A/N: Finally, let's get this gym battle underway! Ice gyms are always pretty easy in-game, let's hope Melony is a bit better on paper (or I guess, onscreen) than in practice.

The next morning, I awoke to a chill in the air, even though I knew it was just in my imagination. Hop had already run downstairs for breakfast, so I had the entire suite to myself. I took a quick shower, pulled my hair tightly into a bun and grabbed my six Pokéballs, throwing them all up in the air so my team could join me in the room. There was a brilliant flash of white light, and I saw six faces eagerly staring at me. Bewear and Boltund cocked their heads with curiosity towards Sneasel, while Cinderace stared at me intently. Vibrava landed on Hop's bed and Sneasel leaned up against him, arms folded defiantly.

"Alright," I said, noticing a lump in my throat that paired nicely with my heartbeat that had quickened with nerves. "I know I don't do a…a team speech or anything before these gym battles, but this is a big one and I need to get my head on right so bear with me for now.

"Melony uses ice types, which means if we can't handle the cold, we're completely out of luck. We're probably looking at another four-on-four matchup, so I have to choose who gets to stay carefully. Vibrava, I think you should sit this one out." Vibrava looked down when I mentioned his name, but his eyes were far too big on his head for him to hide the sense of relief that washed over his face upon finding out he wouldn't have to deal with the frosty firepower.

"Sneasel?" I said, glancing over to the small Pokémon. "I know you're right at home in the cold, but I haven't gotten a chance to see what you're made of. I don't know if I feel comfortable throwing you out into a major battle with no prior experience together. Hope you don't mind." Sneasel shrugged and walked over to the minifridge that was between the beds and the television, clearly smelling where the snacks were.

"And then that means you four are all that's left," I said, turning to the rest of them. "Bewear, Cinderace, you're more than ready for this. You're my aces in the hole. Boltund, I may have a big ask for you if Melony uses Lapras, but I've seen you fry big water types before, so I think we'll be okay. And as for you—" I said, turning to Ponyta. "Unfortunately, you're my weak link. You were mad helpful against Opal, but it'll be rough for you out there. Give it your all and I know it'll be enough. You all ready to rock?"

The four of them cried in excitement. They were ready. I hoped I was, too.

Melony greeted Hop and me as we made our way to the stadium.

"It's a beautiful building, isn't it?" she asked, gesturing behind her. Beautiful was…a word. It shared the same cocoon shape that made up Bea's, Nessa's, and Milo's gym, but its walls were almost pure white. Upon closer inspection, they were made of glass just the same as Nessa's, but not only was it reflecting the snow-capped mountains surrounding it, but most of the glass panels had also frosted over, making the whole thing look like a giant crystal. "I was sort of hoping for a more classical look, like Kabu's or Raihan's gym," Melony sighed, "something that would fit all these old buildings around it, you know? Ah, but what'll you do?"

"It looks great," I said earnestly.

"Brownie points won't make me go easy on you, sweetie," Melony said with a wink and a nod.

"Good," I retorted. "I was afraid I wouldn't get any challenge at all."

Melony snickered. "I remember being so young and fiery. Better not let me freeze your momentum." Hop laughed, a little too loudly, which Melony indulged in before continuing. "You see that you're the first in a double-header tonight?"

"I am?"

Melony nodded. "You and Marnie both. They're set to begin once we're through."

"Right," I said. "Better beat you quickly then, so hers doesn't get held too late."

"Hot words alone won't melt me," she shot back.

"Sorry, but Kabu's temperature puns are better," I said with a smirk.

She opened her mouth to respond, but only shook her head and laughed. "I'll let you have that one, Gloria. See you on the pitch." And with that, she opened the door for us, and we walked into the gym.

After a quick registration, I stood in front of the floor length mirror in the locker room looking at myself in my challenger's outfit. It seemed to hang a little looser than it did at the start of the challenge. Had I gotten a little leaner from all the walking and camping? Was the fabric already getting a little worn? Either way, I hardly looked suitable for prime-time television, but I shook my head fiercely, trying to get the idea of the entirety of Galar watching me battle out of my head. "This won't the first time I've done it in prime time, and it wouldn't be the last," I scolded to mirror-me. "I am going to compete in the league tournament after all this anyway, so I'd better get used to it now."

