*An Amendment has been made to Tropius's move set! Until now, I have been mistakenly writing Leaf Storm as Leaf Hurricane. That will be changed in all previous chapters and from here on out the move Tropius knows will be Leaf Storm! Sorry for any confusion this caused!*

Tykronos: Don't know if you're still reading, but Astonish didn't do any damage. If you reread, it just spooked Goly and created an opening.

All Comments:I'm so immensely grateful for the support you are all showing my story! The support for Sableye, which I wasn't sure I'd get, is bordering on the love for Goly, and I'm here for it. The Suggestions are fun, and I've added a couple of the recent ones to my draft board of potential members. It's not guaranteed that I will take any of them, as I still don't know who the fourth will be myself, but they are in the running.

TheFlamingBastard: Thanks for the reminder! Chansey's exclusive gender completely slipped my mind! It has been updated and fixed!

Expect a treat with this one! You'll finally get to see just how strong Goliath has gotten after evolving!


The door behind the counter of the Pokémon Center slams open and a pink-haired beauty comes running out in clear distress. As I watch her approach me in panic, I'm not even surprised. It would be impossible to count the number of times I've gone through this with Mauville's Joy. Thanks for that, Goly.

"I'm so sorry!" Nurse Joy exclaims with her body bent at a ninety-degree angle.

My first thought is that it's been a while since they started the conversation by apologizing. Mauville's Joy had stopped saying sorry after the second time Goly managed to sneak out and run away on her. Every time after that, the pinkette came at me with anger and accusations about not teaching my partner to have better behavior. Heh, why doesn't she try teaching Goly manners? Some things just can't be done.

My second thought is that Brock is a lot more relatable than I used to think when watching him through a children's show. No, I won't expand on that.

"What happened?" I can't help but stand up from the PC seat where I had been researching mega evolution and what is known about it. The answer is almost nothing, by the way. Sycamore had just coined the term about three months ago when he introduced it as the topic of his next research project. "Usually I'm the one who has to apologize for what my Pokémon did in places like this."

"I'm sorry! You told me Sableye was a new capture, so I put all the usual security cautions in place but," My joke sails right past Joy in her current distraught state. Now I'm starting to get worried. "She somehow got out of the treatment room! The Audino my aunt in Unova sent me was keeping watch over her, but something happened and he's acting weird! I had to return him because I couldn't get him to respond to anything I said! Now, I can't find your Sableye anywhere! I don't even know exactly how long she's been gone!"

Well, isn't this just fantastic? A second flight risk. Fortunately, I'm probably one of the most experienced lost Pokémon finders in Hoenn by now.

"What about my Linoone?" I ask the most pressing question in determining how difficult this will be. "Did he run too?"

"What?" Joy looks baffled that my first response didn't have anything to do with either Sableye or blaming her. "No, you Linoone is right here," She hands me a Premier Ball. "He was a quiet little angel the entire time. It's unusual to find a Linoone as subdued and well-behaved as yours. More importantly, aren't you worried about Sableye?"

Angel? Subdued? Well-behaved? Not my Goly!

It looks like I'll need to check up on Goly after this is all sorted out. Losing to Sableye might have hit him pretty hard. Either way, I had gotten Mirabelle back a while ago, so Goly's return means that I'm at full strength to go catch our runaway ghost.

"I think it will be okay," I calmly assured the frantic nurse, though my casual acceptance of the situation had already begun to throw her out of her distraught state. "I'm pretty much used to this kind of situation."

"You're used to this?" She whispers to herself and her brow furrows as he tries to make sense of my words.

In Nurse Joy's mind, a Pokémon running away from its Trainer is a nightmare situation. Even if they are reunited, an attempt at running away is the type of thing that represents the beginning of a downward spiral in the relationship between the two. By running, the Pokémon expresses the fact that it is unwilling to form a bond with that Trainer. To Nurse Joy, this is the start of a strained relationship; one that is bound to fail at some point.

To me, a Pokémon running away from its Trainer is just another Saturday night. As long as you drag their ass back home, all is well. As long as you chase after them every single time that they run, it will work itself out. I've seen how Goly keeps himself just at the edges of my vision when he runs away. With his speed, it wouldn't be hard to lose me if he truly wished to. Honestly, I think he would stop running if I just quit chasing him, but I will never do that. It's always going to be my job to drag his goofy ass back home with me. He needs to know that he wouldn't be able to break his bond with me, even if he tried. The current situation means that I just need to introduce Sableye to my Stockholm bonding strategies.

"Don't worry about it one bit, Sableye will be back home before she realizes that she misses me." I give a heartwarming and not-at-all menacing smile to the lovely nurse. "Can we check out the security camera footage to get an idea of where she ran off to?"

"..." Nurse Joy reels back a bit, seemingly in shock at my casual familiarity with all this. Instead of answering me, she looks down at her hands as she twiddles her fingers. She quickly devolves into a rapid-fire session of mumbling under her breath. "Do his Pokémon run away often? Does he mistreat them? Well, no. Considering his Linoone and Tropius's conditions, he obviously treats his Pokémon well. They clearly have a wonderful bond together, so I can't imagine that they would try to leave him. Then, why is he acting like he's done this so many times? Does he…"

"Ahem!" I interrupt her before she gets any more lost in her mind than she already is. Trying to reason out a situation involving Goly is a slippery slope to madness. I'd hate to lose a sweet woman like her to that path.

"Right! Sorry," She startles with a jump and turns towards the back room. "Follow me, I'll lead you to the security room."

A brief walk and a bit of fiddling with some computers, and we're now looking at the scene of my Sableye sitting on a medical bed with an Audino holding a clipboard in front of her. The time that the events being displayed occurred is 8:30: just over half an hour ago.

"Audino!" Audino smiles at Sableye, who had just woken up and taps his clipboard with a pen. "Dino!"

"Sableye." My little purple ghost hops off the bed and approaches Audino. Just the ridiculous sway of her hips that doesn't match her little gremlin body as she walks is enough to tell me what's about to happen. She's about to summon up all her rizz to make a fool out of this poor pink bastard. "Sable. Sableye, Sab Sable Sabe." She brushes the side of Audino's head and speaks in a coy tone, filled with admiration.

In the primarily white room, the Dark-Type energy of Flatter is clearly visible to Joy and me.

Unfortunately, Audino is in no state to be seeing any of the massive red flags in front of him. Instead, the pink Pokémon's cheeks turn red and he tries to look away in embarrassment. The keyword is 'tries' because Sableye doesn't let him off the hook that easily. The hand that was on his cheek holds his head in place, looking directly into her crystal eyes. Her other hand takes the clipboard from Audino.

"Sabe, Sableye." The multiple cameras in the room clearly capture the pink hearts in her eyes, as well as the silly smile on Audino's face as he turns to putty in Sableye's hands. With her target under control, the manipulative ghost gives her orders. She points to the window in the room. "Sable, Sableye."

"Audino!" Nurse Joy's Audino immediately scrambles to run over to unlock and open it. However, he trips and stumbles the entire way due to his confused state.

"Sasasasa!" Sableye covers her wide and toothy mouth with her hand as she laughs her hoity-toity laugh. She could have easily opened the window herself, but it would seem that she'd rather have fun by exercising her power over the lovestruck Pokémon.

