I have no good excuse as to why I haven't updated this story in so long. It mostly has to do with my life and my mental health forcing me to put my hobbies on the backburner. You would think that during 2020, the year of COVID-19, I would have plenty of time to write, but in my line of employment, I'm busier and more stressed out than I ever have been.
As a refresher, Reflet recently tried eating a Darkrai nightmare for her trainer and got hurt trying to do so. Derrick Storm told Frank about his past and the Brotherhood's plans for the future. Brooke "left" the Brotherhood a few chapters back. And a new challenger has defeated the Elite Four, ready to face the Champion. If you forget details and you don't feel like digging around for them, feel free to message me.
For those of you who are still reading, you're all the real MVPs and I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. And if you're new, I hope you've had a good read thus far. I know the story isn't perfect, but it's one that I want to write.
Chapter 64: Comedown
Richard Kaiser: Champion of the Skitrex Pokémon League and a difficult man to miss. He was in his mid-forties, stood at nearly 6'5", had a shiny, shaved, bald head, wore golden hooped earrings that were so large that "gaudy" wasn't a strong enough word to describe them, and instead of the standard champion garment of grey and purple, he wore an extravagant purple champion's robe that champions wore many decades ago. But his flamboyance was far surpassed by his skill.
While he always stood out in a crowd, barely anything about his personal life had been made public, leading fans, battling enthusiasts, and tabloids to wonder who Richard Kaiser really was. "What of his family? Where did he come from? How did he and his team become so powerful? Is he gay?" Even in a world with internet and social media where information was easily accessible and discoverable, nobody could answer those questions. All that anyone knew was that Kaiser was nothing short of extraordinary as a trainer.
Daryl Jones learned that fact first hand. He had never encountered Kaiser on the global circuit, as the man rarely competed outside of the Skitrexian League, but even after hours of studying footage of the champion's battles, Daryl was obliterated in his first of five battles against the champion, having only defeated two of the opposing team members. Kaiser was just that good. He picked up on every little intricacy and flaw that the challenger had and exploited them so expertly, it was like watching a butcher cleaning meat from the bone.
The second match went far better, as Daryl had enough introspection to look at his mistakes and weaknesses and patch them up the best he could within a few days. He managed to bring Kaiser to his last pokémon: Socrates the Alakazam. Socrates was Kaiser's best pokémon, having gone through decades of training to maximize his physical and mental potential in battle. He was ranked as being in the top ten strongest Alakazam in the world and while some would argue on the actual numeric ranking, nobody would doubt he belonged on that list. The fact was that when Boss the Slaking reached that match-up, he couldn't keep up. His foe, physically fragile as he was, being an Alakazam and all, was talented at dodging attacks and leaving nasty hits of his own. Thus, Daryl Jones lost his second of the five battles for the title of champion.
Daryl did win the third battle, thanks to a crucial factor of Kaiser not using Socrates. Perhaps he was conserving his pokémon, just in case of an injury that could sideline him for the rest of the set. But with the Alakazam gone, there was nothing to stop Gallant and Boss from bulldozing the team.
In the fourth battle, it came down to Daryl having two pokémon to face Kaiser's Alakazam. Boss went in first, only to lose again, but that was when Daryl introduced Lich. He hadn't used her in those battles out of fear that her chaotic style was too great a risk. But when his Spiritomb saw the Alakazam, she sized him up as a worthy foe and did battle with him with all of her focus. Proficient as Socrates was, Lich greatly overpowered him with all of her ghost and dark-type tricks while resisting most of the Alakazam's arsenal. Even when having to resort to his mega form, something he hadn't had to do in the set up until that point, he was still outmatched. Thus, Daryl won the fourth of five battles.
The fifth and final battle… some would say it was one of the greatest recorded battles in Skitrexian history. Every pokémon was battling in optimal form without wasted movement. And while he went in with a plan, Daryl had to discard it pretty quickly. Gallant the Gallade was the first to go, fighting valiantly, but fainting too early. Lich the Spiritomb was forced into play to take out Kaiser's Cofragigus, and when it looked as though she would be victorious, she got sloppy and fell for a Destiny Bond. That was a critical error, as she was Daryl's ticket to beating Socrates. It came down to Boss and Turmoil versus Kaiser's final three. Turmoil the Electrode had an uphill battle against Kaiser's Snorlax, sustaining heavy damage, but managing to pull out a victory. It looked as if the Electrode wouldn't be of much use against Kaiser's Appletun, but with a risky play of dodging the much bigger pokémon and landing a point-blank Explosion, it managed to even the odds for its trainer… or as even as things could get.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So sending Boss to fight Socrates for the third time did not make for a promising finale. Daryl was hoping to avoid this match-up, but his hand was forced. Despite Boss's brute strength and lightning speed, he didn't have the tools to consistently win against a psychic-type as potent as Richard Kaiser's Alakazam.
"It's time to end this, Socrates!" Kaiser bellowed, his voice filling the entirety of the arena, reaching all the way out to the nosebleeds. "Psychic!"
"Boss, run!"
And run the Slaking did. He couldn't run straight toward the Alakazam, as the psi pokémon would have hit him straight on, so he ran a wide circle, just barely dodging each psychic blast. Each blast created an explosion, only evident by the visual distortion created by the blasts, looking similar to the distortion that appears above a flame. All the while, Socrates didn't move from his position, levitating a few feet above the ground in a cross-legged position, turning in the air so that he was always facing Boss. Several Psychics in, Socrates switched things up, letting go of his two metal spoons and let them orbit the height of his body, each one shooting a Psybeam from their heads. They weren't hitting Boss, but they didn't have to. Socrates was expending very little energy with his Psybeam chase while Boss was spending too much energy in his sprint. He'd have to attack eventually.
"Grooooaaar!" the Slaking roared, performing an acrobatic backflip, clearing the beams, twisting in mid-air, and charging straight toward the Alakazam. It would have taken a lesser pokémon off-guard, but Socrates foresaw it. Before Boss could hit his target, Socrates teleported right before the meaty fist landed. He reappeared behind the ape-sloth and released a Hidden Power, the orbs setting the Slaking aflame. Boss was hardly slowed by that, but as he turned around to strike again, Socrates levitated his spoons in front of the Slaking's face and they instantly bent with a quick flash of light.
"Kinesis…" Daryl groaned. The move didn't look like much, but it was a psychic-type thing. Somehow, that trick with the spoons did something to a target pokémon's brain, temporarily throwing them off their mark. Boss started throwing fists, but the Alakazam dodged each one so smoothly as he levitated backward across the field, that it looked like a fight scene from an anime. The situation favored Socrates if he wanted to attack, but he was behaving passively as he dodged, glowing with a golden light. He was boosting himself with a Calm Mind, which would allow him to produce more powerful attacks later on. All the while, Boss was exhausting himself, trying to land a single hit. It would only take a few hits to beat a squishy Alakazam, but landing them was near impossible.
When the Kinesis finally cleared up, Boss finally landed a hit… or he would have if Socrates hadn't used Reflect, creating a green, protective bubble around himself. Before Boss could even try to break it, he was struck by an unknown force of psychic energy. Socrates must have prepared a Future Sight during his Calm Mind boosting. And by the way his eyes glowed, Daryl assumed he was preparing another one. That was the dangerous thing about battling an Alakazam: they were insanely smart.
Boss immediately went in for a Brick Break, but that didn't shatter the Reflect. That… that should have been impossible, given that the technique was specifically used to break barriers. But Socrates was no ordinary Alakazam, so the Slaking would have to break in the old fashioned way. Not trying to stand still and leave himself open to attack, Boss ran circles around the protective bubble, throwing punches and at it, trying to create a crack, dodging the occasional psychic-blast that Socrates shot out between boosts. From time to time, Boss would slam his fists into the ground with a boisterous roar, working up his adrenaline, consequently boosting his power. Finally, a crack emerged. Ducking a Psybeam, and dodging another Future Sight, seemingly predicting when it came, the Slaking burst through the Reflect with a Feint Attack, although he didn't hit his target, as his target teleported behind him. But that was okay.
"Punishment!"
