Harry fought a growl that was bubbling up in his throat. As much as he wanted to snarl in frustration he refused to give Remus the satisfaction of seeing him get angry. His guardian was watching him, a smirk on his face, arms crossed over his chest and an air of lazy mirth hanging about him. He'd heard from many people about the Marauders and the pranksters they were and while he saw that in Sirius (as it seemed that even fighting in two wars and becoming the master of the most dreary prison in the world hadn't made him age a day) he'd never seen it in Remus. In fact if he'd had to pick one person among all those gathered who would have been a Marauder along with Sirius, Peter, and his father, Harry would have selected Jack first, then Lance. Hell, he would have picked Clair, as Jasmine's mom did keep a steady head on her shoulders but had a cunning and wild streak in her. Remus he'd pair up with Jonas, as both were like rocks in a sea of chaos. But now, watching Remus call out commands, Harry saw the Marauder Remus all too well. There was a relaxed ease about him and a streak of mischief that had Harry both frustrated and weary. While all Harry felt was tension Remus seemed to only feel at ease with himself and the world.

His guardian flashed him another slight grin.

Harry had never hated a smile more in his life.

Their match had started out simple enough. Remus had decided to send out Reuniclus and Harry had thought for sure he had the perfect battle plan. Ludwig wasn't by far the fastest Pokémon that Harry had but he knew he was faster than the cellular Pokémon. His ghost typing was also a big plus as was the fact that Ludwig had recently learned Dark Pulse, making him a double threat to the bouncy psychic type. His Chandelure had come out with a graceful bow before rushing at Reuniclus, ready to give Remus' Pokémon a good thrashing.

And then the world around Harry had altered.

Literally.

Reuniclus had let out a little giggle before thrusting out his arm and suddenly Ludwig was moving like the air was made of syrup. Meanwhile Reuniclus' bouncing had gone from slow and steady to a strong rush that saw him not only dodging Ludwig's Shadow Ball but delivering one of his own. Ludwig had been sent spinning and by the time he'd managed to get himself stable Reuniclus had begun to fire smaller Shadow Balls that forced the now sluggish Ghost to do his best to evade. He couldn't even settle in one spot long enough to counter.

"Trick Room," Remus finally said with a clinically dry tone as Ludwig once more was forced to abandon an attack option. "It alters the physics of the arena in such a way that Ludwig is now moving much slower while Reuniclus-"

"Use the explosions for cover and get back!" Harry called out.

"-can move faster. Could I please finish my explanation?" Remus asked with a snort.

"Battle first, lecture later!" Harry called out, his mind racing to figure out how to deal with this tricky problem. 'Trick Room only lasts for a brief amount of time, roughly long enough for 4 to 5 clashes. After that Remus will have to have Reuniclus use it again if he wants to keep it going. I need to stall until I can get past it.' Nodding to himself Harry shouted, "Ludwig, focus on dodging until the Trick Room is over!"

The Chandelure nodded and fired off several blasts of Shadow Balls at Reuniclus, managing to clip the psychic type. While he was fast the attacks themselves weren't affected by the Trick Room meaning that Remus couldn't have his Pokémon just wait for an attack to get near and then order a lazy dodge. No, he had to be careful, just like Harry. And unlike Harry and Ludwig Remus didn't have a type advantage-

"Reuniclus, Psychic blast on the water! Now!"

"What?!" Harry shouted as the cellular Pokémon thrust out his hands and fired waves of mental energy at the pounding waterfalls around them, causing massive explosions of water to rain down upon the field. Somewhere to his left he heard Baby Love let out a squeal but he was too focused on Ludwig trying to shield his flames from the suddenly downpour. "How is that fair?"

"The arena is completely within limits and you can use anything in it," Remus stated. "A Pokémon using Earthquake stomps the ground, a flying type uses the wind. And Reuniclus can use the water. And not just for a rainstorm! Reuniclus, Water Bomb!"

Harry's brow furrowed as he was sure that wasn't a real attack but it didn't matter as Remus was making it one. Reuniclus wiggled his jelly-like fingers before psychically grabbing a large ball of water and pulling it towards him, bouncing it from hand to hand before throwing it at Ludwig, forcing the Pokémon to dodge. But his relief was short lived when Reuniclus formed up several more balls and sent them his way.

"Intercept with Energy Ball!" Harry called out, Ludwig changing his flames to a brilliant green and firing off the natural solar-charge energy at the water balls as they came his way. It worked to keep him from being soaked but it only meant that the field was being drenched and thus allowing Reuniclus to not have to gather as much water each time to make a new Water Bomb. "Quick, Shadow Ball!" Harry shouted when he saw a slight shimmer from the corner of his eye.