With the window opened, Sableye doesn't spare poor Audino another look. Instead, she hops out the window and disappears from the screen. Audino, on the other hand, remains staring out the window after her with a big dopey smile on his face. Fast forwarding the footage shows that he remains like that, swaying on his feet from the confusion and smiling about his new love, until Joy walks in the room about 20 minutes later, wondering why Audino never rang the bell to inform her that Sableye had woken up.

"Well, that went about as I had expected," I remark, thinking internally about how I've managed to pick up another problem child. At the lack of response, I look over to see that Nurse Joy's head is in her hands and the tips of her ears are bright red with embarrassment. "Poor Audino got played like a fiddle, huh?"

"I'm so sorry!" She apologizes with force once again. "Something like this has never happened to him before! I promise he's usually strong and competent enough to care for any wild Pokémon brought here without trouble. My aunt even sent him here so I had a Pokémon strong enough to deal with the wild Fighting-Types here. I was so certain that a Sableye would cause him any trouble that I left them alone! I'll go out and look for your Sableye right away!"

Woah, woah! Hold your Horseas there, Nurse Joy," I put up my hands to placate her. "Don't worry one bit about this whole thing. I don't blame you or Audino at all for this. After all, the fact that Sableye is capable of doing that is exactly why I caught her in the first place. I can get Sableye back on my own, no trouble."

"Are you sure? This was my fault, so I should really help you out."

"I got this," I smile at her reassuringly as I turn to leave the room. "You need to stay here in case anyone comes in with an emergency, right? Besides, I'm sure Mauville's Joy warned you about me and Goly in advance. I'm a pro at catching runaway Pokémon!"

Joy pauses in thought at the last bit. The name Goly strikes at something in her memory. Her eyes light up when she thinks of an email she had gotten from her cousin about an up-and-coming star from Mauville.

"You said your name was Reid, right? Reid Redwood?" When I nod, her mood immediately does a 180 and she adopts a calm and assured look as if all is right in the world. "I see, then good luck finding your Sableye!" She waves me off with a cheerful smile.

"Wait," I stop in my tracks and turn back to her. "What in the world did she say about me for you to act like that?"

Joy pauses and averts her eyes, apparently thinking very hard about what to tell me. Soon enough, her cheerful smile returns.

"Good luck!" she dodges the question.

What the hell did she write about me in that email?! I'm internally screaming as I run out the door and along the path back to Granite Cave.

Nurse Joy, on the other hand, is just as confused as I am. Did her cousin exaggerate? How could that wonderfully well-behaved Linoone have been the infamous Goly? No, the videos that her cousin sent made it clear that she wasn't lying about how much of a terror Reid's Linoone is. Joy shrugs and walks back to the front of the building. Guess she just got lucky.

I, too, found myself getting rather lucky in my search for my runaway Sableye.

Jogging towards the cave, having just left the boundaries of Dewford Town, a small figure becomes visible on the road ahead of me. Accompanying the sight of the little creature is a cadence of cheerful sounds.

"Sableye! Sable! Sableye! Sabe! Sabe! Sableye!" My newly caught team member happily babbles to herself as she walks down the path back toward Dewford City.

I stop in my tracks and raise an eyebrow as I look at the unexpected sight before me. Sableye's off in her own world and hasn't even realized that I'm here. At least, she hasn't given any reaction to me if she has realized. It really is hard to tell what she looks at with her gem eyes. Regardless, my presence does nothing to deter her from her happy chatter.

What really stands out to me though is that she isn't doing that swaying runway walk that she had always done before. Instead, she has some real pep in her step and she practically skips along the road. It's enough for me to think that the ghost that had seemed so creepy before actually looks pretty darn cute. Maybe I'm just a softy when it comes to my own Pokémon though.

As she gets closer, I notice that she is holding something away from her chest. She seems to be staring at it, which explains why she hasn't noticed me, despite the fact that I am standing directly in front of her. As far away as she still is, my initial assumption is that, as a Sableye, she would be holding a gemstone that she was particularly fond of, which would have also explained the reason for her returning to the cave. I soon realize that my guess is wrong though, as the item she holds doesn't reflect the moonlight like a gem would and is far too large. In fact, it's larger than her entire body if I were to exclude her head.

"Sableye? What have you got there?" I finally speak up and interrupt her babbling when she is close enough that I am confident in quickly returning her.

"Sableye!" She yelps and finally looks up to see me. The change in her posture is instant. Her babbling stops and her bouncy steps change into long, purposeful strides. Her feet land perfectly in line with every step and her body sways from side to side. "Sable. Sableye." Her voice is cool and filled with a superior attitude.

"No, it's a little late for that." My deadpan makes her halt in her steps and look up at me with her mouth agape in shock. "What are you carrying anyway? Can I see it?"

"Sableye!" My interest in her treasured item sparks her excitement and she runs to me while holding it out before her, forgetting her elegant persona once again.

When she arrives before me, presenting her treasure to me with pride radiating from her very being, I reach out and grab ahold of it. Sableye merely smiles with joy as I inspect the object which she has held sacred ever since finding it, so long ago.

I can't help but facepalm when I see the cover of the old magazine in my hands. A picture of Champion Diantha in a sparkling pink dress takes up the majority of the cover. The words on the little captions and bubbles are pretty much entirely faded and unreadable, but the title of the magazine is large and bold on the top: Glameow's Bazaar.

"So," I try to think of how to respond to the knowledge that my Sableye is obsessed with a fashion magazine. Sableye looks up at me with obvious pride in her treasure, so I obviously can't make light of it. "Is this where you learned how to act the way you do?"

"Sableye!" She joyously cries out an affirmative. "Sable!" Sableye then waves for my attention before putting a hand on her hip, mirroring the stance that Diantha takes in the cover picture. She then performs her runway walk, carefully keeping her back ramrod straight the entire time. After taking a few steps, she turns back and looks at me with a massive grin.

"Wow!" I clap and exclaim with a smile that is completely genuine. She's just too adorable right now! "That's amazing! Did you learn that just from looking at this picture?"

"Sable!" Sableye shakes her head and reaches up at me with both hands. I get her meaning and hand her the magazine which she quickly sets on the ground and begins flipping through the pages. Soon enough, she reaches a page that shows an entire collage of pictures of a woman I don't recognize walking down a runway. There are enough pictures to piece together the entire process. "Sableye!"

It would seem that I should start looking into buying some of Elisa's magazines for her. I could maybe get some of Tulip and Nessa as well, I'm sure Sableye would appreciate the variety. However, before I can think any further on the subject, another idea strikes me.

"Say, Sableye," I crouch down and pat my shoulder. "Hop on, let's talk while we head back to the Pokémon Center." Sableye doesn't hesitate to settle in on my shoulder, sitting with her legs hanging in front of my chest. I hold on to the magazine for her and start walking back. "Let's talk about our goals for a bit. You know that most Pokémon Trainers catch Pokémon to make them stronger and battle, right?"

"Sable!" Sableye confirms that this much is common sense to her. Her voice even seems to carry so anticipation for growing stronger, which is perfect.