Unless the Black Hand returns before then.

I whipped my head around, but I didn't see her anywhere. "You're not great at pep talks, Zacian," I said tentatively. She did not respond.

"Who's Aycia?" another voice asked. I turned to the other direction and saw a young man maybe five years older than me walk into view.

"N-nothing," I said quietly.

"You're Gloria, right?" he asked, shaking his head and letting sandy blonde hair fall down to graze the tips of his wide shoulders. As he approached, I noticed he was a whole head taller than me, and though I couldn't actually see them, I could still feel familiar eyes piercing through thick, blue reflective sunglasses.

"Yeah?" You're…?"

"Gordie," he sniffed. "Gordie Howard."

"Right!" I said, snapping my fingers. "You're top ten, right? I knew I recognized that face!"

He grinned and slid some sausage fingers through his hair. "Figured. It's a shame we never got a chance to formally battle. I've seen some great things in the highlight reels. Shame that my gym wasn't awarded one of the top 8 this year, even though I should have been."

"You're a gym leader?" I asked, but looking down, I recognized the logo on his challenger's uniform. There was a dark brown boulder on it. He must have been the Rock-type gym leader.

"Not yet, but it's only a matter of time. I'm bit of a prodigy in fact," he smirked. "Despite it all, it seems I've been relegated to 'warmup match.'" His smile faltered into a sneer. "Seems ill-fitting of a welcome home, but I suppose we can't all be league favorites. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go show my mu—Melony that even rock types can beat her weak ice types." And without a further word, he strutted out the door, past a Macro Cosmos employee who had just come to get him, and out towards the pitch.

The employee looked at me with a tired expression. "He didn't say anything too awful, did he?"

"No?"

"Lucky," he grumbled, and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving me alone in the room once more.

I glanced around the room again, making sure I was alone this time around. Satisfied that I was, I turned back to the mirror. "You there, Zacian?" I asked. No response. All I could hear was the distant roaring of the crowd. Gordie's battle with Melony must have started. I stared deeply into the mirror again. "You and I have to actually sit down and hash a few things out, you hear me?" I said, looking at my reflection but talking to no one in particular.

There was a soft buzzing behind me, and I turned to see my phone screen had lit up with Marnie's name front and center on it. I rushed to the bench it was lying on and scooped it up.

"Hey!"

"Oh, didn't actually think you'd—how are you doin' out there, Gloria?"

"I'm fine, littler nervous but fine," I sighed. "It's really good to hear your voice."

Marnie paused, then sighed. "Don't be such a dweeb," she growled, but I could hear her on the edge of a laugh. "Just, er, wanted to wish you luck. Dunno if I'll be able to catch your battle since they put ours so close together."

"Thanks, you too. I wish I could watch you. I'll try and get to a screen in time to watch it."

"Oh, this will be over quickly," Marnie said smugly. "Got a secret weapon this time around."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"It's a secret. You'll see soon enough," she teased.

As she did, another wave of audience excitement rang through the locker room and didn't let down. The Macro Cosmos employee quickly returned and looked at me pointedly.

"Oh damn, that was fast. Looks like I'm up. Talk to you later?" I asked hopefully.

"Only if you win," she said shortly. After a beat, she snickered, "Of course. I'll call you in a bit. Knock 'em dead, Gloria." And the line went dead. I dropped my phone back onto the bench, grabbed my Pokéball belt and made my way to the Macro Cosmos Employee, only to almost get totally bowled over as Gordie stormed back into the locker room, muttering angrily to himself.

"How'd it go out there?" I asked, but judging from his furious and beet-red face and his lack of interest in speaking to me at all, I could gather about how well it went. I hurried along and was soon walking down the tunnel with the employee. He also had no interest in speaking with me, but he did look more relieved that I was there next to him instead of Gordie. We reached the end of the tunnel, and he muttered a good luck before walking back down the tunnel by himself. I waited to be announced and jogged onto the pitch when the announcer roared my name. The audience went into a frenzy the second the stadium lights shone on my face.