That was what Daryl was waiting for. The technique would hit harder against a juiced-up opponent, and being that the attack used dark energy, it would severely injure the Alakazam if not knock him out entirely. But by either pure instinct or years of battling wisdom, Socrates foresaw that as well. Extending one of his spoons, he tapped the incoming fist with a psychic zap. Just like that, Daryl's ace in the hole was dismantled by a Disable. But even though the Alakazam could disable the dark energy that Boss had focused into his fist, he couldn't stop the fist itself from slamming into his face. He blasted the Slaking back with a psychic blast and lit up his body with a white glow, using Recover to heal off the damage, the welt on his face disappearing almost instantly. Boss did the same thing with a Slack Off, though his method of recovery was far less potent. Meanwhile, Daryl felt his heart sink. Boss took all that damage just to get in one hit and Socrates healed it off in a matter of seconds.
Brute force, even with tactical precision, wasn't going to be enough. Daryl was already formulating a plan in his head. An unorthodox plan at that, but if winning wasn't in the cards that day, at least he'd go out in glorious fashion.
"Earthquake! And make it tall!"
Boss nodded at his trainer, letting out another roar before leaping straight up into the air, landing with a tremorous thud, slamming his fists into the earth. It didn't create a simple tremor, and even if it had, Socrates was levitating, dodging the attack entirely. But Daryl's command was about tactics. He had ruptured the earth of the battlefield, creating a rough terrain with the rubble rising as high as twenty feet. And as soon as it was high enough, Boss disappeared into the calamity. With a roar, he built up a Bulk Up, but after that, things went quiet. And neither trainer could see where the Slaking had gone off to. Socrates would have to put this puzzle together on his own.
The Alakazam scanned the terrain below for his prey, but saw nothing. Not surprising, as he figured that the Slaking was projecting a dark-type aura around him, similar to what he did when using Feint Attack or Punishment, allowing him to hide from the scans of a psychic-type. Dark and ghost-types did this effortlessly, but a normal-type like a Slaking would have to expend energy to stay hidden. It wouldn't be long until he couldn't keep it up anymore. He would just wait until the brutish pokémon-
CRACK!
A giant rock had been thrown from outside Socrates's line of sight. He blocked it with a barrier, but he couldn't allow such attacks. The Alakazam focused a psychic blast at the direction the rock had flown from, crumbling the tower of earth and stone that stood there. But Boss was nowhere to be found.
CRUSH!
Another rock blocked, another pillar of earth destroyed in response. This could not continue. Socrates knew that he was smarter than the Slaking, but he knew that the Slaking was smarter than trying the same trick twice. This was all a distraction. Slowly, he started to charge up an even stronger psychic blast, ready to obliterate all of the earthen towers below. But then, he heard a much larger sound as one of the towers crumbled. He turned to face it, just as Boss ran directly under him, barely escaping the Alakazam's field of vision. With all of his leg strength, the Slaking completed a thirty-foot vertical leap, his Feint Attack coverage fading when he was but five feet away. That was when Socrates noticed, but it was too late. The ape-sloth grabbed the psychic user by his feet, and threw him down into the earth below, faster than the Alakazam could react to the surprise attack. Boss's fists glowed with dark energy, having gotten his Punishment back. He fell to the earth, ready to crush the Alakazam under his fists, and just as he made contact, there was an explosion of psychic energy that disintegrated all of the earthen towers that Boss had created. Floating there was Socrates in his mega-evolution. His head had grown in size to accommodate his temporarily expanded brain. His mustache had grown longer and whiter to match the white beard that had also grown in. He had three additional spoons hovering above his head. And in that transformation, he restored any damage that the Slaking had done to him.
"Damn…" Daryl muttered to himself. He was hoping Boss could dispatch the Alakazam before this happened, but no such luck. Things just got a lot harder.
Boss tried to get another surprise strike on Socrates, but the mega-evolved Alakazam wouldn't fall to such an obvious approach, blocking with a Barrier that exploded with psychic energy as the Slaking touched it. Then, all five spoons began to circle Socrates like a wheel, each shooting out an individual Psybeam, all at the target. Boss ran, doing his best to dodge both the beams and the psychic blasts, taking chip damages from all of it as he burned through the last reserves of his energy.
"You can't keep running!" Daryl shouted, pointing at the enemy fervently. "It's still frail! Hit it with everything you got and it'll go down!" He really had no other choice than to go for a Hail Mary play.
"Please…" Kaiser muttered to himself, pointing at the Slaking who barreled forward, enduring the direct hits of five Psybeams and a barrage of Psychics. "Extrasensory!"
Right before Boss could land a Punishment, he was frozen in midair by psychic forces pushing back on each of his limbs. He managed to get one hand free and backhanded the mega Alakazam, but it was trivial damage at best before his hand got pulled back into the psychic attack. All five spoons refocused and shot Psybeams directly into Boss's chest. Beefy as he was, he was draining fast. His only chance was to escape the Extrasensory, which would weaken in time, but until then, he was exhausting his strength trying to fight against it and push forward. And then, Socrates wasn't about to let that happen. Knowing the Psybeams wouldn't end Boss quick enough, he began to charge the move that was meant to finish the Slaking nice and quick: an extra powerful Focus Blast.
"You did well today, Daryl Jones!" Richard Kaiser shouted from across the battlefield. "Better than I expected! I did not see you making it to challenge me, let alone getting me to a fifth match. I look forward to battling you again, but this is how it ends. Time to let go!"
"Let go… No, I can't. Not after all of this. I can't… wait, maybe I can. Maybe Boss can." Boss was struggling against an Extrasensory that was holding him in place, but also pushing back against the forward momentum that Boss was trying to get. Maybe that was it. But would his pokémon understand what to do when ordered? After years of training… only one way to find out.
Daryl waited. And waited. All the while, he watched Boss being weakened, but he had to call the right time. Right before the Focus Blast was released. Only then…
"Boss! Let go!"
And let go he did. Instead of fighting the psychic pressure pushing against him, he gave in and it sent him flying backward. But Daryl had called it just right as the Focus Blast was released. Boss instinctively knew how to react, as when gravity took over and he skidded against the ground on his feet, he limboed under the blast, just dodging it by mere nanometers. Flipping upright immediately, he charged Socrates again, powering through the multiple Psybeams shot from the spoons. The Alakazam probably should have teleported away, but both he and his trainer underestimated Boss's final adrenaline rush. Instead, he tried to release a final Psychic burst, but with a roar that echoed across the stadium, the Slaking burst through and broke the final barrier with a Giga Impact as soon as the psychic-type erected it, unable to maintain against the ape-sloth. His meaty fist crashed against the Alakazam's face and what followed was not a pretty sight fitting such a beautiful battle. It was a beat down, plain and simple, as the Slaking slammed both fists against the broken Alakazam's face. And before the referee called for the decision, Kaiser's face had fallen into a state of distraught. Everything happened so fast and with each punch, he saw his title being yanked further and further away. And to make sure the job was done, Boss didn't stop until the referee called for a buzzer, fearing that the Slaking wouldn't hear him otherwise.
"Alakazam is unable to battle! Slaking is the winner! Therefore, the winner is challenger Daryl Jones!"
Daryl stood on his podium, mouth agape, knees shaking, and his eyes in a fog. He couldn't hear the roar of the crowd over his heartbeat. "Holy shit…" He had done it. He couldn't believe it. In fact, even when the battle was won, he refused to believe it until the ref called for it. And even then, he still couldn't comprehend that he had won the championship. That was impossible. All his life, he had been looked down upon for being a trainer from a poor community. Even when he started winning important battles, nobody ever believed that he could beat somebody like Constantine, who was bred for success. Or Kaiser, who looked as though he had been designed in a lab to represent a region's league. No, it was him.
Staggering off the podium and out to the battlefield, he couldn't feel his legs, he was so dazed. But like a Mothim drawn to a flame, he reached Boss, who had limped toward the center of the battlefield to meet his trainer. His body was bruised all over and his fists were covered in Socrates's blood, but he happily greeted his kneeling trainer, almost collapsing on him. Daryl pressed his forehead against Boss's and let out a long sigh as if he had been holding his breath since the beginning of his Elite Four challenge.