Ludwig rushed forward as the Trick Room collapsed and was able to get off one attack before Reuniclus reactivated the Trick Room. Harry cursed as Ludwig, now much closer to the psychic type, had to focus entirely on dodging as his foe was much closer and left less time for reacting. Remus merely continued to call out attacks and Harry knew that his guardian wasn't losing track of how long the Trick Room was running. That meant that trying to do another rush attack would only end the same way and while he was dealing damage to Reuniclus it wasn't enough to justify taking the counterattacks himself. He needed a plan and quick. It would have been different if they were normal damaging but the water was super effective and would take our Ludwig in only a few hits. His eyes searched the field, trying to figure out a way to hide but there simply wasn't any place to disappear to…

Harry's eyes widened as a plan suddenly popped into his head.

"Ludwig! Flamethrower everything!"

The Chandelure looked at him.

"Everything!" Harry shouted again and with his version a shrug the ghost did as commanding, spinning in a fast circle, sending out a steady stream of flames that struck the ground and the puddles of water and especially the waterfalls. Harry grinned as he felt the arena grow warmer. "Keep it up!" he called out.

"Oh, that is clever!" Jack said as Lugia once more moved to shield all of the audience.

"Remus said that the waters was in limits," Sirius stated.

Tonk nodded. "And so is the steam he's producing!" She squinted, trying to see through the cloudy mists that Ludwig had produced, but it was a losing battle and she simply couldn't make out anything past Lugia's barrier. "That will help deal with the speed issue."

"But there is still the issue of getting in too close. With Trick Room Ludwig can't dodge," Jonas said, folding his arms over his chest. "Ludwig could get in one solid hit but after that he'd be a sitting duck. He needs to come up with something else other than this."

Sirius smirked. "I think he does have a plan… but he'll need another plan on top of that to deal with Remus. If he can though…"

Remus frowned as he looked about the steam clouds, Reuniclus doing the same with little effect. Occasionally the psychic would fire off a Shadow Ball but it would harmlessly go bouncing away, hitting nothing. "You can't stall forever, Harry!" Remus called out. "Eventually you'll need to reapply the Flamethrowers to get more steam and that will leave you open. This was a clever trick but not quite clever enough. We're in the same boat but Trick Room gives me the advantage over you!" He paused, as did Reuniclus, when they spotted something shift in the mist, before guts of flames shot at them and the shape moved far faster than it should have towards the psychic type. "Clever! Hiding the arena so I couldn't tell when Trick Room ended! But you have to be better than that! Reuniclus, Trick Room and attack!" The psychic did as commanded, firing off the Trick Room before rushing towards the shape in the steam… only to cry out when it hit a floating blob of ectoplasm that had been shaped like Ludwig and set on fire. "What?" Remus called out only for Ludwig to suddenly appear behind Reuniclus.

"Dark Pulse!" Harry shouted and Reuniclus cried out as the dark attack struck his body, sending him to the ground. The Chandelure was instantly on top of him, holding a blazing arm right at the Pokemon's face, ready to attack when commanded. "Yield," Harry said firmly.

"How did you do that?" Remus asked instead, intrigued. "I activated Trick Room again-"

"Before your previous Trick Room had ended," Harry stated. "I had Ludwig come over to me to explain the plan: make a fake of himself so you thought the Trick Room had ended. When Reuniclus performed that last one he actually corrected the psychic energy so that everything went back to normal. Then Ludwig used his Invisibility Ability to get close while you chased my decoy. Now… yield."

"You haven't won, Harry," Remus said with a rueful smile. "You've traded sure footing for a finishing stroke! Reuniclus, bath time!"

Harry couldn't react quick enough and neither could Ludwig. One moment Reuniclus was pinned, the next he'd wrapped his arms around the ghost and spun the two off the main arena platform and into the waterfalls that surrounded them. After a few moments Reuniclus burst out, a bit waterlogged but fine, carrying a fainted Ludwig.

"The match goes to Remus Lupin."

Harry grit his teeth but nodded. "That was dirty pool."

"War isn't clean," Remus said with a shrug. "You can't expect your foe to let you make some grand speech or to accept that your awesome amazing counter is unbreakable. You need to have counterplans for your counterplans and be ready for anything. You won't make the same mistake again. And you can't brag about victory until you have it in hand." Harry merely glared at his guardian, not liking how he'd played him like a fool.

"So, who's next?" Tonks asked with a weak smile. "Not that I'm volunteering... I'm not following up that act, no sir!"