"Well, the goal of our team is to become the strongest in the world!" She wiggles and exclaims in excitement while kicking her legs. "To do this, we're starting with the Gym challenge. That is a series of battles against very strong opponents. You'll get to experience one in a few days! However, I wanted to ask you about something else."

"Sabe?" Her head bumps mine when she tilts it in confusion.

"Other than the Gym challenge, there's something else called Pokémon Contests…"

The rest of my walk to the Pokémon Center is spent explaining the concept of Pokémon Contests to an enraptured little ghost on my shoulder.


"I'm so thankful for you, you know that? You're truly the calming rock that keeps me grounded." I pour my heart out to the big lady in front of me.

She looks at me with an exasperated smile before cuddling her head up into my bare chest. The other beachgoers give our group some odd looks from time to time, but they seem to be content to leave us alone. Eventually, the large lass that had been cuddling me takes a step back and motions towards the cause of my recent stress.

"Pius." Mirabelle, no longer willing to coddle me, prompts me to do my job as a Trainer. "Tropius."

"I know, Belle. I know, but it's too much! I just wanted to formally introduce her to the team and relax at the beach!" I bury my face in my hands out of frustration.

"Sasasasasa!"

"Noone!"

Goly picks himself up from where he had buried his face in the sand. He dives after the laughing Sableye with renewed rage, but he kicks his own leg in the process and tumbles down once again. Sableye simply looks on while laughing her head off, further angering the poor Linoone.

"It's too much!" I wail in despair at what I had willingly welcomed into my team. While it's true that my Pokémon will be cancerously annoying to fight, I hadn't considered that they're just as disastrous to Train!

You see, I genuinely meant for today to be a day of rest and relaxation while we got to know our new team member! With it being a Sunday, three days before our Gym battle, I decided to skip morning training today and head straight to the beach. Today was meant to be a full day of fun with only two serious matters on the agenda: naming Sableye and searching Dewford cave for the Steelixite that I remember being there in the games.

Just leave it to my team to ruin that.

I let everyone out of their Pokeballs after arriving at a relatively secluded section of the sandy beach of Dewford's shores. Mirabelle, loving the local climate, waltzed right up to my side and plopped down on the sand. The problem lies with the other two.

Goly's head was low to the ground and his demeanor was melancholy. It was probably the least energetic I have ever seen the little guy, even compared to the wake of his Hypno battle. Sableye was initially well-behaved and happy to see me, but seeing Goly like that gave her an idea. I now know that when Sableye has any ideas, all hell soon breaks loose.

Taking advantage of my starter's depressed state, she wasted no time lifting his spirits with Flatter. Goly was suspicious at first, growling from afar and swatting at her when she came close, but my first partner in this world is not someone who can resist flattery for long. Soon enough, Goly's eyes were spinning and he was smiling like a fool.

As soon as she saw the move take effect and the confusion kicking in, Sableye flipped the script on him. I couldn't tell you what she said, but her tone turned downright brutal in how mocking and condescending it became. She must have spat some real fire at him because Goly stood stock still for several seconds before his face warped with anger.

He leaped at her with Shadow Claw, his confused state caused him to hurt himself, rather than Sableye, she retreated and laughed at him. This process has continued to repeat itself until now. As for myself, I made the only sane choice and hid behind Mirabelle, waiting for the storm to pass.

Speaking of Mirabelle, she's currently giving me the stink eye, so I should probably stop running from my responsibility here.

"Ok, fine!" I step out from behind her. "You win, but you know just as well as I do that my words won't be enough to stop them. I'll take Goly. Belle, I need you to stop Sableye. Deal?"

"Tropius." Belle nods before turning towards the little ghost. Sableye may be Goly's kryptonite, but Mirabelle knows that she can handle the little terror easily enough.

"Now!" I shout as I take off towards Goly in a sprint. I could just return them, but this is a matter of principle. "Goly, Sableye! Knock it off!"

"Linoone!" Goly yelps in surprise as I slam into his side with perfect tackling form. He tries to struggle, but I wrap him up and hold him down easily enough due to the confusion.

"Sableye!" On the other side, Sableye tumbles round and round in the air. Mirabelle made a miniature version of Whirlwind to scoop the little Pokémon off the ground.

It doesn't take long before all three of my Pokémon are seated on the ground before me. Mirabelle's expression is still perfectly calm, even as her large body separates the two troublemakers. Sableye looks completely unconcerned with the chaos she just caused. Instead, she casually inspects the claws on her left hand. As for Goly, his previous melancholy is nowhere to be seen. It didn't last long at all, which is to be expected from him, honestly. Instead, he's fuming. I can tell that he is just chomping at the bit, thinking of how he can get back at Sableye.

"Goly," I start by addressing my first ally. "As the first and strongest member of our team, you can't be acting like that." His ears perk up at the word 'strongest' and his anger immediately melts away, replaced with an annoyingly smug look. "It's your job to smooth out any bad relationships on our team, not to cause them. How can you expect to be respected as the strongest when you let every little thing get under your skin?"

"Noone." Goly simply looks away. I can tell that he took my words to heart though. Respect and strength mean a lot to Goly.

"Now, Sableye. You're not off the hook either," The purple Pokémon finally looks up from her claws. You're the most at fault here. If you want to mess with others and make fools of them, do it to your opponents in battle, not to your teammates. If all you do is torment your teammates, I don't see any reason to reward that behavior by bringing you to compete in Contests."

"Sable!" Sableye jumps up and frantically waves her hands back and forth. Until the last word, Sableye had looked entirely unbothered. However, the idea of holding her out of Contests seems to have been pretty effective.

"I want to do Contests with you too, but you need to prove that you deserve a chance at them," I tell the anxious ghost. "Can you promise that you'll stop antagonizing Goly?" Her head quickly bobs up and down. "Good, then let's go ahead and get to the real reason I let you all out here."

All three of my Pokemon turn to the coast and Goly even takes three steps towards the water already.

"Wait!" I halt them all before they can leave. "That's not it! At least, not yet. After all, Sableye needs her new name!"

"Sabe?" The Pokémon in question tilts her head, not understanding my meaning.

"Have you noticed that I call Linoone over there 'Goly' and Tropius 'Mirabelle'?" Sableye nods. "Those are names. Goly isn't just a Linoone, he is Goliath: the strongest Linoone in history! Mirabelle isn't just any old Tropius, she is Mirabelle: the unbreakable wall that guards our team! Just like that, we can't have you being just some run-of-the-mill Sableye, now, can we? A star like you needs to be more special than that."

Sableye says nothing but runs up to the beach towel where I placed our stuff and points at the picture of Diantha in her magazine. She looks back at me with a certain expectation and anticipation in her gemstone eyes.

"Yep, she has a name too. Her name is Diantha, and she is one of the few Champions of Pokémon battling in the entire world!" Sableye is buzzing with excitement now, jumping up and down in front of the magazine. My other two Pokémon look on in disbelief, as they had only ever seen her acting snobbish and mischievous before. "Do you really want your name to be the same as hers, instead of something that's uniquely for you?"