"We did it… You, me, the team… We did it."
"Hroooh," Boss groaned in return, wheezing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Skitrex, and people across the world," the head of the Skitrexian League Council announced. "May I present to you all the new Champion of Skitrex: Daryl Jones!"
This time, Daryl heard the applause and cheers. The roar of the crowd and that intimate moment he shared with his first pokémon both energized him, helping him peer through the fog in his head. Standing up, he raised his hands triumphantly and Boss followed in suit, weakened as he was. This moment… it had been his goals for so many years, but it wasn't the end. There would be the inauguration ceremony. Then a new host of interviews. He'd get to travel and take place in champion circuit tournaments with the other champions of the world. And he would have to defend his title against anybody who made it that far. Kaiser would no doubt be vying for a rematch and would likely beat all of the Elite Four to reach his way back to the top. And each Elite Four member was entitled to one challenge per year against the three other members and a Skitrexian trainer of the council's choosing with the chance of the championship on the line. So long as he stood on top of the mountain, the challenges would never stop. Not until he'd step down, was beaten, or died. But in that crazy moment, he was determined to never let any of those things happen. He would be champion forever if he could have his way.
"Well… I did not think I would be having this conversation tonight."
Daryl turned to see that Richard Kaiser was standing by his side, his face blank with a numb expression. He was shaking, but not out of anger. Clearly, he didn't see this coming. Even though Daryl had beaten him twice before, he didn't see a third victory as being possible.
"Or this year even. I expected Chauncey Silver, maybe, but…" He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You, Daryl Jones, have bested me. Not once, not twice, but three times. So no matter what anybody says, you have earned this moment and all that follows. You are the Champion of Skitrex."
Daryl wasn't a braggart by any means, but seeing Kaiser, such a proud and powerful man, humbled… well, that made him feel smug. Nothing personal against Kaiser at all, despite his arrogance in believing that he had no chance of losing, but the win felt even better with those dueling emotions. But he was too anxious to show it. And even if he wasn't, he knew better. He was the champion now and he needed to act like one.
"Richard Kaiser, it was an honor to battle you. And I know it won't be the last time we battle. But until that day comes, I will be a champion that will make Skitrex proud. And after that day, I will do so as well." Okay, maybe he let a little bit of that smugness shine through. But his tone didn't reflect it at least.
"Good luck to you, son," Kaiser said, extending his hand. The two shook and then Kaiser left, retiring to the back to take his pokémon to be healed by the doctors.
Journalists and reporters weren't allowed on the battlefield, but they would swarm him as soon as he left. He wasn't ready for that, but looking at Boss, who was doing everything in his power just to stand, he would have to face them to get his team to the doctors as well. Their health was more important than his psyche.
"Time to face them." Giving his Slaking one more pat on the head, he returned him to his pokeball so that he wouldn't have to walk through the crowd. And taking a deep breath, Daryl Jones, the new champion of Skitrex, left the Champion's Battlefield that he would call his home for the next six years.
"So, there you have it. You think I'm crazy right?" Cody asked the social worker whose office he was in for therapy. He had just given her a basic summary of his life story and symptoms, including Darkrai, though he didn't mention anything about the Brotherhood. He doubted that the woman was a member, but he didn't want to chance it.
"Are you expecting me to confirm that?" she asked. The clinician was a grey-haired woman in her early fifties who gave off an earthy, hippie vibe, based on the way she dressed and how her office was set up. He couldn't remember what her name was. Maya-something or another.
"Yeah… I guess. I… nobody believes me. Most of my friends don't know. One of my best friends thinks I'm having stress nightmares. My girlfriend and my Espeon believe me, but they can only do so much."
"You have support, at least," the social worker confirmed, nodding. "Does that help?"
"It does, but as I said, they can't do anything about it. Reflet tried to eat one of the last nightmares, but that made her sick… I mean, doesn't that confirm that there's something more to this? Normal nightmares don't do that. I read online that a lot of trauma victims use psychic-types to eat nightmares and they don't get sick like that."
"I'm afraid I don't know enough about what makes psychic pokémon sick, given that I work with humans," she said, shaking her head. "Even so, the dream eating technique doesn't address the root of trauma. Only the symptoms. I wouldn't recommend it as a long-term remedy."
"Thing is, it's not trauma. I've experienced traumatic stuff over the past year and a half, but I started having the nightmares before I was attacked or surrounded by monsters or any of that stuff. Honestly, I don't even think about that stuff much… I mean, I get a little jumpy when I think I'm being watched, but that's about it."
"Hmm… So, you're saying that all of this has nothing to do with any possible traumatic events you've experienced…" She adjusted her glasses slightly as she scribbled something down on her paper. "This is a mental health facility. If you're right about a supernatural being coming to you in your sleep, there is little I can help you with aside from offering you empathetic support. Was there anything that you were seeking in particular?"
"Honestly? I came here because another doctor said I should… also, my friends encouraged it. Though really, I don't know if we can really do much in one session, right?"
"I would agree. One session limits how much we can accomplish," the clinician confirmed with a subtle nod. "If you find yourself staying in one place for an extended amount of time, you may benefit from seeing a therapist long-term. But since we have time today, ell me, what stressors have you been facing since becoming a trainer?"
"The usual, right?" he asked as if she would answer for him, but when she didn't, he continued. "I spend the majority of my time training. I have eight pokémon to work with right now, one of them being very new, so I have to constantly switch between them to make sure they all get their time in. When I'm not training, I'm reading. That's not even including time with my friend and girlfriend, which has been weird since Brooke has been acting a bit clingy lately, but I suppose it's better than her and Heather fighting. And it's definitely better than when Heather's boyfriend was around. Dude's a good guy, but he drives me insane. I guess I also get stress from the type of battling I've been doing lately. I've been competing in 'underground' matches and tournaments. Basically, incredibly rough battling on steroids. My win rate there and the money I've been making is great, but I always get pretty stressed during the actual fights. I have to put up a lot of money to compete, so losing takes a hefty toll. I just like the rush, you know?"
"Right… what about before becoming a trainer?"
"Well, different sorta stuff there, although some of it carried over. My brother left the family without a word, my parents started fighting and are now getting a divorce, my mother became paranoid and overprotective, though she's gotten better at that… I probably didn't make things much better on that end, though. I was always a low-key troublemaker. I definitely enjoyed getting under her skin from time to time. Honestly, I can be a dick in general. But why do you ask?"
"I just wanted to get the full picture," Maya answered. "You said earlier that you like the rush of competing in high-stakes battles. You also mentioned that you liked to cause trouble, even though it sometimes brought about stress. Would you agree?"
"Sure, what's your point?" Cody asked.
"Well, I wanted to let you know what I'm observing on my end if that's okay with you."
"Well, yeah, that'd be nice." He felt as though the social worker was just prolonging the inevitable.
"You say that the nightmares aren't trauma-based; that some creature of the darkness is visiting your mind. I'm incapable of telling you whether that's true or not, but there seems to be a common denominator in your life as a whole: anxiety. You get worried about your family and about your relationships with them. Adding onto that is the stress of being a trainer, around when you started having those dreams. You start traveling with new friends who have added an element of drama to your life. You continue to build yourself as a trainer with anxiety-inducing battles. Aside from the nightmares, you've mentioned poor sleep, low energy for which you said you started drinking coffee on a daily basis, sporadic irritability… You describe these situations as negatives, but aside from the monetary payoff, what do you gain from it?"
"Gain from it?" Cody asked.
"You mentioned that you didn't like your friend's boyfriend. Yet you traveled with him for how long? Why is that?"
"I didn't want to be alone, for one… But I also… I don't know, I could have found other people. I liked Heather enough to make it worth it."
"I see. Do you ever think that maybe you like the anxiety too?"
"Like the anxiety?" That didn't make any sense to him.
"You seem like you're drawn to anxiety-inducing situations, whether it be about pushing people's buttons, spending time with people who create drama, and engaging in activities that create intense anxiety with the chance of high payoff. Some people become used to the tension that they don't even recognize that they may be encouraging it. The question is whether or not these payoffs are worth the stress you're going through."