Instantly, I was hit by a cold breeze. The temperature was infinitely lower here than any other gym I had been to. The floor was a springy silver rubber that had all the visual indicators of being an undisturbed snowy plain, but as I reached the edge of the battle area, I saw that inside the black line, the surface was a shiny and thick layer of ice. I shivered and looked around me. There were a few scratch marks on the ice from the battle previously, but it looked like it had just been smoothed out, by an Ice Beam perhaps. Melony stood in the center of the pitch, this time wrapped up in a thick white faux-fur coat and hat that reminded me of a place far to the North of any spot in Galar. She smiled warmly behind her layers and waved as I gingerly walked up to the ice to meet her.

"I hope my son wasn't in too much of a mood when you saw him," she said with a jolly laugh.

"He's your—oh, I can see it," I said, sharing in the laugh.

"He's really a sweet boy," she insisted. "I just don't know why we can't get along like we used to when he was a kid. I guess that's one of the parts of parenting they never really prepare you for." I nodded, thinking of my own mum. "But that's not why you're here!" Melony said suddenly. "You're here for a battle."

"Don't melt," I teased.

"Oh, I plan on freezing you solid. You'll find my battle style is quite severe." She held out her hand and I took it, and then the two of us made our way back off the ice and to our spots on the pitch.

"Challenger Gloria! Are you ready?" a referee yelled. I hadn't even noticed that he had taken his spot at the side of the pitch. I paused, then grabbed Cinderace's Pokéball, holding it aloft to signal I was.

"Leader Melony! Are you ready?" She pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket and held it daintily in front of her.

"BEGIN!"

The two of us lobbed out our first Pokéballs as the audience belted their approval, and directly across from Cinderace floated a Frosmoth, a Pokémon that almost looked as if Victor's Butterfree had fallen in a tub of bleach. The rhythmic flapping of its wings shed tiny little crystals to the ground – were they scales, or was this moth just cold enough that ice was generated by its wingbeats? Despite its obvious frailty, I knew that Melony wouldn't have chosen this bug for her team if it didn't have some tricks at its disposal.

"Start out with a double kick!" I ordered. "Don't let it get any momentum!"

"Frosmoth, Feather dance!" Melony cried.

Cinderace sped towards his target, or at least tried to. He had some trouble getting momentum from the ice under his feet so by the time he was up to Frosmoth, it had already spun quickly around, shaking even more of those strange crystals in every direction. Cinderace, now covered in these crystals, landed both kicks, sending Frosmoth back a bit but ultimately after the first trading of attacks, neither Pokémon seemed damaged at all.

"Good luck using your attacks now!" Melony taunted.

"Serves me right for not bringing the heat right from the get-go!" I grumbled. "Cinderace! Pyro Ball!"

"Icy Wind!" Melony shouted in return, but this time around Cinderace had figured out how to go about dealing with the icy terrain. He slid over to the side where the ground was not slippery and launched a big ball of fire from there. Frosmoth kicked up a gust of snow, but it was not enough to extinguish the fireball, which promptly crashed into it. A direct hit! Frosmoth faltered, then fell, bouncing off the ice and lay limp.

"Frosmoth is unable to battle!" called out the referee. I pumped my fists and Cinderace skated toward me in excitement. He slapped me five and then stood on the edge of the rink next to me, ready for whatever was next.

Melony remained cool as she recalled her Frosmoth, and though I hated to admit it, it seemed like she had wanted this all along. "Alright, Darmanitan, let's go!" She cried, throwing out her second ball. In Frosmoth's place, a second Pokémon appeared. It was an ape of some sort, standing on all fours, but a large round pile of snow and ice on its head like a turban almost made it look like a snowman.

"Easy," I scoffed, and turn to Cinderace. "Burn him with another Pyro ball, bud!"

"Taunt!" Melony ordered her Darmanitan, who simply raised its hand and gestured for Cinderace to try and take him on. Cinderace chirped angrily and launched a fireball directly to it, crashing into Darmanitan in a puff of steam.

"Taunt?" I snickered. "Like I'd need to do more than burn away your team?"