"Sableye…" She looks at the magazine with a longing gaze before firmly turning away and shaking her head. Sableye refuses to be a copy of someone else! She will become her own star, and she will shine far brighter than anyone has ever shone before! "Sable!"

"That's what I thought," I smile fiercely at her. No member of my team can be allowed to have a weak goal. Every single member of Reid Redwood's Pokémon team needs to be dreaming the type of grand dream that others would laugh at and call ridiculous. Only when that's true can we achieve the impossible! "You're far too good to be anything less than unique in this world. Besides, I've already picked out the perfect name for you!"

"Sableye!" That terrifying, sharp-toothed grin splits her face.

"Your name will be Eris," I announce with pride. "The way that you toyed with Goly, who should be entirely out of your league in power and battling ability, reminds me of the beautiful Greek goddess of chaos and conflict. Just like her, you will play with your opponents like puppets on strings! How strong they are, how talented they are, how long they've trained, how much painstaking effort they've put into battling: none of that will matter to you! You will trample over that effort and dedication with your deceit and charm, laughing as you crush your opponent's confidence, along with their dreams! You will treat even the most powerful Pokémon as fools, and you'll shine as a beautiful star while doing it. Mwahahahahahah!"

"Sasasasasasa!"

My speech may have turned a bit malicious there, but the Ghost/Dark-Type Pokémon is absolutely loving it. She even kindly joins in on my evil laugh, which does, admittedly, earn us quite a few odd and concerned looks from the others on the beach, but they don't matter. What does matter is that my new Pokémon with the evilest and cruelest type combination enjoyed my cruel speech, along with her evil name. Together, we will devour the very gods!

We spent the rest of the morning having fun swimming, eating watermelon and shaved ice, and building sand castles.


Once we had our fill of beach time, our posse gathered up and hiked back to Granite Cave. Currently, we stand before the entrance as an unstoppable quartet. Mirabelle stands to my left, calm and unflappable as always. Eris stays out of sight: the only sign of her presence is the three glowing gems that can be seen when staring closely at my shadow. Goly runs in circles around us all, prompting us to pick up the pace.

"Now remember, our goal isn't to pick fights and train this time. We're going to poke around and see if we can find the Steelixite!" I announce our objective once more, not trusting two of my three Pokémon to have remembered it this long.

Originally, I had no intention of delving deep into Granite Cave. Caves, in general, just aren't really my thing. I went spelunking once in my previous life, and while I'm not at all claustrophobic, something about being fully encased in rock and stone makes me feel pretty uncomfortable. I can bear it, but it's not pleasant.

With that said, it's also true that I only remember the locations of 4 mega stones from Pokemon Alpha Sapphire: Altarianite in Lilycove, the starter mega stone from Steven, Sharpedonite in the Aqua hideout, and Steelixite in Granite Cave. On top of those, I can guess where Camerupt's mega stone would be and I think Steven also gives you the Latios/Latias stone, but I don't remember where. I know that I had gotten more in the games but, for the life of me, those are the only ones that I can remember.

To narrow down the pool even further, I doubt that Steven would really give some random give such powerful stones, so I can take all the ones you get from him off the list. The same goes for the Aqua and Magma stones. Something tells me that Archie and Maxie wouldn't just leave them lying around. Altarianite is in some guy's house in Lilycove, so unless I can swindle it out of him, that's out of reach too.

All that elimination means that the Steelixite, which I remember being next to the big stone in Granite Cave, is the only mega stone available that I remember about. I have to take the chance now to see if in-game item placement matches up with the real world. Confirming whether or not that is the case could be huge for me. Even if I don't remember the exact locations of each mega stone, knowing that they are where they were in the game will make a big difference if I ever want to look for them. Who knows, I could even look into catching an Onix here if I find the Steelixite!

"Sable?" Eris's inquisitive voice escapes from my shadow.

"What is the Steelixite, you ask?" I pause for a bit to ponder her question. It doesn't take long to realize that this search might be a lot harder than I thought. "I don't really know. It's a powerful stone that should be filled with Steel and Ground Type energy. I don't know what it looks like, but I think it should be obvious if we find it. There will probably be some wild Onix or Steelix around it too."

"Pius." Mirabelle shakes her head and sounds unenthused about our plan.

"I know it's not a lot to go off of dear," I admit. After all, I don't really have high expectations here either. "But this is the only chance we'll have to look for it. It'd be a waste to not even try. Just think of it as a treasure hunt."

With such thoughts in mind, I take the first step on my quest for mega evolution. I walk through the cave's entrance with grand dreams and lofty ambitions in mind. Immediately, I bump chests with a man who's slightly taller than me.

"Sorry 'bout that." I apologize lightly as I move to step around him.

"No, not at all. I should be the one apologizing," His voice is a bit familiar. It sounds like that stereotypical rich young master voice. "I was too distracted by my cute little Aron behind me and failed to pay attention to where I'm walking."

Rich pretty boy voice? Check. Dewford Island's Granite Cave? Check. An Aron with him? Check. How could I have forgotten that this man would be here?!

I instantly stop in my tracks and look up to scrutinize the man before me.

Hair that's somewhere between blue and silver reaches just past a pair of sky-blue eyes. His facial features are soft and almost disgustingly handsome. I'd estimate that his height is around 5'10 or so, give or take. Instead of his usual black suit, He has an orange button-up shirt with a brown vest over it. He's also wearing hiking boots and cargo pants which are much more practical in the field than the dress shoes he wears in-game. A green Devon company backpack completes the look.

There's no doubt about it; this is the Hoenn Champion, in the flesh. As I take in his appearance, he wears a kindly smile. Rather than watching me, he's busy observing my team. His love for Pokémon is obvious, just from the way he looks at them.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just say we're both at fault here," As I speak, an idea begins to form in my head. A crazy, reckless, and stupid idea, but one that I can't shake. I know that this is a terrible decision so soon before my Gym battle, but I don't even care. If I was the type of person to ignore opportunities like this, I never would have set my eyes on becoming the best. "But you know what happens when two Trainers bump into each other in the wild, right? I think a battle is our only choice here!"

"I'm not sure," Steven scratches his head, looking a bit awkward at the idea. "My Aron here isn't much of a battler. I don't know how much you'd get out of a battle here."

"That's fine. I don't want to battle Aron anyways. Champion Steven," His eyes narrow a bit when he realizes that I've recognized him. "My name is Reid Redwood. I'm a 12-year-old, new Trainer from Mauville City with one badge." He looks a bit surprised at that. "I challenge your true team to a three-on-three official Pokémon battle!"

"Well, Reid," Steven starts slowly, trying to think of his response as he forms it. "If you recognize me and still want a battle, you must have a lot of confidence in your team. That's amazing, but I think you should spend more time training and gaining experience before you challenge a Champion. I can see that you have done a great job looking after your Pokémon, but fighting a battle that you aren't ready for could get them hurt. Be patient, you've only just begun."

After saying his piece, Steven starts to walk past me towards Dewford City, followed by his little Aron. He doesn't make it more than five steps before his path is blocked.

"Goliath, don't let him leave!" Goly jumps out in front of Steven, forcing him to stop.

"Reid? What is the meaning of this?" Steven sounds genuinely baffled by my actions.