Jonas rolled his head back and forth, working the kinks out. "I'll go," the quieter of the Kenway brothers stated, moving to take Remus' spot.

But rather than join the others Remus walked over to Harry and laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Don't let it get to you," Remus whispered in his ear. Harry shot him a look but Remus merely shook his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Don't lie to me, I can tell it's bugging you. You can't win every fight Harry but the best thing you can do is learn from it and then move on. You can't dwell on what you could have done in one fight while in the middle of another. Send out your Pokémon and treat this like the first battle of a new round."

Harry's jaw worked but he finally nodded, Remus giving him a final hard look before walking to join the others. Jonas, to the relief of those watching, chose to call for his Primeape, Kong, to battle for him, rather than draw his sword and fire off a Pokeball from its hilt. The fighting type landed and bounced on his feet, fists clenched and ready to deliver a pummeling.

"What do you think?" Harry asked Hedwig quietly, already trying to come up with a plan to score a quick and solid win.

"Dobby would be a smart choice. Type advantage and all that."

Harry though wasn't convinced. "Ludwig had type advantage and Remus tossed us around like ragdolls. I had to resort to deception and even then Reuniclus still managed to win."

"And deception is a terrible thing?"

"It is when I feel like I only did it because I messed up. I didn't consider Trick Room for a moment when I should have already had a plan in place for that. I want to win because I was smart, not because of was desperate and lucky. I get a feeling if I send Dobby out Jonas will kick the crap out of him. No way he doesn't know how to counter Psychic types."

"What then?" Hedwig asked. "Togekiss? That would give you double type advantage."

"But I still have Clair I need to worry about. I doubt I'll luck out with both her and Lance not using Dragon types." Harry tapped his dex, changing up the Pokeballs he had at the ready before wirelessly sending the new lineup to the Pokeball holder in his artificial hand. "No, I think I need to go for a straight battle. Power for power." Making his selection and thrust out his hand, Hedwig took flight as Harry shouted, "Kommo-O! I choose-"

"Ahem!" Jack cleared his throat, interrupting Harry. "I believe you mean Vegeta?"

"I'm not calling him..." seeing how the others were just starting at him expectantly Harry finally sighed. "Fine... Vegeta, I choose you!"

The massive fighting dragon burst out of his Pokeball, roaring before looking for his target. He let out a snort, a sneer forming on his lips as he looked down at his opponent. Even without Speaking to the dragon Harry knew that Kommo-O wasn't impressed with Jonas' Primeape. The dragon had been itching for a fight and didn't see a small Pokemon that was mostly fur and limbs as a worthy opponent. "Don't judge him by his looks! Kong helped Jonas win the Johto/Kanto War! And Jonas is a member of the Elite 4!" The newly christened Vegeta merely huffed before falling into a fighting stance, motioning for Kong to come at him. But rather than take the bait the Primeape merely began to circle his foe, eyes narrowed as he studied the dragon.

"Smart move, not going for type advantage," Jonas stated.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Jonas merely raised an eyebrow and refused to respond. "I said what do you mean?"

"Figure it out yourself, Mr. Potter," Jonas said simply. While Jack would have told Harry what was going on Jonas tended to stay quiet and let people figure things out on their own. It reminded him of Snape in a way, though with less comments about someone being stupid.

Harry growled and pulled out his dex, wondering if his opponents had decided today was the day to annoy him. Normally he'd have let Jonas' refusal to comment roll off his back but after the drubbing Remus had given him Harry wasn't in the mood for lessons; he wanted a simple fight to get back into the swing of things, to find his rhythm again. Solving riddles from Jonas Kenway wasn't what he was seeking. Scanning Primeape though quickly gave him his answer and he mentally let out a sigh of relief when he saw all the available dark moves that Primeape could learn. Harry glanced up at Jonas and pursed his lips; yes, the younger Kenway would have taught his Pokémon moves to deal with his type disadvantages, just as he'd thought. That said Harry still needed to consider just what Kong might have available.

'Dark moves would be bad against Kommo-O, and Poison and Steel will just do normal damage, so whatever he has to counter Psychic and Fairy aren't my biggest concerns.' He watched as the two Pokémon continued to size each other up. 'But it's the elemental punches that could cause problems. I doubt he'd teach it fire punch... meaning that it's between Thunder and Ice. I need to pray he went with the electric attack to deal with Flying types or I'm in serious trouble.' Harry glanced up to see that Jonas was scanning Kommo-O with his own dex. 'And the problem for me is that I haven't been able to teach Kommo-O anything other than Fighting and Dragon attacks. Meaning that if he taught him Ice Punch he'll have the advantage... but if he didn't then we're on equal footing and it will be a battle of skill. And Jonas is an Elite 4 member.' Harry considered his options. 'I have one chance to surprise him though... he's been watching how I train my Pokémon but he doesn't realize I did something a bit special with Kommo-O. Let's hope it's enough.'