"I… I never thought of it that way." He wasn't sure if he completely agreed with Maya's assessment, but he could totally see where she was coming from. To an outsider, he looked like the kind of guy who would chase after drama in the same way he chased Ferrari into a swarm of Venipede. "What should I do then?"
"I can't tell you what to do. But what have you been doing already?"
"Dream journaling, although I don't think that does much… Having Brooke around has helped some… Any suggestions?"
"Well, for treating the symptoms, there are things I would recommend, such as meditation, reducing your time around stressors, or medication in severe situations."
"Yeah, I can try those other two, but not the meds. Nothing against meds, but my personal experiences with them hasn't been great."
"Even so, the other things I mentioned will only help with symptoms. For treating anxiety outside of treating any chemical imbalances, it's all about your thought process. What thought patterns lead to increased anxiety? What behaviors as a result of these thoughts lead to increased anxiety? Because we'll only have one session, it's not something we can go into depth with today, but we can talk about the basics at least. The questions for you are going to be if and why you enjoy the stress at some level and whether or not it's worth it at the end of the day. If not, what will you do to change?"
"Okay…" That seemed like a reasonable place to go with the remainder of his session. Obviously, the social worker couldn't stop Darkrai, but she could help him in other ways. Still, with the chaotic element that was Darkrai, would taking his foot off the gas pedal make controlling the car any easier? In time, he'd learn that it would. But he'd have to lose that battle before he could start winning again.
The rest of the session was pretty much what the social worker had mentioned: a lot of talking about thought processes and consequential behaviors and feelings. But as Cody had feared, one session would only get him so far. There was a big market for therapists to do one-off counseling sessions with traveling trainers, but how much a single session would actually accomplish… Better than nothing, he supposed.
How fitting for him, however, that after recognizing the underground battles were a source of stress, that was where he was going next. He found a community for underground arenas online and through that, he found out about the one in Troutberg, where he and the others currently were. There was also the strange request to pre-register for the event, which was something that was rarely asked. Usually, such events were first-come, first-serve. But the payout looked good, so he wanted in.
He found Brooke at a park near the agency he had his therapy session at. Because it was still cold out, she wore a white coat and a pink, knit hat. She was sitting on a bench, reading a book while Sunny the Sunkern sat next to her. Out in the grassy plot of land before her, covered in a light snow, Goro was wrestling with the little Grookey, repeatedly besting her in their tussles. Cody had yet to use the Grookey in battle, but her play fighting with the Pancham was good for her. It was socialization and it would help her with her battling in the long run.
"Chi-chiriii!" the monkey shrieked in joy once she saw her trainer return. She squirmed out of Goro's grasp and ran toward Cody, scrambling up his body, perching on his right shoulder, and rubbing her face against his. She was pretty clingy, which was cute for the time, but potentially dangerous down the road when she got bigger. Hopefully, she'd learn to be gentle as she grew.
"Hey you," Brooke greeted, closing her book, standing up, and kissing him quickly on the lips. "I missed you."
"Missed me?" he chuckled. "I was only gone for an hour."
"Yeah, but I don't like being in a park alone like this," she said, touching her hair and looking to the side, frowning. She definitely seemed disturbed by something, but before he could say anything, she continued. "Heather was here, but she went off to the bathroom and didn't come back. I guess she bailed."
"That sounds like her…" Even if the two of them were getting along better, that didn't mean that Heather wanted to spend time with Brooke or vice versa. Though for some reason, Brooke didn't like being left alone like that. She was never anxious about that stuff in the past. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied, the bright and beautiful smile returning to her face. "I should be asking you that. Therapy go okay?"
"Well, sure… Not like a social worker can stop Darkrai, though. Still…" He inhaled deeply, picking the Grookey up by her chest and cradled her in his arms, trying to warm the chilly money up from playing in the snow. "Do I get a thrill out of drama?"
"Did the shrink tell you that?" Brooke laughed, sounding slightly confused at first, but she put the pieces together quickly. "You like to get under people's skin, you tend to get in trouble, and you're dating somebody with her own baggage who both your mother and one of your best friends don't like. What do you think?"
"To be fair, sometimes trouble finds me." But she was right. Not that he needed confirmation. "You know, when I became a trainer, I wasn't even concerned about being the best. I figured that was a pipedream. I wanted adventure. I wanted to travel and meet people, knowing that doing so would hurt my mother, but I did it anyway. And even though I try to avoid Darkrai and the Brotherhood, I can't help but enjoy all the other craziness. Is that unhealthy?"
"Maybe if taken to an extreme, right?" Brooke asked, squeezing his left hand with her right and petting the snuggled Grookey with the other. "But you… you may be a troublemaker sometimes, but you're still pretty careful. And if you had a chance to do this journey differently, would you?"
That was a tricky question and he didn't have a clear answer. There were probably little changes he would have made along the way, but had he made those choices, would he have met some of his pokémon? Or one of his friends? Or Brooke?
"Maybe there are some things you need to work on, but overall, I don't see why you need to change," the blonde girl assured him. "I know I don't regret traveling with you."
"Yeah, same… I may have a regret here and there, but I'm happy with where I am. Darkrai or not, Brotherhood or not, I love where I am. And when things are good, they're really good. Even the setbacks aren't so bad." He thought about Reflet and how quickly she was bouncing back. He hoped that she'd never try something so reckless again and he made her promise that she wouldn't, even though he knew that she could always try again. "Honestly, despite everything I've been through and despite the future that Darkrai paints as being inevitable doom, I always have this hope, you know? That I can make it. That my team and I… we're invincible and that nothing will stop us. I gotta keep that mentality, even when it's hard, right."
"Right… I like that about you. It makes me feel safe too," Brooke said, clutching his arm.
Safe? From what? Maybe he was overanalyzing things, but that came out of left field. Brooke was always so confident and bold. She still was, but in that last sentence, and when she was expressing how she didn't like being alone in the park… something was up.
"You okay?" Cody asked, his smile faltering.
"Now? Yeah, it's just cold out," Brooke said, moving closer to him.
"No, I don't mean just right now," Cody clarified, holding her next to him, as it was cold, but he made sure she saw that he was being serious. "You've been a little twitchy lately. You hate being left alone, you're always looking over your shoulder… Is there something you need to talk about?"
For a brief moment, Cody thought he saw another unfamiliar expression flash through Brooke's face. Like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and she couldn't get away. Had that expression stuck around, he might have gotten suspicious, but before he could even process that look, Brooke smiled and turned on the charm.
"I don't know, I think it's the weed, dude," she answered, shrugging.
"The weed?" I thought that's why you're so chill.
"You know, they say it makes you relax, but it can make you anxious too," she giggled. "Maybe we need to ease off for a little bit.
"Yeah, maybe," though he wouldn't have known the difference, feeling as though his anxiety had gotten progressively worse, with our without the weed. But just like that, he had forgotten what he had even asked. The Grookey had warmed herself up and scurried back onto her trainer's shoulder. "We need to get going. I gotta drop this one off at the pokémon center so I can get a full team for tonight," he said, nodding toward the monkey.
"Right, let's go." And they left the park.
Who cares if I seek drama? As long as I keep working and preparing myself, I can't be stopped. I can't let myself be stopped. But that cautious positivity would only get him so far.
Cody had never seen an underground audience that packed. And he had never seen a tournament so large. With one hundred and twenty-six trainers signed up, the tournament was astronomically in size.
"We've been getting huge turnouts the past two weeks. Lot of new trainers trying to make it in. It's ridiculous. Where did they all come from so quickly?"
That was what the man behind the table said to him when he confirmed his registration upon arrival. There were so many entrants that the rules needed to be changed to make the night go by faster. For the first six rounds, each match would be a one versus one, using a different pokémon each time. The final round would be a standard three versus three. Cody didn't like that very much, as one-on-one matches were coin flips, but with a prize pot of over $10,000 on the line, how could he resist?