Despite that, he doesn't sound wary or threatened in the least. His posture still radiates calm confidence. His shock comes from the fact that my behavior is genuinely foreign in the Pokémon universe. Everyone in this universe is kind and trusting to a fault. From what I have seen thus far, this world takes the kindness that borders on naivety that people in the Pokémon anime have and makes it real. Obviously, not everyone is a saint here, but threatening people with your Pokémon is something that only the regional criminal organizations do. A kid my age doing it is nothing but confusing to the Champion.

"Goliath, Mirabelle, Eris," I ignore Steven and address my team. If he doesn't want to battle, I'll just lean into my delinquent Trainer persona that I've been building to force one out of him. "This guy is the Champion of our Hoenn region. He's among the strongest Trainers in the world right now, and beating him is one of our end goals. We're nowhere near ready, but we're going to fight him right now, and we're going to beat him! Got it?"

"Linoone!" Goliath is the first to answer me. If looks could kill, his eyes would have burned a hole through Steven from the moment I first introduced him as the Champion.

"Tropius!" Mirabelle's war cry overlaps with Goliath's. She stays where she was, but her calm has been replaced by a boiling passion.

"Sasasasasa!" Eris doesn't emerge from my shadow, but her eager laughter fills the air.

"Wait a moment please, Reid," Steven puts his hands up in protest. "No matter how confident you are, you only have one badge! The Gym circuit just started, so you can't have been a Trainer for longer than a month! Don't hurt your Pokémon out of your own overconfidence!"

"We know damn well how strong you are, Steven," I get that he's just worried about battling a rookie, but it's starting to piss me off. "Our goal is always to win, but we're prepared to take a beating here. That doesn't matter though! We're going to kick your ass at some point, but this is our chance to see just how strong you are. We won't pass it up! Now are you going to battle me, or am I going to need to force it?"

Steven looks at me for a long time. Our eyes remain locked until he seems to recognize that I'm not going to back down. A heavy sigh escapes him and he reluctantly grabs a Pokeball from his waist.

"Honestly, kids these days," He mumbles to himself before looking up at me again and returning to his confident voice. "Fine, I'll have a battle with you, but I'm going to amend the rules a bit. It will be a one-on-three battle. If your goal is to see how strong a Champion is, that much should be good enough. If, during our battle, I find that you are disregarding the health of your Pokémon I will stop the battle immediately and suspend your license as the Hoenn league's Pokémon Champion."

"Good!" I barely even registered what he said. My smile feels almost feral and I can hear my heartbeat ringing in my ears. The battle hasn't even started yet, and my adrenaline is reaching an all-time high! This is the best! I walk away from Granite Cave until I'm at an appropriate distance to battle Steven. "Goliath, to me. Belle, you're up first."

"Noone," Goly grumbles, but obeys.

"Tropius!" Belle trots out in front of me in high spirits.

"Now, I want all of you to watch every single moment of this battle! Don't even think about blinking! Even if you get knocked out, you do whatever it damn takes to wake back up and watch the rest! Clear?" All three of my Pokémon confirm that they understand. "Good! Fight like your lives depend on it! Go out there and experience the best in the world for as long as you can!" I set my Poketch on a nearby rock and start recording the makeshift battlefield.

"Seems like you're ready then," Steven calls out once he sees that I'm all set. "Then I suppose it's my turn." He tosses his Pokeball up in the air. "Go, Armaldo! Let this rookie see what it means to be the Champion!"

My eyes widen when I hear the name he calls. I expected Aggron, if not, then maybe Claydol. Instead, one of my all-time favorite fossil Pokémon takes shape on the sandy ground before me. In terms of height, it is a tiny bit shorter than me. Its body is a mixture of Blue, black, and yellow, with bits of red mixed in. Its body looks like an odd amalgamation of a dinosaur and a praying mantis. All in all, it's freaking badass as hell!

"Be careful, Belle," I warn my banana dinosaur, who currently eyes her opponent with a challenging glint. "That's a bug type, and it hits hard."

"Impressive," Steven compliments. "Even most Elite Trainers would fail to recognize Armaldo, much less point out his typing." I smile to myself at the knowledge that Armaldo is male. That will help. "Armaldo is the newest member of my team, and was only resurrected as an Anorith about a year ago. However, he is still part of my personal battle team and has enough strength to show you the might of a Champion. Still, the type advantage that I have over both of your Pokémon I can see makes this a bit unfair. We will start the battle on your move, and I will give you three free moves before Armaldo fights back."

Mirabelle immediately looks like she wants to protest, but I cut her off.

"Fine, we'll take that deal. Just don't get scared and back out later!" I already know that my chances are bleak, even with that handicap. Taking it will let this battle last as long as possible, which is what I want the most. "Belle, Sunny Day!"

Mirabelle stops her protest and quickly moves to follow my order. The battle has begun. She works faster than ever, charging up and spitting out her Sunny Day in less than five seconds. It's still far too slow, but she's improved a ton.

As she uses the move, I rush to think up everything I know about Armaldo: physically offensive and defensive, relatively low health, very slow, most devastating attacks come from the claws, like X-Scissor, Crush Claw, Brick Break, and Cross Poison. The best answer is to buff and then get in the air.

"That's one," Steven calls. "Starting with Sunny Day is an interesting strategy. You Tropius doesn't look old enough to know Solar Beam, so I'm sure it's for her ability. Are you sure you don't want to attack though?"

"Growth." I ignore his analysis and continue to buff. Now, do I attack next, or stack another free buff and trust that Mirabelle can manage to get an attack in when Armaldo starts moving?

This time, Belle takes no time at all to use the move. The Sun's boost allows her to grow twice as much as she normally would in half the time.

"Excellent!" The happy-go-lucky Champion exclaims. "Using Sunny Day to double the effects of Growth, you practically gained the benefit of three moves in two turns. Taking advantage of the weather like that is a very advanced skill for a rookie to have. It's no wonder you were so confident! Get ready Armaldo, I'm sure a big attack is coming next."

My intention to hit him hard here melts away after hearing Steven's words. His lighthearted tone belies the fact that he doesn't see this as a fight at all. I want to see a Champion's serious strength, not the kiddy gloves he puts on to play with a weakling new Trainer. I don't need the free attack. Let's make sure that when we do attack, there's some impact to it. I just need to trust that Belle will get a hit in.

"Forget the freebie, Belle," My words make Steven's eyes widen for a bit. "You can hit him yourself! Use Growth again! Let's just make sure your hits count!"

"Tropius!" Mirabelle bellows out her support of my plan and Immediately begins to swell in size even further, growing the biggest she ever has. Her skin is taking on a bit of sunburn from solar power, and her body is straining against its massive size increase. She won't be able to hold in this much power for long, but she won't need to. By video game standards, she would currently be at 5 for special attack and 4 for physical attack.

"Now that's just greed, Reid Redwood," Steven's tone is even, but I can easily feel the disappointment. "Armaldo, X-Scissor!"