Pulling out of his thoughts Harry called out, "Kommo... I mean Vegeta-" he heard Jack let out a whoop and rolled his eyes, "move in with a Sky Uppercut!"

"Cross Chop, Kong!" Jonas shouted.

The two fighting types burst into action, their fists flying as they tried to hit each other. They became a blur of motion, the two both skilled enough in battling to not need their trainers to call out for them to defend themselves. Their strikes were so fast that at times it looked as if the two of them had multiple arms. Kong soon added his feet to the mixture. He began to leap about his larger foe, striking at Vegeta with all his limbs, his blows looking like flailing but Harry knew that there was an organization to the madness. Kommo-O though had his steel-like scales to protect him, meaning that while Kong was able to get more blows through his defenses they did much less damage than the ones Kong was unleashed.

Finally the two burst apart and paused, panting a little. Vegeta was glaring at Kong, a tiny trickle of blood oozing from his mouth though to Harry's surprise to see his dragon smirked slightly. Kong, meanwhile, didn't show any visible damage but Harry knew that his fur was hiding the bruises that were already beginning to form. The two of them let out grunts, clearly taunting each other, then fell silent as they waited for the command to begin the next round.

"Impressive," was Jonas' only response before he thrust out his hand. "Again!"

Kong burst into action, Vegeta not needing Harry to give the command before he went into his own attack mode. Neither got off a true attack but that mattered little as both were solely focused on countering whatever the other threw at them. The arena filled with the sound of their grunts peppered with the whooshing of air and the meaty thuds of their fists finding their marks. The two easily moved about the field, at times breaking apart only to rush forward once more in a flurry of strikes. Again and again they tossed themselves at their foe only to need to shift to avoid a blow or make a new assault. Counterstrikes fed into counter defenses that moved into counterattacks. It was breath taking and terrifying, for Harry knew that at any moment the momentum could suddenly shift and all would move to ruin or victory. Kong and Vegeta were dancing to a tune neither of them could hear the whole of and if one made a misstep the other would move in for the kill.

"Now!" Jonas shouted, Kong rearing back.

"Watch out!" Harry called out, Vegeta already moving to brace himself... only for Kong to not go for an elemental punch and instead simply return to his quick blows. Vegeta staggered, having not been ready for such a flurry, and finally resorted to spinning on his heels and forced Kong to back away lest he get an Dragon Tail to the face. "What was that?" Harry demanded.

Jonas' lips quirked up ever so slightly. "Just because a trainer calls out something doesn't mean he's actually going to attack. Sometimes it's best to let your opponent think that and open themselves up for a normal attack. Of course-KONG!"

The Primeape reared back before firing a blast of toxic goo from his mouth, Vegeta howling in outrage as it splattered onto his face, violently wiping his eyes to remove the sticky poisonous goo. Kong though didn't wait and instead moved into another flurry of punches along Vegeta's unguarded sides, making the dragon howl in annoyance and pain before darting away once more.

"Of course that also means your opponent never knows when you are being serious and when you are bluffing," Jonas finished.

Harry grit his teeth as Vegeta removed the rest of the Gunk Shot. "I'm not losing again. Kommo-O, I think it's time we show Kong what we can do!" The dragon nodded and charged forward.

"Never leave your cards on the table!" Jonas stated as Kong moved to defend. "It lets your foe-what?"

Instead of rushing Primeape the dragon moved past him, skidding to a stop even as he used his momentum to turn so he was facing Kong. The Primeape tried to turn but Vegeta wouldn't let him have a chance to defend against this. Thrusting out his hands, Kommo-O roared as an aura of energy surrounded him, swelling and contracting back and forth. The ground cracked and buckled under him but Vegeta didn't even shift, the energy allowing him to hover slightly in the air as he brought his arms together, a ball of crackling fighting energy forming between his talons.

"FOCUS BLAST!" Harry roared as the ball suddenly and rapidly expanded before rocketing at Kong, leaving a trail of energy in it's wake. The Primeape's eyes went wide and he could only try and brace himself before it struck, exploding with such intensity that all had to look away from the white glow. When the glow of energy finally faded Harry and Jonas were greeted to the sight of Kong kneeling on the ground, clutching his side in pain. He wasn't out but the attack had done a number on him. Vegeta, for his part, was panting, ready to strike again if needed.