"Why don't you try it again, then?" Melony asked sweetly. I blinked, and then gasped. Sure enough, Darmanitan had somehow survived the hit – I glanced at Cinderace in shock and noticed those crystals from Frosmoth were still firmly embedded in his fur. That feather dance must have made his attacks weaker somehow!

"No matter, hit him again, Pyro Ball!" I cried. Cinderace lurched forward, ready to smash another fireball into the air, but Melony chuckled wickedly.

"You'll find fire won't help you now! Headbutt!" She cried, and right before our eyes, Darmanitan seemed to melt away into a smaller snowman, and where most children would put a carrot in its nose, a jet of red-hot fire blazed forth, like a welding torch. Cinderace balked, surprised at the stance change, but that was all Darmanitan needed. With blinding speed, it zipped across the ice towards Cinderace. Cinderace scrambled and launched a Pyro Ball out, but it swung wide, missing Darmanitan completely, and Darmanitan crashed into him, sending him skidding back to my side of the pitch.

"Double Kick!" I yelled again.

"Fire Fang!" Melony shouted, and the moment Cinderace got himself ready to rush out again, Darmanitan was on him, its mouth bursting into flames before clamping down on his leg. Cinderace screamed in surprise and pain, lashing out wildly and sending licks of fire every which way until Darmanitan finally let go and the two faced off against each other in a field that was slowly starting to become a pool of slush.

"Pyro Ball, one last time!" I roared.

"Headbutt," Melony called, bemused. Once again, Cinderace was far too slow for the Darmanitan, who crashed into him and sent him splashing back to me. Cinderace wobbled, then passed out directly in front of me.

"Cinderace is unable to battle!" the ref yelled.

Half of the audience gasped in shock, while the other half jeered ravenously. Cinderace was the ace for this match, and I already lost him. I clenched my fists, then returned him to his ball. "You got one down, and almost got the second. That's enough to keep us ahead, bud," I whispered into his Pokéball. "Take it easy. I know someone who'll be able to take a hit or two."

"Don't tell me the heat is getting to you!" Melony taunted again in her singsong voice.

"I'm just getting started!" I roared. "Bewear, you're up!" Bewear appeared in a dazzling gleam of light and roared exuberantly, to the cheers of my half of the audience.

"Fire Fang, again!" Melony yelled.

"Let it come, and counter with Revenge!" I cried. Sure enough, Darmanitan had clamped his jaws onto Bewear's arm, and it seemed to be doing quite a bit more damage than I'd hoped to Bewear, but before Darmanitan could release, Bewear threw himself backward into the slushy ice, twisting his body so that he landed on top of Darmanitan, effectively putting out the snowman from hell. Bewear rolled himself off Darmanitan and shakily stood up, looking down at his foe. Darmanitan did not rise.

"Darmanitan is unable to battle!" shouted the ref. The audience burst into half cheers and half groans again. Just like that, I had pulled ahead, but I couldn't celebrate too much. I could see the fur on Bewear's arm was singed. He might have been able to escape a nasty burn by quickly dunking himself into this slush, but that Darmanitan took a lot more out of him than it should have.

"I hope you're not getting too confident out there!" Melony shouted. "Let's go, Eiscue!" Bewear turned to face his new opponent and stared back in surprise. In front of us was a plain looking bird with black and white feathers but a massive block of ice for a head.

"Don't let her tricks fool you this time, Hammer arm!" I shouted. Bewear grunted and rushed at his opponent.

"Hail!" Melony cried, and Eiscue screamed from underneath its icy helmet, somehow creating a whirling cloud that slowly began to cover the battlefield.

Bewear's move came first, and with a powerful chop he brought his paw down, instantly shattering the Eiscue's helmet and revealing a small, squishy looking blue head inside. It chirped and sped away in the slush, seemingly unharmed by the attack entirely. As it did, chunks of ice began to fall from the clouds. I grimaced. If the hail got too bad, it could really chip away at Bewear and anyone else who I'd send out after him.

"We gotta move quickly, Bewear, use another Hammer Arm!" Bewear obliged and lumbered after Eiscue.