"In the air!" Seeing the dino-bug move faster than expected, I rush Belle into the air. One X-Scissor would be all it takes. Belle's temporary massive strength boost helps her barely manage to flap her wings and get clear of Armaldo's massive claws. "Of course it's greed! Without greed, nobody can achieve anything truly special! I'm greedy enough to want to beat the Champion before my second badge and you didn't think I'd make risky battle calls?" I answer Steven before turning all my attention back to Mirabelle. "That's high enough! Now, blow that bug away! Leaf Storm!"

"Tropius!" Mirabelle's battle cry is strained as she struggles under the weight of all her buffed-up energy. Nonetheless, her body glows green as she begins to access her most powerful move.

"Stop her, Armaldo! Ancient Power" Steven's voice finally contains a bit of worry. I suppose he didn't expect a young Tropius like Belle to have mastery over such a powerful move. He can tell that not even Armaldo will be able to completely shake that off with her special attack being elevated as high as it is now.

"Maldo!" The insectoid fossil Pokémon launches a flurry of six boulders at the Tropius above him. Each and every one of them is dangerously large, nearly twice the size of a basketball.

The massive boulders rapidly close in on Mirabelle, but they aren't fast enough. My young war plant sweeps her four wings forward in a heavy push and sends an absolutely massive amount of power into a green storm before her. Within that windstorm, leaves begin to form one after the other and whip through the air like saw blades. The boulders of ancient power, too, are swept up in the wind current.

"Brace yourself!" Steven desperately cries for his partner, but his complacency has cost him here. He heard that I only have one badge and saw that my Tropius was still a juvenile. Those two factors led him to assume that our attack wouldn't be a threat, even with all of our buffs stacked up. He'll likely be taking this a bit more seriously from here on out.

"Armaldo!" Armaldo, on the other hand, is in no position to brace for anything. The windstorm hit him before Steven's words even registered. The power of that attack, quite literally, swept him off his feet. Against the powerful storm, not even the sturdy Rock-Type can stay planted on the ground.

Armaldo tumbles through the air, all the while getting battered by the many leaves, and even the rocks from his own Ancient Power attack. From the glimpses of him that I can see through the storm, he is still very lively in his struggles. That tells me that this isn't any major damage, but it's definitely something. Maybe 20-30%? The greatest benefit isn't the damage though. The best thing we got out of this attack is that Armaldo is in the air, where he can't counterattack. He can't do anything, but we are free to attack!

"Again," I spam like a true Pokémon player. "Leaf Storm! Don't let him stand back up!"

Armaldo is about to hit the ground, the Rock-Type's weight ensuring that he rapidly falls now that the first windstorm is dying down. However, he's falling way too fast to control his landing. He won't be able to stop himself from tumbling and rolling for a while. As long as we can hit him again in that period, we can chain combo him!

Mirabelle silently gets to work. Her body is a bit less swollen from the energy loss from using Leaf Storm, but most of her buffed energy still remains. Her body soon begins to glow green. The timing is perfect! I can tell that she will release the Leaf Storm about 2 or 3 seconds after Armaldo hits the ground. It's not enough time for him to recover and counterattack!

"Correct yourself with Aerial Ace, then shoot her down with Rock Blast." Steven's orders go beyond anything I could have anticipated.

Armaldo's two armored plate wings extend out and he does a perfect aerial acrobatics loop which turns him such that the armored Bug-Type hits the sand on his feet and faces directly towards Mirabelle! In gymnastics, he would have gotten full points for the landing alone. I don't have the time to admire him though, as a boulder forms between his claws all too quickly. They're serious now.

I look at my own Pokémon to see that she still needs a couple more seconds to release Leaf Storm. A couple seconds she doesn't have! She won't be able to get it off in time! In that case, we need to bail out on it.

"Stop and switch to Protect!" My order is punctuated by the sound of a boulder whistling through the air. Armaldo already released the first boulder!

"Pius!" Belle's in the best shape she's ever been in though. The formation of her Protect is near instantaneous.

BOOM*

It doesn't last long though, as the green sphere shatters upon impact with the boulder. Before I can even wrap my head around the power required to shatter Protect with a single Rock Blast, the whistling noise returns. A second boulder is heading toward Belle!

"Dodge down! Freefall!" I cry out desperately.

Belle still delivers on her excellent performance and stops flapping her wings. The second boulder passes over her, skimming the top of her head and leaving a nasty scrape.

BOOM* *Crunch*

"Pius!" A horrifying cry of pain.

A third boulder connects directly into the center of her chest. Mirabelle rockets back and into the ground with an acceleration that's at least twice her maximum flight speed. I have to wipe the sand out of my face after she lands on her side in front of me.

"Stop, Armaldo. She's done." Steven's voice forces me out of my shock.

That was a full-powered attack from a Champion's Pokémon! The power within that move was overwhelming. Mirabelle's entire chest is already purple and blue from the impact, but I don't reach for my Pokeball.

Somehow, it's like I can read her thoughts right now. Mirabelle isn't done. She's not satisfied with that. A good showing isn't enough for her. She knows she can't win, but she wants to go down swinging!

"Tro," As expected, Belle staggers to her feet in a gargantuan effort. "Pius!" She bellows out her cry of defiance.

Steven stares open-mouthed, gaping in shock. He's seen and been in enough battles to be able to gauge damage accurately. That Rock Blast should have knocked this Tropius out three times over!

"Leech Seed!" I don't give him time to recover from the shock.

A yellow seed is spat out of Mirabelle's mouth faster than she has even done the move before. The result is that it plants itself right in the center of Armaldo's chest.

"Aqua J.." Steven freezes mid-command, causing Armaldo to dissipate the water that he had already formed around his body. "Wait for his next Pokémon, Armaldo. We're taking this seriously now, so go all out."

"Armaldo!" Armaldo's tone sounds just as serious.

Both of them are staring at Mirabelle with solemn faces, and I honestly can't blame them. I can feel myself and my Pokémon doing the same. After all, Mirabelle is unconscious on her feet. Even in defeat, she stares straight at Armaldo, never allowing her gaze to avert from her end goal: the Champion. That is the level she must reach, so she refuses to look away from it.

Nobody says anything as I grab a Sitrus Berry from my bag and walk up to her. Even though I'm delaying the battle and allowing Leech Seed to keep draining Armaldo's health, neither of my opponents say a word in protest. Armaldo silently bears the damage, staring at my Tropius with a very serious face. Steven no longer makes any light-hearted comments or analyzes the battle.

Belle doesn't react to the Sitrus Berry, so I end up opening her mouth with my hands and placing it inside. I break it apart first so that the juices freely hit her tongue and slide down her throat. This does the trick, as she slowly, groggily begins to chew. After a few more seconds, I gently lead her to where I had been standing before and turn back to the battlefield. Mirabelle doesn't make a noise either. She stands silently next to me and still stares out toward Armaldo as she swallows the healing fruit.

"Eris, you're up next."

By the time my Sableye takes the field, Armaldo has been silently accepting the health drain of the Leech Seed for over two minutes. In a true regulation battle, I would have been disqualified for cheating, but my current opponents look nothing but respectful of us. That, more than anything I've seen thus far, really makes reality sink in. This guy is the Champion.

"A Sableye, huh?" Steven finally talks, but his voice sounds different. He no longer sounds like a pampered rich young master. Right now, his voice carries nothing so much as the charisma and confidence of a Champion. "I'll give you the first move, but only one this time. I already paid the price for underestimating your Tropius over there. Before that though, Armaldo, you can get rid of the Leech Seed now. You showed enough respect."

