay out of range and eventually, Antonia would pass out before she did. Cody knew that there was only one option left: strenuous as it would be, his best pokémon would need to fly again if she had any hope of winning the battle.

He didn't even have to order her to do so. Antonia forced herself into the air and chased the Persian, flying at her top speed (for being injured), but she was still unable to keep up. She was able to get off proper Air Slashes, since she was airborne, but those missed too. Still too slow.

"Agility!"

"Skreeeeeeeeee!" Antonia screeched, clearly in agony. She pushed herself a little bit harder and got in one more Slash, but at the cost of her own energy. The output was hardly worth the cost and she slowed down again. No matter what she did, the result would be the same: either get shot by the Shadow Ball or bleed out. Antonia would need to hit one big move, but she needed to guarantee a hit.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, Cody thought to himself.But they had to try and immobilize the Persian and if Antonia couldn't hit her, there was only one good option she had. "Whirlwind! Center stage! Hold it steady!"

The Skarmory flew up again, beginning another circular flight, creating a new vortex. The Persian, still charging her Shadow Ball, tried to pounce the bird, but missed.

"Just wait it out! You won't get sucked in!" Lee shouted.

Yeah, she won't. But Antonia didn't need Jacqueline to get trapped. With the Whirlwind centerstage, it was vacuuming hard from all angles and the Persian had to keep moving to keep herself from being pulled in, which was a struggle because of her injuries. But she was still charging the super Shadow Ball and it wouldn't be much longer before she used it. Antonia finally stopped her circular flight, allowing the Whirlwind to stand on its own, but every flap of her wings looked to be a massive commitment. She didn't have much time left

"Now!" Cody shouted.

"Go!" Lee commanded.

Antonia flew straight at the Persian, her wings glowing silver for a Steel Wing, and the Persian passed the Shadow Ball from her mouth to her paw, ready to take aim..

"Lift!" Cody shouted, half a second after his previous command and the Skarmory responded by reducing her angle and avoiding the Persian's aim. Unfortunately, the Persian wasn't baited into throwing her Shadow Ball, but Antonia got a hit in, not with her wings, but with her talons, which cut from the fancy cat's neck and all the way down her back.

"Hissssssssssss!" Jacqueline growled, cringing as the sudden slash across her backside took her off guard. Still, she didn't release the Shadow Ball (she would have missed if she had.) But using the last of her energy, Antonia flew upward at a ninety degree angle, almost touching the ceiling of the room.

"Now! Brave Bird!"

"Shadow Ball! Go!" Lee shouted, clearly unnerved. But something was clearly wrong, as Jacqueline couldn't look up at her target. The cuts to the neck had done her in, so she had to take a blind shot and hope for the best.

To the Persian's credit, possibly due to her instincts, she almost hit the Skarmory, but a miss was a miss. And between her newest injury and the raging Whirlwind, she finally lost her grip and was sucked into the wind. That was when Antonia went in for the coup de grâce. She did a loop in the air, aimed into the Whirlwind, tucked in her wings, and shot straight into the vortex like some sort of metallic missile. Jacqueline tried to throw one last Shadow Ball in pure desperation, and while that Shadow Ball hit, it wasn't charged enough to do much. With a sickening thud, the armored bird collided with her target and the two slammed into the rubble below, creating a huge cloud of dust that covered the field as the Whirlwind petered out.

The crowd fell into a hush as nobody could see within the cloud of earth. Cody did his best to maintain his composure, but he knew there was a chance that Antonia had taken herself out in that last blow. If the match-up ended in a draw, the result would go to panel decision on whether or not Cody should be awarded the badge, but challenging trainers were rarely favored in those situations. He could see Lee across the battlefield, also looking on in concern, her face whiter than the albino Smeargle she used earlier. And when the dust cloud cleared, both the Skarmory and the Persian were sprawled motionless in the dirt. The referee was about to call for a draw when a squawking sound came from the bird's beak. Slowly, the Skarmory rose to her feet, although she was clearly ready to pass out herself. Looking down at the unconscious cat, she tilted her head toward the sky and let out one last blood-curdling screech. Though she just barely won the fight, she needed to let everyone in attendance know that she had taken down her fiercest opponent to date.

"Persian is unable to battle! Skarmory is the winner! Therefore, victory goes to challenger Cody Storm!"