His first two rounds were nothing. He used Mars to fight a Sandshrew in the first round and Ferrari to fight a Treecko in the second. Neither of those matches lasted longer than thirty seconds. The trainers he fought had no idea what they were doing. If he had to take a guess, they had just started recently and they thought that some secret tournament would be a good way to make money. It didn't make sense to him, given that there were people who had been trainers for far longer than them. He used Cortez against a Noctowl in round three and Elesa against a Slurpuff in round four. Those matches lasted about a minute apiece. Better, but those trainers were still out of their depth. His fifth and sixth rounds were more of a challenge, where he used Bastion against a Piloswine and Antonia against a Swoobat. Those were good fights against trainers who were actually skilled. One wrong move and he could have lost
"So, I've been asking around," Brooke said as she joined Cody, who was waiting to be called to the battle platform once again. "The guy you're fighting next is a local. He's got six badges, so he should be about your level."
"Ah, okay." Cody remembered seeing him battle a few battles that night, but with how many battles had taken place over the past few hours, he couldn't remember all of the pokémon he had used. "This guy should be a good challenge, then."
"I would be," somebody said behind them. Both of them turned to see a young man in his late teens looking at them, his gaze intense. His hair was dyed bleach blonde and he wore skinny jeans and a leather jacket. But the thing that stood out about him the most was his scowl. Cody couldn't tell if he looked tough or ridiculous.
"Ah, so you're who I'm fighting next?" Cody asked, smiling and extending his hand. "I'm Co-"
"I don't care who you are," the older trainer interrupted his harsh voice cutting through the noise of the arena. "I know you're better than all of the other trainers who competed here tonight, though. All of them except me. I'm the best trainer in this town and I always win these events. You put in good effort tonight, but that doesn't matter."
Oh great, one of these guys. There was always some douchebag at underground events who would rant and rave about how they were the "best around." In Cody's experience, these guys were the most fun to beat. Seeing their dumbfounded expressions when they lost was just as sweet as the cash prize.
"I've heard this speech before," Cody replied, completely unphased.
"And you should take it seriously this time," he affirmed. "But listen, this has been a long night. I'm tired and I want to go home. So, I'm offering you a deal: save yourself the embarrassment and agree with me to call this a draw. We'll split the first and second place prize and call it a night. You'll get more money than you would have getting second. It's the best deal you're gonna get."
More than second, but not as much as first. He'd rather take second place than split the pot. Second place was still a few thousand dollars, which was still a great profit. He didn't even have to think about it. "No deal. I'm tired too, but I came to win. And losing in battle, whether it's competitive or a squash isn't embarrassing. It's an opportunity to learn."
"Look at the boy scout who wandered in here tonight," the guy snorted, but still unamused. "You really want to drag this ou-"
"Look, if you want to go home, you can forfeit," Cody answered bluntly. Not the way he wanted to win, but at least he wasn't betraying his values.
"You'll regret this," the other trainer warned before he turned and walked toward the platform that he'd be standing on.
"Asshole," Cody muttered under his breath.
"You sure that was a good idea?" Brooke asked, her face riddled with concern. "That guy looked scary."
"What, him? Does he look scarier than most of the guys I beat at these things?" Cody chuckled, self-assured. "Besides, what would you have me do? Accept his offer?"
"Of course not, but telling him to forfeit…" She shook her head slightly. "You really gotta be careful about who you piss off at places like this."
"Hey, maybe it'll motivate him if he's sooo tired," Cody mocked, shaking his head, grinning. "I hope he cries when he loses."
"Well… okay, but just be careful. And good luck." Brooke gave Cody a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back into the crowd. Cody got back onto the platform and he could already hear some of the crowd near him giving him a hard time. They would cheer for him when he won his next match, but until then, they'd always boo an outsider. But that was okay. He was getting used to the boos. He actually kinda liked them the more he heard them. He always liked to prove his doubters and haters that he was the real deal.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the underground," the announcer boomed over the sound system. "We have reached our main event of the evening! The two best trainers who have survived this grueling night of fierce battles with little reprieve. Our first contender is from out of town." The announcer paused and allowed for the ravenous crowd to boo. Ready for it, Cody closed his eyes and held up his hands, motioning for the crowd to give him all the heat they could muster. "But he's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is no fluke! He defeated three opponents tonight without taking a single hit! His semi-finals match against June was one of the most competitive bouts we have ever seen! He is the unforeseen force of nature! The thunder and lightning! He is The Storm!"
And the boos intensified. Cody smiled at the name he had started using in the underground events. He stopped using his real name to prevent any obvious connections. Then again, it wouldn't be too hard to make the connection between The Storm and Cody Storm, but he didn't expect anybody there to be following his blog.
"And our second contender is a local who has won the last five tournaments. Every battle he's won tonight was a complete wash. He is the pride of Troutberg and the beast of our underground. He is Brutal!"
The crowd roared, but Brutal acted as though he didn't hear it, his eyes fixed on his opponent, clearly pissed that he couldn't go home early and he was about to take that out on Cody.
Well, he can certainly try. Brutal... what a dumb name.
"Trainers! Ready your pokémon!... Begin!" The buzzer blared and the trainers sent out their first battlers.
The first random draw was lucky for Cody and quite unfortunate for his opponent. Even if one had limited knowledge of elemental advantage, they could have told from Brutal's face that he was not pleased with what he saw. Cody had called upon Elesa as his opener while his opponent had entered his Crawdaunt. The armored crab pokémon was formidable, no doubt, but even outside of being a water-dark type against an electric, he had numerous weaknesses that the Zebstrika could exploit.
Too easy. "Do your thing, Elesa!" he shouted, struggling to wipe the cocky grin off his face. He was so confident that Elesa could win this match that he was going to sit back and let her take care of business herself. By and large, his team was too inexperienced to battle unaided, but Elesa was smart and had memorized several maneuvers that Cody routinely ran with her. She'd be okay. This would be a good learning experience.
Letting out a piercing whinny, the Zebstrika dashed forward, her body sparking. It looked as though she was going for an obvious, straightforward attack, but not so. As she had done many times before, right before she was supposed to make impact, she let out a blinding Flash. When the light died, she had positioned herself at the Crawdaunt's side, ready to deliver an electrically-charged Double Kick, but the Crawdaunt's sixth sense activated, throwing up a Protect. It only bought him a few seconds, as the kick was strong enough to shatter the shield. The Crawdaunt lashed back, swinging a Crabhammer with one claw while shooting a Bubblebeam from the other. Elesa dodged both as she ran away, dashing a big circle around the arena. As she released several Shock Waves, Brutal ordered his crab to whip up a Mud Sport. The crab shot Bubblebeams into the dirt-covered floor and splashed the mud onto his body just before the three electric waves hit him, lessening the impact.
Clever. But Cody knew that the Crawdaunt was just prolonging the inevitable. Elesa seemed to know that too, as instead of bombarding the Crawdaunt with more Shock Waves, used Flame Charge, though not actually running at her enemy. She was just boosting her speed, allowing her to easily dodge the Bubblebeams. Then, she just focused on her inner electricity with a Charge, consequently buffing her endurance for if she were to get hit by a Bubblebeam, but that wasn't about to happen. Cody was happy to see how his fiery-tempered Zebstrika had learned some restraint when battling for the sake of strategy.
"Neeeeee," she shrieked, running in toward the Crawdaunt, looking like she was about to land a Spark.
"Guillotine!" Bruta; shouted, trying a last ditch effort against the zebra, but his pokémon missed as Elesa leaped over the crab and landed an electrified mule kick from behind. Powered up by the Charge, the Crawdaunt was finished without even landing a hit of its own. It didn't matter how tough the crab was, as Elesa countered him in typing and raw speed. At the end of the day, he was a sitting Ducklett.
"Lucky draw," Brutal bitterly shouted to Cody across the arena. "Try to luck your way out of this!" And he released his second pokémon into the arena. The pokémon looked like a bulky, blue rabbit, covered in thick, hide armor, spikes tipped in poison, and a muscular tail: a Nidoqueen.
Okay, now things are getting interesting, Cody thought to himself. He had never fought a Nidoqueen before, but he had fought Nidoking before and he knew the basic comparisons between the two. While not quite as fast or powerful as their male counterparts, Nidoqueen were tankier, able to absorb heavy hits. But like Nidoking, they had poison and ground typing. That meant that they weren't going to be affected by electric type moves unless they were soaking wet. Without Bastion to set up a Rain Dance, Elesa lost half of her arsenal. She couldn't even switch out, as she'd need to do electrical damage with Volt Switch to perform that trick. The poison typing would also hinder her, weakening her Double Kick and her grass-typed Hidden Power. And if Elesa went completely physical in her assault, she'd have to watch out for the poisonous spines on the opponent's head, back, and tail. Getting poisoned would not help her in the slightest.