"Maldo." Armaldo finally takes his eyes off Mirabelle. Without warning, a flurry of sand is kicked up as he spins in place. His use of Rapid Spin sends the Leech Seed flying off onto the beach somewhere.

"Eris, you say what happened. You can't afford to take a hit from him." My little Sableye nods once, looking more stressed than I've ever seen her. Facing such a powerful Pokemon has her nerves through the roof. "Lighten up, girl! Remember our conversation at the beach? Strength means nothing to you! Go put the moves on him!"

I intentionally avoid naming the move Attract, in case Steven decides against letting me freely charm his Pokémon. My devious little purple goblin seems to understand me well enough though, as I can see the stress and tension melting away from her.

"Sasasa!" She giggles with a hand over her mouth before confidently strutting right up to the much larger Pokémon with her sassy little runway walk. When she's only a couple of her small strides away from bumping into him, Eris clasps her hands together behind her back and swings her body from side to side. She tilts her head up and looks directly into Armaldo's eyes. For his part, Armaldo is looking at her like she's clinically insane. After all, Attract is rarely ever used in battles, even less at the Champion level. It's very likely that Armaldo has never faced an Attract user before. The result isn't good for him. "Sable, Sableye." Eris's coy voice rings out and two pink hearts form in her eyes.

"No! Armaldo, look away!" Steven only just now realizes that my goal was Attract, not having expected such a strategy from a Dark and Ghost Type Pokémon.

"Armaldo!" It's too late though. I can see the hearts in his eyes as Armaldo speaks in a goofy manner to Eris. His guard is entirely down, but I don't know how long it will last.

"Thunder Wave!" I need to keep racking up the status effects.

"Armaldo, get a hold of yourself! X-Scissor!" Armaldo's head jerks up in response to Steven's voice, but Eris quickly brushes his leg with her hand.

"Sable, Sableye!" Her cry for attention successfully distracts Armaldo from his Trainer. However, that short sequence tells me that a Champion's Pokémon have a larger mental resistance to these types of attacks than most. After all, Goly was dead to the world when she used Attract on him.

Eris must have realized the same thing, as she no longer delays and shocks her powerful foe with a swift Thunder Wave. The response is instant. Armaldo's body begins to convulse in muscle spasms, and the hearts start to fade from his eyes.

"Shadow Sneak Behind him!"

"X-Scissor!"

Our orders come out simultaneously. Eris dives into her shadow and Armaldo's claws slam into the sand, just behind her. Armaldo turns to attack again but hesitates when he sees her face. Attract doesn't really go away, after all. There are just moments when you can resist it.

"Talk him up! Flatter!" Is it just me, or do my orders to Eris sound a bit odd?

"Sabe, Sabe, Sableye." They work though, as Eris grabs one of Armaldo's claws with both hands and admires it.

Armaldo's face begins to blush and his eyes become unfocused. Very quickly, the sturdy Rock-Type finds his balance to be off and begins swaying in place.

"Darn it," Steven's face is dark with frustration. "Armaldo, you've got to snap out of it!" His Pokémon ignored him, in favor of smiling like a fool at the little ghost.

"Time to deal some damage, Eris! Shadow Claw, repeatedly!"

"Sableye!" Eris's sweet smile turns savage and she starts slashing Armaldo with claws all over his body.

The attacks seem to have little effect though, as Armaldo doesn't even flinch. He simply watches her attacking him with a loving smile and heart-shaped eyes. The only indication that he's even being attacked comes from Steven's face, which grows redder and redder with every swipe of Eris' claws. After about a dozen attacks, Armaldo finally realizes something is off and rapidly begins to backpedal. Unfortunately, a combination of a misstep from confusion and a muscle spasm from paralysis cause the poor Pokémon to trip and fall flat on his back.

"Sasasasa!" Eris doesn't halt her unending shadow claw offensive, but she still finds the time to mockingly laugh at the Champion. In the corner of my eye, I can see Mirabelle frown in distaste for Eris' battle style which lacks a warrior's honor.

"Enough! Armaldo," Steven's face is bright red and his voice sounds like he's at his breaking point. Any goodwill that Mirabelle earned us has been thoroughly erased by Eris. "Quit making a fool of yourself already! Please!"

At his Trainer's embarrassed plea, the hearts disappear from Armaldo's eyes for just long enough to get a single move off. Armaldo's mouth fills with a sickly green energy and in one, explosive motion, he snaps Eris up in his jaws. After a single jerk of his head, Armaldo tosses the Darkness Pokémon to the side. Eris doesn't get up, one Bug Bite was all it took.

I return my Sableye to her ball and then release her again next to me with a Sitrus Berry already waiting for her. After all, this time I don't want to wait around for confusion and paralysis to wear off. If I had to guess, Armaldo is probably around half health right now. That's doable.

"They did their jobs and properly set the stage for you. Let's finish this, Goliath!" My trusty starter runs out to take his place on the field.

On the other side, Armaldo has just now barely managed to stand up. He had fallen over twice due to his lack of balance before, so I can confidently say that he hasn't recovered from confusion yet.

"I'll stick to my word," Steven's voice sounds much less friendly. I can tell that I'm not going to be making many friends with Eris's battle style, but oh well. "You can have the first move. We start when you do."

I look at Goly and take a deep breath. I didn't come into this fight with any illusions of victory. I only hoped to get a peek at the heights we are striving to reach. Now though, victory is within reach. It's a three-v-one with handicaps against the one, but so what? We're going to win this thing. I can tell that Goly, no, Goliath is thinking the same thing!

"Belly Drum!" So, I'm going to go all out!

Goliath stands on his hind legs, reaching an impressive height while doing so, and hammers his forelegs into his gut. I can hear the Normal-Type energy reverberating within his body. He is physically pulsating with power, much more than when he used the move as a Zigzagoon!

"Don't let him get close," Steven orders, no longer willing to wait around. "Ancient Power!"

It doesn't matter what he calls though. I've decided to go all out. No matter how quickly a Champion's Pokémon can form an attack, Armaldo will never be fast enough. After all, Goliath's path to the top of the world is going to be carved with his speed.

"Extreme Speed."

Boom*

Armaldo disappears from where he had been standing. The boulders of Ancient Power that had been floating around him fall harmlessly to the ground. In the middle of them, Goliath the Linoone stands proud and fierce. The challenger only remains still for long enough to spit up a glob of blood before Goliath takes off running toward Armaldo. He knows that that wasn't enough to end it.

Three deep furrows in the sand extend from Goliath's position, all the way back past Steven. The furrows from Armaldo's feet and tail lead all the way to where the Armored Pokémon now stands, a dozen feet behind his Trainer.

Armaldo staggers in pain, the attack hitting him too quickly to even register until now. The impact seems to have knocked him back to his senses though, as his eyes have cleared up from the shock. They now stare wide at the approaching Linoone.

"Stop him! Rock Blast!" Steven's voice pierces through the air and brings Armaldo back to action. A boulder quickly takes shape between his claws.