"...what the bloody hell was that?!" Jasmine screeched.

"Focus Blast," Harry said. "Unlike most of my Pokémon Kommo-O-"

"Vegeta!" the rest of the group all called out.

"-can perform both attacks and special attacks at roughly the same power. So I decided to teach him both so that he could surprise opponents who thought he was only able to pull off one type."

Jonas nodded. "Good showing. I concede. Kong is out of it."

Lugia nodded. "The match goes to-"

Vegeta let out a roar and stomped his foot before glaring at Harry.

"What is it?" he asked, slipping into the Speaker's Realm.

"The ape is holding back!" Vegeta complained. "He isn't nearly as injured as he pretends to be! I don't know what that fool Jonas is up to but his Primeape still has fight in him."

Harry instantly pulled out of the Speaker's Realm and shot the younger Kenway brother a dark look. "You're holding back, aren't you?" Jonas opened his mouth but Harry jabbed his finger at him. "No! I'll never learn if you hold back!" He whipped around and glared at the others. "All of you are holding back, aren't you? That's why Lance used that Gyarados instead of his Dragonite and Sirius used a Dusknoir instead of Padfoot. You aren't treating this like a true fight! Like me as a true competitor!"

Lugia rumbled. "They are simply beyond you, Mr. Potter. If they were to go all out-"

"I need to see where I rank against people like them! I can't be babied!" Harry knew he was coming off like a petulant child but his anger was simply getting the better of him. "Voldemort won't hold back so all of you need to stop dancing around it and hit me with everything you've got!" He whipped around and jabbed his finger at Jonas. "Now stop going at it half heartedly and fight me!"

"...so be it. Kong... end him."

Kong's eyes flashed blood red.

Vegeta let out a delighted roar, raising his fists and gesturing for Primeape to come at him. And so he did... one moment he was yards away the next he was right in front of Vegeta. The dragon reared back before swinging only for his fist to pass through the afterimage of Kong, the ape already behind him and charging his fist with an arctic blast. Harry tried to call out but suddenly Jonas was in front of him, his mask of humanity gone as he drew back his own fist and struck Harry in the gut. He doubled over in pain only for Jonas to grab him and drive him over his knee, making Harry's vision swirl.

"W-wait," he coughed but Jonas merely tossed him to the ground.

"You wanted this, Potter," Jonas said darkly, fingers talons and teeth like daggers in the night. Harry tried to scramble back even as he heard Vegeta bellow as the Ice Punch connected and knocked him out with a single blow, but Jonas was having none of it. "You think you know better? You think you understand this training?" Jonas leapt at him, landing so that Harry's arms were pinned under Jonas' legs, the Kenway brother bringing his arm up. "This is how I fight. No ref. No restrictions. I fought and I killed and I gave no quarter. No pleas, no begging. Just this." His eyes went black as he sneered, Harry's eyes wide with fright as he saw at long last why people called Jonas 'The Fist of Johto'. It was easy to remember that Jack was dangerous as, despite his sometimes goofy behavior the Father of Johto wore his emotions on his sleeve and when he was angry everyone knew it. Jonas hid his rage and bloodlust though… and Harry had managed to get him to reveal it finally to them all. "Just death!" Jonas brought his fist down as Harry screwed his eyes shut...

...but when finally blinked he saw the younger Kenway's knuckles so close to his nose one couldn't have even gotten a piece of paper between then.

"Very soon you are going to face death on a daily basis," Jonas said, panting hard. "Don't be in a rush to throw away your childhood. Don't be in a rush to stop learning. Don't rush to meet death head on... because you will find and people all too willing to wield it. And don't be in a rush to cast aside those that want to help you." He got up off of Harry and offered him his hand. "And be thankful there are people who care about you enough to help you learn and grow... and who think one day you could be the greatest of us."

Harry swallowed before reaching up and accepting Jonas' help.

"I'm sorry. I just-"

"I know. Now prove you mean that by never forgetting this lesson... or everything else we have to teach you." He glanced at the group. "Jack, I need to work off some tension."

"Got it," Jack said. "Everyone, take fifteen." With that Jack let his own mask shatter and he rushed Jonas, the two of them colliding in a flurry of strikes and punches. Lugia formed another dome of energy around the two brothers as they sparred, leaving the rest of the group to mill about.

"They'll be fine in a few minutes," Sirius said, walking over and guiding Harry away. "I was going to suggest getting lunch any way. We still have the rest of the tournament to go." Harry swallowed when he realized Sirius was right and he still needed to face Jack, Tonks, Clair, and Jasmine.

His lessons were far from over.