Time to step in. "Take your time with this one, Elesa!"
"Time won't help. You're screwed," Brutal laughed as if he wasn't down a pokémon. "Sludge Wave!"
Sludge Wave was pretty much like Dark Pulse, except instead of dark energy, the Nidoqueen roared and her body exploded with a shit-colored wave of stinky sludge. Elesa effortlessly dodged the wave, but Brutal seemed to have planned for that, as his Nidoqueen immediately targeted the leaping horse with a Sludge Bomb. It missed, but that was far more of a close call. Similar to how Elesa had to dodge Bubblebeams in the last match-up, she suddenly had to dodge Sludge Bombs. Even if she could tank the hits, getting poisoned wouldn't help. But she kept dodging, getting closer and closer as she circled around the target. Closer, closer, and SMACK! Elesa clocked the Nidoqueen in the jaw with her back hooves. When the opponent took a swipe, she missed, only to get kicked again. Getting pissed and sloppy, the Nidoqueen tried to whip at the Zebstrika with her tail, missing again and getting kicked for the third time.
Just gotta keep that up. Safe, little hits like that on a frustrated foe would make for a slow route to victory. Or it would against a mediocre trainer. Brutal was smart and he knew to switch it up.
"Enough of this! Fake it!"
Cody didn't know what that command was supposed to mean until the Nidoqueen looked like she was going for another swipe but instead stomped into the ground, forcing an Earth Power to erupt like a geyser of dirt. That missed Elesa too, but it startled her enough that the armored-rabbit was able to land a Poison Jab with her spiked tail. One of the spikes embedded into Elesa's flesh and she let out a piercing, pained whinny before running back. Judging by her stagger, she was definitely poisoned. Poison alone would take a long time to whittle her down, but in battle, pokémon rarely fainted from toxins alone. Not only would it add chip damage, but it would also start affecting Elesa's prowess as a whole. But having been poisoned already, there was nothing left to lose. She may as well go all out.
But Brutal knew better than to let that happen. "Dig!"
"Wrooooaaar!" the Nidoqueen roared as she burrowed into the ground, leaving nothing but a gaping hole behind her. A smaller pokémon could have followed her, but Elesa wasn't the monster for the job. Rather, she looked around frantically, ready to dodge when the opponent reemerged. But the Nidoqueen never came back.
Damn, is she just gonna wait it out? She definitely could. Elesa had no way of chasing the Nidoqueen underground. The Nidoqueen could just stay down there and wait for her venom to take Elesa. A cheap tactic, but not one that Cody wouldn't have used himself, given the opportunity. The problem was that Brutal probably wouldn't do that if he was a regular at that underground event. The rabid audience wouldn't stand for it.
And just as that thought ran through Cody's head, geysers of dirt began erupting around the battlefield at random. Elesa instinctually ran around to dodge the Earth Powers, but it was only a matter of time. If the ground-type attack didn't take her, the toxins would. Essentially, the Zebstrika was screwed.
I could retire Elesa from the fight and bring in Bastion. He'd be able to chase the Nidoqueen into her burrow. But Cody wouldn't do that just yet. He had one last idea in mind, but it banked on Brutal making a critical mistake. Worth a shot, I suppose.
"Shock Wave the hole!"
Dodging another dirt geyser, Elesa neighed and ran to the hole, releasing a surge of electricity into it. The attack ran down the hole, but it wouldn't do anything to the ground-type within.
"What are you, retarded?!" Brutal shouted at Cody, almost amused, but still pissed off.
Yikes, that wasn't very PC. "Do it again!"
After running a wide circle to dodge more Earth Power attacks, Elesa got up to the hole and let out another surge before running away again. And she did it again. And again. A seemingly fruitless effort, but Cody noticed the crowd getting restless with what was happening as they started booing Brutal. They saw what the local was doing as an act of boring cowardice. Whatever the case, the jeers from the crowd and Cody's seemingly dumb actions were getting to Brutal. He had gone from wanting to take a safe victory to becoming frustrated enough to go for a more forward strategy. And from across the arena, Cody could see it in his eyes.
"Charge your power!" Cody shouted.
"Finish her!"
"Go!"
Elesa backed onto hind legs, just barely dodging the Nidoqueen's Dig before slamming her front hooves into the ground and letting out a full-strength Hidden Power. They had successfully baited Brutal into ordering his Nidoqueen back into the battlefield, only to expose her. But she wasn't done yet. With toxins flowing through her blood, there was no point in playing it safe. She just went ape on the recovering Nidoqueen, thrashing at her with headbutts and hoof strikes before the armored rabbit fell to her knees. From there, Elesa reared up and slammed her hooves against the Nidoqueen's shoulders, dislocating one. One more strike and she was unconscious.
Cody felt a sick and satisfying rush as Brutal angrily withdrew what should have been a clean counter to Elesa. Beating a pokémon in a one-sided battle was boring, but overcoming a pokémon that countered yours in every way was always fun. To see Elesa do it, despite taking heavy, venomous blows, filled Cody with pride and Elesa herself knew that she was kicking ass, neighing triumphantly and stamping her hooves, taunting the furious, red-faced Brutal. Beating with the Nidoqueen like that had gotten under his skin and Cody knew it.
"What was it you said about me embarrassing myself?" Cody shouted out, getting a few laughs out of the crowd, even if they hadn't heard the conversation earlier. That only stirred the pot further as Brutal roared and released his final pokémon onto the field.
"Tear that horse to shreds!" he shouted as the Lycanroc appeared in the arena.
Another pokémon Cody never faced, as the Rockruff-line was not native to Skitrex. He did know that the feral looking wolf before him was the midnight form of Lycanroc, evident by its long, red mane, its gangly arms, ending in sharp claws, its hunched, bipedal stance, and it's crazy, crimson eyes, only made scarier by what looked to be a sick grin as the pokémon seemed to giggle with glee. Cody would be nervous enough sending Elesa to fight this beast on her own, but after taking substantial damage? At least she had two team members to back her up. Until then, she wasn't about to back down.
"Spark!"
"Accelerock!"
The two charged each other at blinding speeds, but the werewolf-esque pokémon got the better of the exchange, knocking the horse to the ground. Before she could get back up, the Lycanroc was on her again, thrashing into her hide with his claws. A desperate Discharge knocked him back and she tried to follow up with a Hidden Power, only to be blocked by a Stone Edge. As the Lycanroc dashed away, the jagged rock that had burst from the earth burst into multiple pieces as more rocks burst from the earth, clogging the battlefield.
Damn, a Stealth Rock. Almost as bad as an enemy who goes underground. Like in his first battle for the third badge, a well placed Stealth Rock completely cut off Elesa from running. Her body wasn't built to maneuver through tight spaces and she couldn't hit the Lycanroc with a homing Shock Wave, as it would get broken up by the rocks. Whinnying, she tried to disintegrate the surrounding rocks with a few more Hidden Power blasts, but she wasn't making quick progress. All the while, the Lycanroc burst through with a Slash and then with a Rockslide, cackling with glee. He was taking some damage running through the rocks, but it was a negligible amount. It was more amazing that Elesa was still standing, but she was fading fast as the venom flowed through her veins and she breathed heavier with every hit.
"She's trapped like a fucking rat! End her with a Stone Edge!"
Cody was out of ideas. One more good hit and Elesa was down, no question. Even just running through the Stealth Rock would injure her enough to end her. And even if she could dodge the Stone Edge and the Stealth Rock, it would be about a minute before the venom made her pass out.