"Double Team, then close in for Iron Tail! You've got this!" I refuse to back down here.

A couple dozen Linoones take shape on the beach, but neither Steven nor Armaldo seem to care. I don't have time to think of what that means before a massive Rock Blast whistles through the air toward one of the approaching Linoones.

Instead of allowing the rock to break the clone, Goliath dodges around it, telling me that they had locked on to the real one. My starter shows off his incredible reflexes and sense for combat by dodging the second and third boulders that fly at him in rapid succession.

How? How can they pinpoint the real one? How would I find the real one, if I was in their position? My eyes soon pick up on the answer. Footprints! While battling in the sand, Double Team becomes worthless because only the real one leaves footprints!

"Get rid of Double Team," Since it's worthless, Goliath needs to stop wasting energy and focus on maintaining them. "Put all your attention towards approaching Armaldo without getting hit!"

Goliath makes no sound of confirmation, but there is soon only one Linoone running toward Armaldo. His progress is painstakingly slow as he dives and twists around boulder after boulder. Apparently, Rock Blast doesn't have a limit other than the user's energy capacity. We don't even have time to Dig under, not that that would be a good idea with Earthquake being an option. I can only place my faith in Goly's abilities here.

"Keep it up, Armaldo," Steven decides to stick with Rock Blast. "He can't dodge all of them."

Steven's words seem to be accurate as Goliath's dodges begin to get narrower and narrower. His chest heaves wildly, but the boulders are coming so fast that he can't even stop for a moment to rest. It doesn't take long before they begin to scrape chunks of fur from his sides. Still, none have gotten a clean hit.

When he's only a few feet away from Armaldo, the courageous Linoone trips. He attempts to leap over the top of the oncoming boulder, and it clips his foot. The force behind the rock sends his entire body tumbling out of control. Armaldo takes careful aim with his next Rock Blast. There's no escape.

Just when our luck appears to have run out, the tide turns once more. A fierce muscle spasm sends Armaldo's boulder harmlessly to the right, and Goliath manages to get back to his feet.

"Go! Iron Tail!" I shout with all my hope, desperation, and adrenaline, punching the air as I do so.

Goliath leaps up to Armaldo's head and flips forward with his tail glowing silver.

"Block with X-Scissor!" Steven counters, equally desperate.

The Linoone's tail clashes with the Armaldo's two claws in a scene that looks straight out of a Pokémon movie. Sand splashes up all around them and forms a perfect circle with them at the center. After a couple seconds of an even struggle, the Champion's Pokémon can't hold off the strength of his challenger, which has been boosted to its limits. Goliath's tail slams down, pushing Armaldo's arms away and bashing into his skull! Armaldo is sent rolling through the sand until he comes to a stop, about ten feet away. The power within that super-effective Iron Tail was incredible!

It wasn't enough though, as Armaldo rests on one knee. The Bug-Type fossil breathes in heavy, desperate breaths. His entire body is wracked with spasms and he doesn't look like he could fully stand up if he wanted to.

I'm going to win this! Only victory is on my mind as I call out the final move.

"Extreme Speed!" This time, Goly doesn't disappear right away. He takes a deep, shaky breath, and gathers himself first, then disappears.

"Bulldoze!" That single second that Goly needed to prepare his attack proved the difference between an Elite-level Pokémon and a Champion. Armaldo doesn't need any time at all to stomp on the ground and release a devastating move.

The ground shakes intensely and I struggle to stay standing, putting a hand on Mirabelle's back to keep myself up.

"Noone!" Goliath, on the other hand, lets out a heart-wrenching cry as he tumbles and rolls across the sand.

"Water Pulse." Steven shows mercy by not crushing the defenseless Pokémon with Armaldo's most proficient ranged attack, but, after having his special attack buffed with Flatter, this will be more than enough.

A high-pressure ring of water slams into Goly's side as he tumbles helplessly. I'm already running out to him with a Sitrus berry before he comes to a stop.

It's over.

My heart sinks as I kneel in the sand trying to force-feed the berry to my unconscious starter. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Armaldo falling to both knees as Steven approaches it. Somewhere deep within, I can be incredibly proud of the showing that my team gave today. After all, with only one badge of experience, they pushed a member of the Champion's true team to his absolute limits. However, that pride remains at the back of my mind. The front of my mind is pissed and frustrated beyond belief!

We were so close! Just one move! One single moment of hesitation! One single bad call from me! Had I been paying attention to Goliath's condition, instead of focusing on how close Armaldo was to falling, could I have predicted the result and given a better call? Even as the berry disappears down Goliath's gullet and his eyelids twitch, my mind is only filled with regrets and 'what ifs'.

I hear the sound of footsteps approaching from behind me and I quickly wipe away the little drops of water that had formed in the corners of my eyes. Tears of frustration are fine, but you can't show them to the enemy. With that taken care of, I return Goly and stand up.

"That was an incredible battle, Reid!" Steven's voice rings with praise. "I wasn't nearly as good as you when I was just starting out!"

"Thanks, but it wasn't enough," I see that both Mirabelle and Eris have collapsed in exhaustion and fallen asleep now that the battle is over. I quickly return both of them. "Here." I hold one hundred Poke out towards the Champ.

"What?" He looks completely thrown off guard as he stares at the cash. "Are you trying to pay me, the Hoenn Champion, a cash reward for a casual battle with a new Trainer?" His voice is filled with disbelief.

"I already said it was an official battle," I declare. "I would have made you pay up if you won, so I'm paying you now that I lost. Just take it already." I pick up my poketch and log in to my Trainer account. "I'm filing this as an official loss on my record too, so your record will mark another win. That means it's illegal for me not to pay."

Steven looks at me with an expression that says he can't believe what he's seeing. After a several-second long staredown, he gives in and grabs the cash.

"I already knew this after battling that Sableye of yours, but you're actually crazy, aren't you?" The Champion still shakes his head in disbelief as he pockets the money and takes another Pokeball off his belt. He releases his Claydol with a quick press of the button. "Now, I want to spend some time talking with you, but first things first. We need to get our Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. The sooner the better, for your Pokémon, so Claydol will teleport us there if that's alright with you."

After I give him the ok, the world quickly changes around us. In the time it takes to blink, we're standing in a corner of the Dewford Pokémon Center. The quest for the Steelixite remains completely forgotten for now.


Reid Redwood

Badges: 1

Pokémon: 3

Goliath (Goly)

Linoone

Abilities:

Gluttony, Pick Up, Quick Feet

Moves:

Slash, Shadow Claw, Headbutt, Take Down, Dig, Pin Missile, Iron Tail, Extreme Speed, Covet, Flail, Protect, Rest, Belly Drum, Double Team, Growl, Sand Attack, Tail Whip

Mirabelle (Belle)

Tropius

Abilities:

Harvest, Solar Power

Moves:

Magical Leaf, Sunny Day, Protect, Whirlwind, Razor Leaf, Gust, Leaf Storm, Leech Seed, Curse, Growth, Stomp, Sweet Scent

Eris

Sableye

Abilities:

Prankster, Keen Eye

Moves:

Attract, Thunder Wave, Flatter, Sucker Punch, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Claw, Fury Swipes, ?, ?, ?