Cassius wasn't quite sure what it was he was supposed to be watching. A good chunk of that could be attributed to his overall inexperience, sure, but that didn't do much to help him presently.

"Both Flapple and Wooloo are unable to continue!" The referee called out, raising both hands. "Trainers, please prepare your next Pokémon!"

A double-KO was apparently rare in fights, judging by the collectively surprised reaction from the crowd. The bad kind of surprise, to be sure—the esteemed Flapple that Milo's fans had watched demolish most of its opponents early on in the challenge had now gone consecutive battles in which it had been knocked out relatively early. Maybe some of that dissatisfaction was lingering from Gloria's absolute dismantling the day prior, but Cassius supposed that didn't matter.

After how unstoppable Flapple had looked early on in the challenge, most trainers would have been happy with taking it out in a best-against-best situation. Gloria was overwhelmingly not among that camp, judging by her frustrated commentary.

"He fuckin' had it," she hissed, overtly pissed. "But he wanted to fuckin' play pretend, fuckin' eejit."

That was what had Cassius confused. Wooloo, for as slow and tanky as it had appeared, looked to have Flapple on the ropes. A combination of early Defense Curls and its passive ability, Fluffy, had turned their match into a sort of war of attrition. Hop had clearly studied Milo and Flapple's tendencies, avoiding each Acid Spray and Leech Seed while tanking every Wing Attack and Twister Wooloo couldn't get out of the way of. The Twister did damage but was manageable without a lingering Acid Spray, and the Wing Attack might as well have been a kiss against Wooloo's fortified wool.

In a fight pitting lethal offense against impregnable defense, the latter appeared to have the edge, even more so when Hop landed a few well-timed Tackles. Flapple looked to be tiring, but right when Hop looked to have Milo on the ropes, he'd hesitate. Brief little moments where he looked to be deciding on something that Cassius would have imagined would have been otherwise obvious. They might have been only a few seconds, sure, but that was apparently all Flapple needed to pick itself up off the mat and recover.

Cassius genuinely had no idea what Hop was trying to do. Was he opting to play it super safe, instead of opening himself to a potential surprise counter? But that seemed so unlike the eager, quick-witted Hop, who up to this point in his teachings and overall attitude hadn't conveyed anything close to that style of battling. And it hadn't even paid off—one lucky critical hit from Flapple later, and they'd ended up dead even again, leading to the double-KO.

From the limited amount of fights Cassius had binged, all of them had an established through-line. A plan that each trainer wanted to generally follow. The battle within the battle, so to speak, was seeing how trainers would adjust to either remain committed to their plan, or try and catch their opponent off-guard with something different. Going off-script didn't seem to be very feasible, though, when what you decided to do either didn't play to your strengths or didn't do anything to meaningfully throw off your opponent. What Hop was doing didn't fulfill either of those requirements, which made the decision all the more confusing. Aggravatingly so, in Gloria's case.

Hop was grinning down on the pitch in the meanwhile, clearly having the time of his life despite the situation. A situation that was hardly in his favor—his Grookey against Milo's remaining two Pokémon, equally strong in their own right. Not to mention the persistent chorus of boos that continued raining down on him.

"So... this playing pretend," Cassius decided to try and do a little sleuthing into why Hop was suddenly acting this way. "Is there any reason why this is showing up now?"

"It wasn't before," Gloria growled. "'nd I thought it wouldn't. Thought he was better than that."

"Meaning...?"

Gloria took a moment to try and compose herself, mostly failing. "Ya'd havta be blind not to see Hop idolizes Leon. Far back as I can remember, he's been emulatin' 'nd tryna be him, on and off the pitch. Lee's a great guy, sure, 'nd you can certainly pick a worse role model, but in Hop's case..."

"He's taking it too far?" Cassius guessed. Gloria nodded gravely. "Leon's first fight as a pro was very... thorough. Frankly, it was almost embarassin' how much he was annihilatin' his opponent. He was dominatin' so much, in fact, that I remember him sayin' afterward that he felt a smidge bad for the bloke."

"That sounds... patronizing, honestly," Cassius admitted.

"Exactly the point. Gym leaders are pros, and even if they're gettin' taken to the woodshed, one thing any pro hates is being pitied in the middle of a fight. He obviously regrets feelin' that way now, but it took a stern talkin' to from Sonia to get 'im outta that habit at the time."

From the way she'd phrased it, it sounded like Leon had effectively imparted that regret onto Gloria and Hop. "So then, what does this have to do with Hop?"

"I'm gettin' there," Gloria promised. "Even if he didn't mean to, winning the way Leon did helped him stand out very early on. Press couldn't shut up 'bout the random rookie from bumfuck nowhere in Postwick crushin' a respected gym leader in his first pro match. He made headlines in a way almost no one had before. Wasn't long 'fore the talkin' heads were callin' him the favorite to win the circuit 'nd become champ."

She gave him a very pointed look. "So, Hop wants to stand out early on in the challenge. He also idolizes his brother, who won his first fight in the challenge in such a way that it made him the immediate favorite. Again—Hop idolizes his brother. See what I'm gettin' at?"

