Hello! Holy shit I'm BACK! It's been like a goddamn year but I quit the job that sapped all my creative energy and got over the fear of getting back into writing and decided to write as much of the final chapters of Chance as I could during NaNoWriMo! So despite this chapter taking literally a million years, we're BACK and ready to ATTACK!

Anyway please forgive this chapter for being not one of my better battles. I'm easing back into it. And I have a better idea of what will happen in Volkner's battle, which I'm more excited for. I kinda just cornered myself into this one with Dawn rip. But here it is at long last!

"This'll be a 6-on-6 single battle between Dawn Berlitz and Evelyn Meyers of Twinleaf Town!" said Lucas, who was refereeing (this was distracting, but not nearly as much as it would have been in the past). "No substitutions will be allowed; the battle will conclude when all pokemon on one side are unable to battle. Battlers, are you ready?"

"Yep," I said.

"Damn, maybe you are the better referee," Dawn mused.

"I need an affirmative, Ms. Berlitz," Lucas said congestedly.

She flipped him off with a grin. Lucas returned the gesture and said, "Battle, begin!"

"Kenna!"

"Faith!"

Dawn took one look at the field and laughed. "Awh, I guessed wrong."

"What?"

"It was…" She glanced at the battle poised to begin, then answered, "Your first pokemon is always a 50-50 between Faith and Trust."

"Oh." I blinked. Was it? I tried to think back to past battles.

Kenna suddenly blasted water forth. I jumped at the suddenness, but Faith had already slid underground. "Oh, we're playing dirty, are we?" I said with a grin. "Distraction tactics?"

Dawn shrugged sheepishly, but she was grinning too. "Volkner's that kind of fighter. I'm preparing you."

"Are you? I kind of feel like the reverse is true."

Dawn dropped the grin and glanced nervously at her pokemon, but nothing happened. Faith popped out of the ground a few yards away. "Get her!" Dawn shouted.

Kenna spun a whirlpool out of thin air, letting it grow and grow until it threatened to hit the glass panes of the buildings around us. She reared her head back…

…and the whirlpool came crashing down on top of her.

"Nice job with the confusion. Go for nightshade until she's down!" I said to Faith.

Faith popped out of the ground while Kenna and Dawn tried to recover their bearings. She smacked Kenna with a ripple of darkness, and then another, and Kenna swung out wildly and smacked Faith back. Faith toppled backwards, rolling corporeally on the sand, but sank into the battlefield before Kenna could nail her with a steel wing.

"Now, get her!"

The ground shook, and Faith didn't have time to dodge the super-effective move. She popped out of the ground and flopped on top of it.

"Gengar is unable to battle!" Lucas called out.

"Damn, I didn't think earthquake was in Kenna's arsenal," I said, withdrawing her.

"Do you have a counter for that? I know you've seen that situation before."

Faith had definitely been underground during an earthquake in the past. "Not yet." Plus it had happened too fast for me to react to. "Anyway, Hope, let's go for it."

Hope popped out of her pokeball and was instantly zooming between the walls of the buildings around us. I knew it was a tighter space than she would've liked, but we'd been practicing for this.

"Ice beam!"

"Extremespeed!"

Hope zoomed past the ice rocketing her way, gaining a whitish glow as her speed increased. She whizzed between the walls like a gaseous atom, bouncing down briefly to hit Kenna and then lifting off again. The normal type move didn't affect Kenna much, but it did appear to anger her. And she was tracking Hope easily, which meant she'd snapped out of her confusion.

"Steel wings ready!" Dawn called out.

"Get some aura energy into your extremespeed," I said, hoping I'd read Dawn's intentions correctly.

Kenna's wings glowed silver. She watched Hope bounce between walls up above, her beady eyes keeping up with Hope's every move. When Hope dove, Kenna whipped her wings up– yesss, I'd predicted right – which meant Hope shot straight into the prepped steel wing.

And this should have hurt. But the white glow of extremespeed had gained the periwinkle tinge of Hope's aura, and the normal-on-steel type disadvantage had become a fighting-on-steel advantage.

Kenna bowled over backwards, the blow to her wings pulling her down. Hope, unscathed, did some loop-de-loops.

"Let's get an aura sphere in there?" I suggested.

The aura sphere was flying before I even finished the thought, slamming like a meteorite into Kenna's face. Kenna didn't get back up.

"Empoleon is unable to battle!" Lucas declared.

"Kenna, well done," Dawn said, withdrawing her pokemon. Hope was still whizzing around up above. "Does… does she ever slow down?" Dawn asked, hesitating with her next pokeball.

I shrugged. "When she wants to."

"So, no?"

"Yeah, not really."

Dawn laughed and threw her electivire onfield. "Elliot, shockwave!"

"Protect!"