"Freeze-Dry, once you're done!" Melony said, and was that a laugh I heard suppressed in her voice? As she gave her order, Eiscue hopped into the slush and quickly rolled in a sturdier looking pile of ice. Once it did, it popped back up with an all-new ice mask in its place.

"Already?" I gasped.

Melony just laughed. True, the ice was not as pristine as its initial mask, but it seemed like we'd have to move even faster. Finally, Bewear reached the bird and made to attack, but before it could, Eiscue let out an icy breath that made him step back and shiver. Bewear then let out another Hammer Arm attack, equally as strong, but once again, it only knocked off the mask.

"One last time Bewear, I know you can!" I cried.

"Freeze Dry again!" Melony ordered. This time, Eiscue did not bother to jump back into the ice, but instead let out another burst of icy air. Bewear burrowed through it and managed to land one last hit on the Pokémon, effectively shutting off the AC. Both Pokémon wobbled, and both Pokémon fell at the same time.

"Bewear and Eiscue are both unable to battle!" the ref said. The audience was silent. Even in the hail, things were really starting to heat up.

"Guess your Eiscue isn't all that strong behind that mask!" I taunted.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you over the sound of me knocking out your two best Pokémon," Melony said with an innocent-looking grin. I grimaced. She had a point. Even if she was down to her last Pokémon, if it was who I thought it would be, I was almost entirely positive that I would need both of mine if I wanted to have any chance of winning at all. Melony brushed some of the extra hail out of her hair and pulled out her final Pokéball. "I think you know who's coming now!" she gleefully screamed. "Even if it cracks, ice is still ice! I'll show you what I mean!" And with that, she tossed out her final Pokéball.

The ball hung lazily in the air for a second, and then exploded in a flash of brilliant light that expanded to a massive shape. As I had feared, it was her Lapras. The elegant blue Pokémon let out a brilliant and haunting cry as it began to fall to the ice below, and the second it landed on the ice, the entire battlefield cracked with a sickening volume. Lapras disappeared, leaving behind only a hole in the ice and revealing icy water underneath that was too dark to see through at all. In its wake, cracks appeared all over the icy pitch, and soon the entire field was bobbing unevenly.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath. If the slippery ice was hard enough to get any traction, the fact that it was constantly bobbing in icy water would mean Boltund and Ponyta both would have a horrible chance staying upright. I wasn't sure how I would get through this, but I needed to find some way to level the playing field or else I'd be sunk faster than that Lapras. I grabbed at Boltund's Pokéball and tossed it out, trying to maintain my brave composure.

"Draw it out, send all your electricity into the water!" I cried. "Spark!"

"Surf!" Melony cried. Lapras suddenly re-emerged at the far end of the pitch and promptly slammed its two front flippers down into the icy water, sending a massive wave directly towards Boltund. Before the wave could reach, Boltund's body lit up with electric energy and she sped towards Lapras, hopping from icy chunk to ice chunk, using the buoyancy to pick up speed. The wave of water hit her head-on, and though she slowed down, she powered through, enough to crash into Lapras and send that jolt of electricity right into the prehistoric Pokémon.

"Excellent!" I cried. "Follow up with Nuzzle!"

"Sing!" Melony cried. Her eyes were on fire; I don't think she had expected Boltund to hang on through that Surf attack.

Lapras, reeling from the first shock of electricity, shook it off and began to sing its haunting song again, but Boltund was far too quick, and nuzzled up to it with another jolt of electricity. Lapras' voice faltered before weakly continuing.

"It can't hit you while you're close up!" I cried. "Use Thunder Fang, just like we practiced!"

Boltund clamped her jaws down at the base of Lapras' neck while Lapras continued to sing its song. At first, the attack seemed to hit perfectly, but with each bar Lapras sang, I watched as Boltund's eyes began to droop, and her grip on Lapras lightened. She shook her head, but it was clear she was losing the battle against sleep. Even the hail that was still falling was not able to keep her awake.

"Boltund, no!" I cried, as Boltund let go and began to slump to the ground.

"Now," Melony ordered with an air of triumph, "Use Ice Beam!"