Okay, I'm calling it. She did amazing, but I need to retire her. Bastion can finish this. But before he could raise his pokeball to call her back, Elesa let out a huge screech, unleashing an unnaturally large Discharge. The crackling electricity burst out and around her like a half-sphere, spreading across the battlefield and disintegrating the rocks to dust. The blast also engulfed the Lycanroc, who howled in agony as he was swallowed. But just as quickly as the electricity burst from the Zebstrika, it dissipated, leaving two pokémon in an empty arena surrounded by a crowd who had gone uncharacteristically silent. But seconds later the roar of a hot crowd took over. Elesa still stood there, wheezing, her striped fur colored with trickles of blood.
The Discharge was a full discharge. Basically, when an electric pokémon poured all of their electricity into one attack, leaving them drained like a dead battery. Elesa normally didn't go for strategies like that, but she didn't have any other choice. The problem was that she had no electricity left. Normally, she could recharge by running, but she had been weakened too much to build anything substantial before the venom ended her. No electricity reduced her arsenal by half and she wouldn't be able to spark up a Flame Charge. And the move didn't even knock the Lycanroc out. He looked frazzled, but still had plenty left in the tank. Meanwhile, Brutal was twitching with anger. He seemed to realize that his chances of winning the entire battle were astronomically low, even if he beat Elesa. So at that point, he just wanted to see the Zebstrika who outplayed him suffer.
"Rip her! Rip her to shreds!"
"Okay, enough!" Cody shouted, holding Elesa's ball above his head to signal a return before the fight continued, but it went unnoticed. He had forgotten that the underground refs wouldn't recognize his request. "Elesa, you did good! Now return!"
His pokémon shot him a nasty look before she turned back to the battle, dodging a Take Down. Taking matters into his own hand, Cody tried to return her by force, but she kept dodging the light of his pokeball while also barely dodging the Lycanroc.
"Then use Volt Switch!?" he begged, but no luck, even if she did have enough electricity to use that move. Though she was a hothead, Elesa usually didn't defy her trainer's orders like that and she wanted to take that wolf out or faint trying. And despite hanging on by a thread, it looked possible. Both Brutal and his Lycanroc were getting really sloppy, going for that final hit in the most reckless, obvious ways possible. Elesa sidestepped every time, taking her time and waiting for her shot. After evading a reckless Drill Run, she released a Hidden Power at close range. The grass-type move hit hard, but it still wasn't enough.
The Lycanroc was wheezing and on one knee, looking for some sort of opening. Likewise, his trainer looked out of it, but in a completely different way. Instead, he was looking around frantically as if the answer to the battle was somewhere. And then, he saw it.
"There! Those bottles!"
At some point during the battle, beer bottles had been thrown into the arena. Cody didn't pay them much mind, as he usually went for straight battling as opposed to messing with the trash. But without a second thought, the werewolf ran toward the bottles and broke them against the ground, holding one in each hand. At first, Cody wasn't sure why Brutal would bother calling for this. The bottles only offered a marginal increase in the Lycanroc's range as opposed to him just using his claws. But it wasn't about optimization. Glass bottles would break easily and could get embedded in a foe. That was what he wanted: pain and suffering. And Brutal expected his pokémon to carry that out.
"Back up! Don't let that thing hit you!"
Elesa did well, backing up and dodging the broken bottles that were swung at her. The Lycanroc may have actually hit her if his injuries hadn't made him so sloppy. But it was paying off, as he was backing the Zebstrika closer and closer to the wall. As he backed her up close enough, Elesa had enough room to let off another Hidden Power, but the wolf leaped over it, striking down at the zebra. Elesa bolted to her right, but not without taking a nasty cut from the glass.
"Neeeeee!" Elesa whinnied, but she didn't miss a step as the blood trickled from her wounds. She was about ready to turn around and go into a Take Down, but was greeted with a bone-shattering Roar from the wolf. It didn't scare her into running away like it may have with some pokémon, but she let out a shrieking whinny as she reared up on her hind legs, her forelegs wildly waving. That was when the Lycanroc went for her chest with the broken bottles, but in thinking he was open, he left himself open as well. Elesa let loose a small burst of electricity that she had built up in the action. It wasn't much, barely damaging the wolf, but it did make him flinch. With all of her force, the Zebstrika came back down, crashing her hooves onto the Lycanroc's paws, crushing them into the ground and the glass shards inside of them, creating a sickening crunch.
The wolf howled in agony as blood poured from his paws, but Elesa showed no quarter. She turned around and Double Kicked him in the jaw, knocking him off the ground one last time before hitting him with her last Hidden Power. And just like that, the battle was won.
"UNBELIEVABLE!" the announcer roared as the arena erupted in applause. "Just like that, this newcomer arrived and defeated the Brutal, the strongest trainer in Troutberg! Not only that, he swept his team with only one pokémon! How humiliating! But here he iiisss, your winner, the STOOORM!"
Cody didn't care about the roaring crowd or the pissed off Brutal, who was screaming a long list of obscenities. He didn't even care about the money. He hopped off the platform and ran over to Elesa, who was panting. First, he checked her wounds for shards of glass. None. Then, he patted her on the back where there wasn't any blood.
"You did it, but you're so grounded, you crazy bitch," he shouted over the crowd. "You can't do this shit to yourself. If I call for you to return, you do it!"
"Hrmph," she grunted defiantly, reveling in the glow of victory.
"Congratulations, kid," the promoter said as he arrived by Cody's side with the briefcase full of winnings. He was a tall, bald man, both heavyset and muscular. With his rough-looking face, he looked as though he'd be a scary guy if one was on his bad side. "Though honestly, I was hoping for something a little less one-sided. It's better for business than someone coming out of nowhere and squashing one of my best locals."
"Hey, can't hold this one down," Cody laughed, taking the briefcase from the man. "But it was fun tonight. Glad I ca- WHAT THE- STOP!"
Everything happened so quickly, yet time seemed to slow to a halt at the same time, as Elesa let out a shriek as she fell to her knees, losing her composure as she began to writhe in agony. And Brutal was there, carrying a sledgehammer, his bloodshot eyes practically shining with fury. He was about to swing again, but Cody wouldn't let it happen, swinging at the trainer's jaw with the briefcase, knocking him over.
"Get him! Get him out!" the promoter shouted as his hired help rushed to the scene and tackled Brutal. Meanwhile, the audience had erupted with gasps and boos at what they had witnessed. Rowdy as underground arenas were, cheapshots after a battle were never tolerated.
"I'll- I'll kill you!" Cody screamed hysterically as he tried to break from the bouncer who restrained him before he could join the pile. Somehow in the chaos, Brooke slipped into the arena, taking Elea's pokeball from Cody's belt and returning Elesa to try and stabilize her injury for the moment.
"Cody, we need to go, NOW!" she shouted, trying to hold him back from the front. "Elesa needs help! We need to get to a pokémon center!"
He knew she was right, but he was like a Tauros seeing red, irrationally trying to break free and throttle the man who thought it was okay to attack a pokémon after a battle. But the further he was pulled away, the more his priorities became obvious. Getting Elesa medical help was the top priority. As for Brutal…
I'll deal with him later. Though as he'd learn, that wouldn't come to pass.
Elesa was a true badass. Even after enduring a physical assault, she stood in the operating room, keeping her weight off of her front right leg. However, she was in great pain, but she kept refusing treatment. She would need to be put under in order for them to even prepare her to operate. With Cody's coaxing, they were able to put on an anesthesia mask to start the process of knocking her out. But her strength did not offer her trainer any sort of emotional reprieve as he looked in. She didn't deserve to be attacked like that.
"What's the verdict?" he asked the doctor, a woman in her early fifties with greying blonde hair.
"Severe trauma to her right kneecap. Years ago, we would have had to put a pokémon in this condition down, but with our current medical resources, we can heal her. But she's going to have to take it easy and do some rehabilitation after the surgery. Two to three months."
Two months to three months. He had never had one of his pokémon sidelined for that long due to an injury. Usually, it was a week or two at most for a broken bone, which could be healed up rather quickly, due to their unique biology and the improvements of medication used. Two months being the low end seemed way too long, but he nodded. Elesa needed all the help she could get.
"And you said it was a Conkeldurr who did this?" the doctor asked, clearly skeptical of everything she had been told.
"Yes," he replied, blinking. He was such a bad liar, so he hoped that keeping his answers short and sweet would be passable.
"And this happened at a battle at one in the morning? Why were you battling that late?"