A protect bubble briefly fizzled up around her, just long enough to negate the 100% accuracy move.

"Well, sure," said Dawn. "But that doesn't last forever. Keep it up, Elliot!"

Elliot sent waves of lightning crackling through the sky, always seeking out Hope no matter where she was. She put up protect after protect, but I knew they'd start weakening as she used them more frequently. I narrowed my eyes – using protect was the backup for plan A (which was "don't get hit"); I didn't have a plan C.

"Maybe… go faster?

As impossible as it seemed, Hope sped up, becoming less of an individual pokemon and more of an immaterial blur. I couldn't tell if the shockwaves were still reaching for her – that is, until I heard a togekiss squeal and a distant crash as Hope slammed into a building.

Dawn and I both cringed. "Ouch," she said.

Hope tumbled like an autumn leaf, still crackling with electricity. "Return," I said reluctantly, calling her back. "Man, I really hoped I wouldn't need a plan C for evasion."

"Sorry," Dawn said sheepishly.

"Don't be," I said waving it off. "Better to know now than on Monday. Def, it's yours!"

"Elliot, thunder wave!"

"Teleport, double team."

Def disappeared and reappeared (and reappeared, and reappeared, and reappeared a few more times). Thunder wave crackled in the space he'd just been.

"Shockwave it is," said Dawn.

"Tank it with psychic armor, then teleport."

The shockwave instantly found the right gallade, who glowed pink to absorb some of the attack before he disappeared again. He reappeared elsewhere, but the other gallades also began to blink in and out of existence, which helped him disappear back into the crowd.

"Rain dance!" said Dawn.

Clouds gathered overhead, and a fine mist began to fall, coalescing into bigger droplets until there was a full downpour in our little corner of the city. I took a step back and was instantly outside of its range – this was really impressive rain dance control.

"Close combat. Feel free to throw in other energies."

Def and a few copies appeared around Elliot, bashing him with their swords and then disappearing. I saw grass and psychic in addition to the orangey glow of fighting energy, and Elliot seemed to be getting battered, but not enough to stop–

"Thunder!"

A sun-bright blast of lightning crashed down from the clouds above, engulfing Def, Elliot, and all the copies. Def's double team fully vanished, and he staggered back dizzily while Elliot crackled with electricity, energized by his motor drive ability.

"Finish him off!"

"Psychic armor, and close combat!"

Def glowed pink and swung at Elliot, but he was still reeling from the blast, and Elliot's heightened-speed focus punch was enough to take him out.

"Gallade is unable to battle!"

"Rest up, Def. Coeur, it's yours."

"Thunder!"

"Dig."

Coeur burrowed underground, evading the blast from above.

"Dod–"

Coeur slammed into Elliot from below before he had the chance to dodge, barreling him over with a super effective attack and finishing him off.

"Electivire is unable to battle!"

"Eric, go for it!"

Dawn's scizor hit the field and took off immediately into the air. "Aura blast will be key this round," I told Coeur. "Feel free to default to it."

Coeur took this as permission to start flinging aura blasts indiscriminately skyward – or, actually, no, aura spheres, which she'd managed to get the hang of over the past month or so. She gave them just enough of a push to get them floating slowly upward, filling the sky with them as we'd done before. Eric wove between them, moving slowly to avoid barreling into any.

"Eric, silver wind!"

Eric's wings buzzed audibly, unleashing loose silvery-green bug energy that tore through the aura spheres between him and Coeur before raining down upon her. She jumped between his blasts and dove back into the hole she'd dug earlier.

"Sunny day!" called Dawn.

The clouds dissipated, replaced by a fiery second sun in the sky. I frowned. Was there a point to that? I didn't think scizors could use solar beam or fire moves.

"Pop out and blast him with aura."

Coeur emerged and readied an aura blast, but Eric swooped down and cut through it to hit her with an x-scissor attack.

"Get her while she's out!"

"Aura rush!"

Coeur covered herself in her purple aura, which acted more as armor than anything as Eric began to rain blows down upon her head.

"Push it!"

"Keep it up!"

A surge of lavender light from Coeur blasted both of them back. When the light faded, both pokemon were down.

"Scizor and Umbreon are unable to battle!"

"Return. Good work, Coeur," I said.

I paused to take stock of the situation. Four down on my side, three down on hers – a slight advantage on her end. We could still pull this around, though, with just Trust and Prom.

"Shall we go at the same time?" Dawn asked, pokeball in hand.

"Sure," I said, scanning my brain for her next pick. It was Alan, Melody, and Venezia left – fire, grass-poison, and dragon-flying – so if my remaining picks were water and fire-fighting, what was the best choice? Trust was strong against one and weak against the other, and Prom was strong against one, so… a toss-up?

I chose Prom, which ended up being the wrong pick – Dawn's roserade was on the field. "Did you see this coming too?"