Boltund had no chance. Before she had fallen to the ice in sleep, she was blasted by a silver white beam, shooting her twenty feet from Lapras and leaving a long, fresh iceberg in her wake. I knew it was over before the ref confirmed it. Now we were both down to our last Pokémon. I recalled Boltund and held her close to heart. "You did all you could, girl, thank you," I whispered. "Hopefully, it's enough." And then I switched Pokéballs in my hand and threw out Ponyta's ball. Ponyta appeared on one of the sturdier blocks of ice and quickly gained her footing. She looked back and whinnied confidently, and I smiled at her.

Melony immediately recalled Lapras and whispered something into the ball. As she did, it began to grow in size. "Shit," I said again, and held my Pokéball up to do the same; it would be my only chance—but then I stopped.

"Ponyta! Come here!" I cried. Ponyta turned and cocked her head, then trotted over quickly. "This is gonna sound stupid but trust me. Keep moving. Use your agility. Let this Lapras wear itself down. We stay small and fast, we're going to be impossible to hit. Get out there. I believe in you."

The second Ponyta turned around, Lapras reappeared, sending a shockwave over the remaining icebergs and splashing Ponyta and me with icy water. It had grown to massive size and the lavender-colored shell on its back seemed to now stretch over most of its body. Faint wisps of energy surrounded it, split evenly as if lines of a musical staff. We both shivered, but Ponyta quickly recovered and was off to the races, bolting with speed even Boltund would be impressed with.

"Interesting tactic, Gloria!" Melony called. "I think I know what you're up to. Just know it won't work – Lapras! Use G-Max Resonance!"

Lapras roared again, and her haunting, singsong voice reverberated through the stadium before a surge of icy energy blasted out in every direction. Even as fast as Ponyta was, she couldn't dodge an attack that spread out in every direction like that. Fortunately, she was still running, and quickly too.

"Stick to the plan!" I cried. "Just keep moving!" Ponyta neighed in confirmation and doubled down, hopping to another icy platform. I could see flecks of hail bouncing off her head. Maybe this wasn't the right call – with all this chaos going around, tiny Ponyta wouldn't last as long as I'd hoped she would. But it might have been too late. We had already begun.

Max Geyser!" Melony cried. Lapras fired off a massive waterspout that crashed into the ice just in front of Ponyta, breaking it into pieces too small for Ponyta to stand on. I gulped – there was no way to be a moving target if there was nowhere to move. Still Ponyta sprinted away, and as she continued to pick up speed, I saw that she was circling Lapras faster than Lapras could turn with its gargantuan size.

"Here's our chance!" I cried. "You have an opening! Use Stomp!"

Ponyta complied and crashed her hooves into one of Lapras' giant flippers, but just bounced off. Lapras reeled back much like someone who had just stubbed their toe would. I grimaced, but Ponyta was now moving at lightning speed. The hail disappeared as well, though the clouds did not. With the waterspout, Lapras seemed to raise the temperature, turning the falling hail into rain. At least that wouldn't hurt Ponyta nearly as much.

"Use Fairy Wind!" I cried. Any time you see an opening!"

"Max Geyser, again and again! If you can't see it, hit the ice!" Melony instructed. Lapras complied, shooting out another couple powerful blasts of water. At this point, Ponyta was at Lapras' tail, but the space she had to run was quickly running out. She didn't seem pressed yet, though, and her horn began to glow brilliantly. A burst of wind flew past me and Ponyta and into Lapras. Two gusts. Three.

And so, the pattern continued. Lapras sent a surge of water just out of Ponyta's reach, crashing into the ice and breaking it up, and Ponyta slowly beginning to wear down its defenses with her Fairy Wind, her horn glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Eventually, out of pure exhaustion, Lapras began to shrink in size.

"Yes, keep it up, Ponyta! We've got a fighting shot now!"

Melony growled, clearly frustrated that my dumbarse plan actually worked. "Sing! Don't stop until that horse is fast asleep!" she roared.

"Come on, Ponyta, give it all you got!" I cheered. But Ponyta was also exhausted. It was coming down to the wire. But with fierce determination in her eyes, she finally stopped running and turned to face Lapras. She bucked up onto her hind legs and let out an ear-splitting neigh and her horn erupted with brilliant white light.