"I met somebody, we talked, and I wanted to battle." A reasonable enough response. And technically not a lie.
"Right…" The doctor looked at her tablet and then back up at the injured Zebstrika. "You can go wait in the lobby if you would like. Or wherever you plan to spend the night and we'll send you a text alert.
"Thanks… I'm gonna stick nearby." Not waiting around to risk getting caught in his lies, Cody mentally sent a few more positive vibes toward Elesa before returning to the lobby.
Heather and Brooke were waiting for him there, but both of them looked uncomfortable as all hell as they stood in the shadow of a tall, muscular, bald man. He wasn't there out of the goodness of his heart, but to protect his own interests.
"What did they say?" Heather asked, standing up and approaching Cody first.
"She'll be okay, but the injury is pretty bad. Sidelined for at least two months. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse." Still, not good at all.
Brooke was about to say something, but she was immediately cut off by the promoter, who stepped up to Cody, getting uncomfortably close.
"And what did you tell the doctor?" he asked in a gruff voice that was on the verge of growling.
"That her injury was a battle accident. Just like you told me to say," Cody answered, painful as it was to recount the lie.
"And I won't be expecting any pigs at my door demanding answers?" the promoter asked, still tense.
"No, nothing like that. Promise. Nobody can confirm that this happened in your underground arena."
"We'll see. If you're lying… well, you don't want to know what happens to people who lie to me."
That was definitely a threat, but Cody expected as much from a shady guy like him. "So… what about Brutal?"
"He's been taken care of," the promoter grunted. "As you saw, he took a severe beating for what he did. Additionally, to compensate you for your troubles, you'll be receiving his share of the money, minus some expenses. That's an extra five thousand. We checked phones of everybody in attendance to make sure that nobody had pictures or videos of what happened. We deleted any we found and provided them compensation for their cooperation. We can't stop any rumors that get out, but nothing that's gonna get far without evidence. Besides, it's not like you or Brutal are famous enough that this would be considered a front-page scandal. Way I see it, you got off easy tonight. So take this and keep your mouth shut." He handed the cash to Cody, but the trainer didn't bite just yet.
"I don't want that money. Money doesn't solve the fucking problem here," Cody growled, knowing that the man in front of him could crush him at a moment's notice, but he was too pissed off to care. "That man assaulted my pokémon after I beat him fair and square, even when he was using foreign objects. Give me five minutes alone with him and-"
"Yeah, I'm not gonna let you do that," the promoter interrupted, shaking his head. "He lost a lot of money tonight and he got the shit kicked out of him. He won't retaliate against us, so the case is closed. If you go and cause any problems, that becomes an issue for me. I don't need another investigation."
"You're seriously not gonna tell me anything about this guy?" Cody asked, seething as he clenched his teeth. But he knew the man would keep quiet. The young trainer knew he could try and look up Brutal himself, but there were a lot of unknowns there. Even if he tracked this guy down, he could get hurt or worse if the guy was ready for him. "Fine. I want to knock his teeth out, but it looks like you're not gonna help there. But how do I know he won't come after me or something?"
"He won't," the promoter assured, though not in a way that would provide any actual assurance. "He'll do his time. This is his way of making money, so he'll play nice until his suspension from my arena is up. And if he doesn't, we have enough dirt on him to keep him quiet. You'll never have to see or hear from him again as long as you stay out of his way."
Wait, suspension? Cody was about to burst when he heard that, but Brooke spoke up instead.
"And you're telling me that you're just gonna let him come back after what happened?" Brooke asked, holding back her anger as to not make a scene.
"Don't tell me how to run my business," he growled. "I more than compensated your friend for his damages. We're good."
"No, we're not good," Cody responded, not showing as much restraint as Brooke. "My pokémon got hurt by some asshole and I'm supposed to ignore that? I don't want your blood money if that means-"
"You don't get it, do you?" the promoter asked, far more aggressively than before. "You're getting out of this without a scratch and I suggest you take it. What did you plan to do, exactly if you decide not to play vigilante? Press charges against him? Or me? Because that would be damaging to us, and I know quite a few people who could make your life very miserable if you wanna play that game. Plus, I know who you are, kid. I've seen your blog. I was actually excited when I saw that you were signed up for tonight. A decently well known, mid-tier, social media trainer attending my event? I knew we'd be in for some good battles. But I was also surprised. I never saw a single video of you participating in underground battles on your blog. I wondered why that was, but I figured it out. It's because you don't want people knowing how you've been making this extra money, do you?"
Well, you got me there. There were a million more reasons behind that reason as well.
"Maybe you thought that if your battles weren't documented, you wouldn't have to worry about paying it back in taxes? Maybe you didn't want your mother finding out about what you were doing? But ultimately, it's because you don't want your fans, followers, or any 'respectable' trainers to know what you're doing, right? I ain't stupid. What I run isn't illegal, but it's not the sort of battling you put on a résumé. You don't want the world knowing that you've been playing in the underground scene. I can respect a man's privacy, but I record all the battles, just for situations like these. So tell me, if I were to put that video up, how does your following react when they see you in my arena with your Zebstrika getting hurt? Sure, it wasn't your fault that it happened, but what would they think about you willingly battling in a place they think is dangerous? What happens down the road when you try to get sponsors? Your name will be stained."
In that moment, he didn't even care about what his fans thought. He didn't care about how it could affect his career. But he knew things would be made more complicated and he didn't need this man or his shady associates putting him, his pokémon, or his friends in danger. he took a step back at that, backing away from the red-faced promoter.
"Your secret stays in the underground if you keep it to yourself," the promoter continued. "Nobody is allowed to use recording equipment in my arena and we double-checked everybody on their way out. Like I said, the last thing I need is an investigation. As for you, you won't have to worry about me blackmailing you or anything like that. I just want to run my arena without anybody sniffing about. So do yourself a favor and play nice. Because I won't." He glared at Cody and then at the two girls who stood by his sides. "Stay out of my arena," he said before turning around and leaving.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "I don't even know what to do about this."
"There is nothing you can do," Brooke whispered soothingly. "I know it sucks, but you heard what he said. You have to think about what's best for you and your team. Besides, if you say anything, who knows what he and his friends could do. He probably knows underground promoters across Skitrex."
"But what about that guy? He pretty much got a slap on the wrist. And what about Elesa? This isn't justice for her!"
"Cody, yours and your pokémon's safety are more important than justice," Heather reminded him. "We don't need another underground organization following us around."
"I just… this was my fault," Cody sighed as he realized how helpless he was. "Elesa wouldn't have been hurt if-"
"Pokémon get injured all the time," Heather reminded him. "This sort of thing could have happened with any sore loser you battled."
"True, but I should have known better. Underground battles are inherently more dangerous. The people who attend them are inherently more unpredictable. I increased my chances of danger and look what happened: Elesa got seriously injured and it could have been much worse… that therapist was right. I look for trouble and look where it got me." He shook his head, looking up into space. "No more. My underground battling days are over. It doesn't matter how much money I make. None of it's worth their health. I was an idiot for thinking that I could get away with it for so long…" He looked down at the wad of cash in his hand. It was more money than he had ever seen at once. It was enough for him to live comfortably on the road for a while. But he didn't deserve that money. Not a single dollar of it.
"So, what are you gonna do with all of that?" Brooke asked, looking down at the money in his hand. "It's a lot to be carrying around all at once."
"You're right." But he couldn't deposit it either. If the bank saw all that money come in at once from a six-badge trainer, they'd have a lot of questions for him. "I could find a charity to unload it to, but I don't know any good charities. I guess I'll keep it at the bottom of my backpack where nobody can find it. But the money isn't for me. Not for food, or hotels, or anything. It's for my pokémon. I'll spend it all on their care. Because they deserve it more than I do."
Underground battles were thrilling and profitable, but no more. And despite how overwhelmed he felt and how much he worried about Elesa's health, he felt as though his decision lifted the weight from his shoulders. It felt soothing... yet unnatural. Still, it was a high he could live without.
As per usual, alert me of any grammatical or continuity errors. The next chapter should be shorter so I hope the wait isn't as long. Next gym battle coming soon.