"Hm? Uhh, yeah, Trust is usually first or last; Prom's a mid-battle pick. Melody, magical leaf!"

"Protect yourself with aquajet. This'll be an icy round."

Prom surrounded himself with water and launched into the sky. Melody's magical leaves sank into his water shield, losing enough power to be effectively nullified by the time they hit him (technically they had to hit, because 100% accuracy move, but I don't think soggy leaves could do much damage to anyone, even if you're weak to grass. Maybe if you ate soggy salad it would do emotional damage? I'm getting off track here.).

"All right, get in there with ice jet!"

Prom swooped back around as the trail of water behind him turned to ice crystals. Melody stepped aside at the last moment, letting him whiz past her with his super-effective ice.

"Ooh, good dodge. All right, go for weather ball first."

Roserade charged up a fiery orb above her – okay, so maybe this was the purpose of scizor's sunny day – then sidestepped Prom and let him hit the weather ball on his second pass. It didn't seem to do much damage, but it did melt the ice.

"Solarbeam!"

"Dodge!"

Prom did his best, but his back was to Melody and he couldn't see where she was aiming. By the time he got himself turned around, he'd missed the quick charge time and the green flash, and the solarbeam had already hit.

Solarbeam blasted Prom into the side of the building behind him, ignoring the protective effects of aqua jet entirely. He fell about twenty feet into a puddle of his own making.

I winced. "Prom, you okay?"

"'Okay' is not the word I'd use."

"That's fair. Intact?"

"Barely."

"Let's play defensively then. Ice beam."

Prom unleashed an ice beam that cut through the air like a knife. Melody once again sidestepped it.

"Try and let it spread out. It doesn't need to be so compact."

"Solarbeam! Once more!"

Prom shielded himself from the blast behind a protect bubble. Once it had fizzled out, he let down the wall and let out an ice beam that branched like lightning. Melody attempted to dodge, but stepped right into a parallel branch of the ice beam. She recoiled, ice encasing her shoulder.

"Keep it up!"

"Block it out with solarbeam!"

Prom unleashed another round of icy lightning. Melody charged and released a third solarbeam, visibly weaker than the last two, which blocked the ice but couldn't push through it.

"Keep it up – solarbeam can't last forever."

"Get in close with…" Dawn hesitated, frowning. "Mega drain."

Melody let go of the solarbeam and ran in close, doing her best to dodge and weave between the forked tongues of Prom's ice beam. Ice hit her in the knee, in the eye, but she did her best to get close and reach tendrils of grass energy towards Prom.

"Launch over and get her from above."

Prom blasted off with aqua jet, spiraling over the mega drain tendrils and shooting ice from overhead. Melody tried to move the mega drain to block it, but the reaching vines were too gentle to stop the oncoming frost.

"Roserade is unable to battle!"

As Dawn recalled her pokemon, it occurred to me what she'd done.

"You didn't use poison."

She was mid-throw, but she hesitated. "Well, yeah. It's Prom. He has a bad time with poison, yeah?"

I nodded, struck speechless. It might not seem like a big deal that she'd stopped herself from using an alternate strategy in battle – the grass strategy hadn't been going well – for my pokemon's sake, but she'd also ignored an advantage. Most people who knew about Prom's weakness exploited it.

Even…

I brushed aside the memory of an ampharos dropping poison down a tunnel towards Prom. Dawn let out Venezia, her altaria. "Let's get this started with dragon dance, in the sky!"

"Ice her."

"Arceus," said Prom.

"Not like that, I mean–"

I heard what sounded like Prom laughing. "I know."

Ice beam crackled through the air. Venezia swerved higher, swirling smokelike into the sky. The violet-blue glow surrounding her told me she'd incorporated dragon dance into a dodge.

"Ice her more directly, maybe?"

"So uhh…"

"Directly, not literally!"

Prom's next ice beam shot straight as an arrow at Venezia, who still swerved around it. Dragon energy sparked visibly in her wings.

"All right, dragon pulse!"

"Protect!"

Spirals of dragon energy descended and ricocheted off of Prom's protect, splashing against the building behind him. The air above rippled like there was a heatwave, and I saw Prom's shield start to melt–

"Get out of there!"

Prom let down the shield and booked it across the arena, but Venezia's blast followed him fast enough to anticipate his path–

A burst of light and dust flung Prom into the air. I recalled him, having felt his presence in my mind disappear.

"Buizel is… disqualified?" Lucas glanced at me with a question in his eyes.

"He's unconscious," I clarified.

"Buizel is unable to battle."

"Not so professional now, are you?" Dawn teased.

"Could you tell he was unconscious?" Lucas retorted.

"Sorry," I said, embarrassed at having caused such a commotion.

"No worries." Lucas stood up straighter. "Please let out your next pokemon, Ms. Meyers."