In a matter of milliseconds, the entire stadium was consumed by the light. I could feel the backs of my eyes burning up and I quickly shut them, but even with that I could still feel the light punching its way into my heart and soul. This was not a Fairy Wind; it had to be a new move entirely. After what felt like forever, I felt the light recede and I risked opening my eyes.

"I wasn't expecting you to have a Dazzling Gleam in your Ponyta's—" Melony began, but quickly stopped short. I looked over to where Ponyta and Lapras stood, but Ponyta was not there anymore. Not in the same way. My heart burst in surprise and awe. Her mane was glowing brilliantly, and blew down effortlessly to her hooves, as did her tail. She stood a whole head and a half taller now, and her horn, rather short and stubby as a Ponyta, was now long, ornate, and looked like it could stab through rocks with no problem whatsoever.

"R-Rapidash?" I asked. In response, she neighed again. Her cry was deeper, more powerful, and almost as hauntingly beautiful as Lapras' cry was.

"Ice Beam!" Melony yelled, and another powerful beam was launched at Rapidash, but Rapidash fortunately was still paying attention and hoofed it just in time, narrowly avoiding the attack. She looked back to me for orders.

"I missed it last time, had my eyes closed! Let's see that Dazzling Gleam again!" I cried. Rapidash neighed again and charged at Lapras, her long horn glowing brightly again. She gave a twist of her head and a beam of the pure white light from earlier shot out, but this was more focused and much more deadly, sending Lapras reeling back in shock and discomfort.

"Now Stomp! Use all you've got!" I cried. Rapidash closed the gap between her and Lapras entirely now and reared up on her hind legs, coming down with a powerful kick and finally, Lapras toppled to the ground.

The entire stadium was silent for one, two, three seconds as we waited for any sort of response from Lapras before the voice of the referee came through loud and clear: "Lapras is unable to battle! Challenger Gloria wins the match!"

The crowd exploded, but I could barely hear them. I let out a massive sigh of relief—had I been holding my breath the entire time Ponyta was circling Lapras? —and fell to my knees. Rapidash trotted over to me and lowered her head, nuzzling up against me. I grabbed her head in mine and held her tightly, kissing her snout over and over again, careful to not impale myself on her sharp new horn. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," I said to her, over and over again. "I knew you wouldn't let me down." I pulled myself up and hugged her, wrapping my arms around her neck tightly and breathing in her long, brilliant yellow and blue mane.

"You're just as good as they said you were," Melony said, walking over. "Nessa told me to watch out for last minute evolutions, too. May I?"

"Of course!" I said, and Melony put her hand on Ponyta's head.

"Rare Pokémon, Rapidash," Melony cooed. "Legend has it that they only show themselves to the pure of heart, and after seeing you in battle, I know why this one revealed herself to you." Lapras, who had regained consciousness and had weakly followed Melony over, hummed in agreement. "They say similar things about Lapras too, but I think mine's a little spicier," Melony added with a wink. Lapras sidled up to me and lowered her head to greet me.

"Are you alright, Lapras?" I asked. Lapras trilled softly, a twinkle of respect in her eyes.

"Oh, she's a tough cookie, you know that," Melony snickered. "Anyway, I think you'll be wanting this," she said, holding out a small and brilliant, white shiny badge. "That's six for you, right?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell Leon I said this, but I think you might just be the one that ends his streak," she grinned. "Go ahead and do that. I think it's about time Galar had a woman at the top of the league, and if it's not me, it better be you."

I smiled. "Thanks, I mean it."

"Of course, once you're champion, I'm sure my son will come challenging you. Give him a right thrashing, okay?"

"I'll do my best," I laughed, and we shook hands as the audience roared.

A/N: And that's another badge for Gloria. Guess I returned to the well of "Gloria uses evolution, it's super effective!" but this is truly the last time, I promise! I also know that Ponyta/Rapidash don't have great special attack so Dazzling Gleam isn't competitively viable or whatever, but this is my story and I thought it would be cool, get off my back. See you next week!

NEXT WEEK: COMEBACK OF THE CENTURY