Saying he couldn't believe it would be a lie. Despite the odds, he believed that Antonia and the rest of the team could pull this battle off. But seeing it actually happen gave Cody a high that all the marijuana in the world couldn't touch. The crowd seemed stunned as well, but still, there were wild cheers and applause. Even if a few of them hated some of his tactics, the people were still impressed with the final match-up. Cody felt as if the weight of the world on his shoulders had been lifted. He left the platform where he stood and walked over to the bloodied Antonia, who struggled to even stand, but maintained her proud posture. As he approached her, he could hear her gasping for breath, but when she saw him, she immediately moved to lean on him in the best embrace the armored bird could give, getting both the Persian's blood and her own on the battling uniform (not that Cody cared, since it wasn't his to wash.) He hugged her back, knowing that he could never repay her for what she had given.

"Skraaa…" the Skarmory wheezed while resting her head on his shoulder.

"You are a crazy, crazy bitch," he whispered, giving her a light peck on her forehead where there wasn't any blood. "But you did it. You fucking did it."

"Skraaa." She seemed pretty content with herself, moving back to balancing on her own feet.

"Dude, that was so cool!" Brooke shouted as she ran up to him, brimming with excitement. "I mean, it was super stressful to watch, but you did it! I'd hug you if you weren't covered in blood."

"You are insanely lucky, you know?" Heather commented as she approached, shaking her head, but smiling.

"Luck? What luck?" Cody asked. "We won, didn't we?"

"With a plan tailored to the two eighth tiers she brought," Heather reminded him. "She could have easily used different monsters."

"And I would have adapted," Cody answered. "I didn't know for sure what other pokémon she would use. Hell, I was planning for that seventh tier Miltank, remember? You can never know for sure what somebody is going to bring, but you can make an educated guess and go with a strategy from there. I did have to improvise a lot after Ferrari went down early, for example."

"Yeah, I guess…" Heather admitted. "But could you beat her in a seventh tier rematch if it happened tomorrow?"

"Focus on today: I don't need to," Cody reminded her. He got a smug look on his face. "In fact… technically, I'm 2-0 against Lee, so-"

"Pre-battles don't count," Heather cut in. "Plus, you didn't fight her best team."

"Man, whatever," Cody scoffed, though he smiled back at her. He finally looked over at Lee, who still stood on her platform. She hadn't moved since returning her Persian and her expression was blank. Was she trying to disassociate herself from that moment? Or was she so shocked and disgusted that she had lost that she was trying to repress her emotions? Or was it something else? He wouldn't ask, but he did need to get his badge, so walked over to her.

"Champion Lee?" he asked, his tone calmer and more respectful than the one he had used with her mid-battle.

"You weren't supposed to win this," she said, her voice cold and firm. "The plan was to utterly defeat you so that you would be put in your place after what had happened. Then maybe, you would have learned something or have had to deal with the long-term consequences of your actions. But, through intelligence, strategizing, skill, and luck, you managed to overcome what would have been an impossible task for most. So, I guess my intentions haven't been realized and I suppose that you didn't learn anything after all."

He was getting really tired of hearing about luck after all the work he and his team had put in, but he decided not to argue. "I did learn something, though," he said. "I had to develop a plan to maximize my team's output if I wanted a shot at beating you. It really pushed me to think outside the box. And when things went off track, I had to improvise. That's important, right?"

There was a silence between them as they stared at each other. Perhaps she didn't see it the way he did. So, he added another lesson.

"And I learned not to drink the night before an important battle," he added, shrugging and shining a goofy grin. But Lee was less amused.

"Regardless of what I think of your tactics or you as a person, you won this battle. So here: the Cerebral Badge." She held out and opened a black case to reveal a badge that looked like a silver-colored brain. Cody delicately took it and added it to his case.

"Thank you. It really was a pleasure to battle you, Champion Lee," he added, quickly bowing. He turned away, going back to tend to Antonia, only to hear one last thing from Lee.

"If by some miracle you do become Champion of Skitrex one day, expect my request to make a league challenge again."

He wasn't sure if that line meant that Lee respected him enough to want to fight him at the highest tier possible, or that she despised him and could not bear to see him succeed. Instead, he turned to face her again and smiled as if to say "challenge accepted."

"I would expect nothing less."

---

This was my longest chapter yet and if you made it through, kudos. Hope you enjoyed the ride, because this was the battle I've been looking forward to writing for a while. Let me know what you guys think, since Cody had to pull out some interesting tactics in this one.
Thanks for your continued support!