"Trust, it's yours!"

"Venezia, blast him!"

"Stone edge!"

Trust surrounded himself with glowing white rings that solidified into swirling stones. He hurled them skyward with enough spread to make dodging difficult. One clipped through the fluff of Venezia's wing.

"Venezia, sky attack!"

Perfect.

"Get those rocks going!"

Trust summoned a new set of rock energy rings in preparation for another attack. Venezia dove, leaving streaks of blue-white flying energy behind her.

"Get her!"

Trust channeled the rock energy into his fists, unsolidified and volatile, and threw them forth when Venezia reached him. I have to assume Venezia had prepared to dodge, but specifically dodge projectiles, because instead of swerving away from him, she tried to slow down in a last-minute panic that did nothing to stop Trust's super-effective uppercut.

Venezia went flying (but like, in a different way than before). Trust sent the remainder of the stony-white energy her way in a blast that pushed her to the ground.

"Altaria is unable to battle!"

"Venezia, return," Dawn said. "Honestly, I can't even be mad. That was wild."

"Trust's a powerhouse," I said, nodding.

"Agreed. I'm not giving up, though," she said, pulling out her last pokeball. "Alan, go!"

Dawn's arcanine took the field – and at this point, I realized, he'd been Dawn's pokemon longer than he'd ever been mine.

"Try the same strategy you just used," I told Trust. It was unlikely to work, but at this point, I felt less like a competitor and more of a rival. What I mean is, Dawn had taught me new things about myself and pushed me today – it felt right to return the favor and test her ability to overcome this obstacle.

Trust gathered stone energy again while Alan picked up speed, glowing white with the same extra-speedy normal energy Hope had gained before. He pulled it into his hands and pushed it forward when Alan drew near–

Alan leaped completely over Trust's head, did a somersault in midair, and latched his massive jaw completely onto Trust's torso. He landed on his back with Trust faceup in his maw.

"Thunder fang and bite!"

Alan's fangs crackled with electricity and dark energy, and despite the situation I felt a little bit of pride – that's my move! She's doing a multi-attack! – and I scanned for a way for Trust to escape.

"Alan, shake!"

Trust cried out in pain as Alan shook his head, digging his teeth into Trust's body. There wasn't enough time for words, so I shoved a mental image at Trust–

Rocks. Rocks surrounded him once again, this time staying close in orbit like so many tiny moons that crashed into the giant with a planet in his jaws. Alan roared, loosening his jaw just enough that Trust could fling himself bloodily out of it. Trust wasted no time before hurling the rest of the rocks at Alan.

"Extremespeed!"

Alan skirted around the rocks, charging back in.

"Mach punch!"

Trust's fist and Alan's charge collided – and while there was no visible explosion, I need to stress that this was two hyperspeed-style moves crashing head-on, which meant the impact for either of them felt like both of the hits combined.

Alan and Trust each toppled backward, hitting the ground. I scanned anxiously for any signs of consciousness for either one–

"Arcanine is unable to battle!" Lucas said, craning his neck to see Trust better. Trust staggered to his feet, holding one of his hands gingerly. "The winner is Evelyn Meyers from Twinleaf Town!"

I recalled Trust to his pokeball before meeting Dawn in the middle. "The building's okay, right?" she murmured, eyeing where our pokemon had battered it.

"It's reinforced," I said with a laugh, repeating what I'd heard in my weeks here.

"Ah, good. Well, good match," she said, holding out a hand to shake.

"Good match," I said, shaking my rival's hand. "Thanks for the invitation. Am I really that predictable, by the way?"

"I mean, you definitely follow patterns. I don't know that Volkner necessarily knows them, though."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Just in case, though… What are my patterns?"

Dawn started to fill me in as we headed to the Pokemon Center to let our pokemon heal. She'd also printed a full-on pamphlet's worth of paper about Volkner's stats and tendencies – in summary: erratic, ruthless, and smart. Creative terrain usage, maneuvers that were barely allowed but still considered rude, patterns set up and then violently broken. Inconsistent battle rules – most gym leaders tended to stick to using one set of rules, but as a gym leader bored of gym battles, Volkner liked to switch things up.

"The matchup between your styles is hard to analyze because you both tend to get creative," Dawn said.

I nodded, and I must have looked extremely concerned, because Dawn laughed and said, "Don't worry, I have faith in your ability to improvise."

"Hmm… What would you do?" I asked her. "If it seems like he's predicting my moves, do I try something random instead?"

Dawn considered it. "I mean, I don't think you should completely change how you fight, but if you also do something unexpected, that'll throw him off for the parts you keep the same. You know?"

I nodded thoughtfully. "Okay."

"Sorry if that doesn't make sense."

"No," I said, shaking my head slowly. "I think… This helped. Thank you. I think I know what to do."