He did, at least on paper. "But... they're already calling him a clone of his brother. Why would he feed into that and set himself up for ridicule instead of trying to win his way?"

"Wish I fuckin' knew," Gloria shook her head, returning her glare in Hop's general direction. "The problem becomes that he's so focused on thinkin' of ways to emulate Leon on the pitch that he's let Milo back into the fight by lettin' his Flapple luck into a crit against his best 'Mon. That means he has to stop pretendin' to be Leon and instead focus on winnin' the fight, which I'm not sure I can trust him to do right now."

"Surely he would," Cassius argued.

"I thought he wouldn't even bother with this charade at all before the fight," Gloria countered. "I'm fuckin' nervous, and what's pissin' me off is that this would be entirely avoidable if he'd just fight normally for Arceus' sake!"

Any response he might have had died once the action on the pitch resumed. Hop's Grookey, his final stand, was currently sizing up Milo's Gossifleur, the tiny Grass-type floating non-threateningly. As non-threatening as a tenured combatant could look, anyway.

Hop wasted little time. "Get in and Branch Poke, Grookey!" With an affirmative shriek, Grookey took off like a bullet, making a straight line toward Gossifleur.

Milo similarly quickly sprung into action. "Magical Leaf, Gossifleur!" A sharp trill, and a formation of glowing leaves materialized and shot themselves at Grookey.

"Needs to tank it," Gloria muttered, calling out moves as if she herself was on the pitch. As if reading her mind, Hop called out the same command. "Tank it, Grookey!" The Chimp Pokémon didn't deviate even slightly from its course as it took the brunt of the attack head-on, prompting a wince but little else.

Magical Leaf never missed, Cassius recalled. A worrying development for most trainers, but lucky for Hop, Grookey's typing meant it wouldn't be very effective. The same could be said for Branch Poke against the Grass-type Gossifleur, but at least it was an even playing field.

Gossifleur was considerably slower than Flapple, which meant it didn't naturally lend itself toward evasiveness. Grookey took full advantage as it blitzed its opponent, landing a hard thwack against the side of the plantlike Pokémon. A soft cry of pain escaped Gossifleur, but compared to being literally set on fire by Gloria yesterday, Gossifleur was still very much in the fight.

There was surely more at play than chipping away at each other with barely effective attacks. Cassius supposed they both had tricks up their sleeves, and were just waiting for a solid opportunity. In truth, Gloria had sort of defeated Milo so quickly that Cassius didn't have a chance to see either Gossifleur or Eldegoss do much of anything in person. While he still obviously hoped Hop would win, he wanted to get a better grasp of how the two were utilized in the fight today.

Almost immediately after thinking that, Milo called his next command. "Get in Grookey's face and use Sing!" However, before Gossifleur could belt out the first few notes, Hop already had a counter in mind. "Taunt, Grookey!"

Cassius hadn't heard of that move before. He watched as Grookey stood up straight, took on a non-threatening stance... and smirked. A second or two passed before Grookey spat in Gossifleur's general direction, haughty and unimpressed.

Immediately, all sense of calm focus escaped Gossifleur, replaced instead by a very present, very angry scowl. Any intention to Sing was thrown to the wayside, the Pokémon's petals dancing angrily as it looked almost eager to shoot a Razor Leaf or ten at Grookey.

Gloria, for once, actually looked pleased with the move. "Glad to see he's not lost all sense." Sensing Cassius' question before he asked it, she explained. "Taunt forces any recipient into a brief rage, preventing it from using moves that don't explicitly do damage. If you're lucky, it makes your opponents so mad they ignore any of their trainer's orders, but that usually only works on headstrong Pokémon owned by mediocre trainers. Won't work on a tenured gym leader, but avoidin' Sing and preventin' sleep status on your last 'Mon is more than worth it."

Cassius nodded. That seemed more like Hop. Maybe he was finally taking this seriously now?

Down on the field, Milo had adapted quickly, seeming to abandon any intention of a long battle. "Round, Gossifleur!" Unlike Sing's soft, sleep-inducing melody, a harsh burst of sound ejected itself from Gossifleur's mouth in the form of rings. The rings grew in size as they traveled closer to Grookey, eventually expanding to almost double its size on impact.

Grookey scowled as it was unable to dodge such a large wave of sound, covering its ears to try and mitigate the damage. The crowd cheered as the attack landed, appearing to do substantial damage—not quite a critical, but effective all the same. Gossifleur looked proud of itself as Grookey was forced back from the force.

Hop's facade fell slightly, grin turning into a wince, but he didn't unravel. "Decent shot, but it's our turn now!" He yelled a little louder, having to compensate for Grookey's ears having been damaged and the increased goading from the crowd. "Get in close, and keep your branch ready!" Snarling in affirmative, Grookey took off in a dead sprint toward Gossifleur, intent on returning the favor.

Milo was prepared. "Round again!" Another burst launched toward Grookey, but Hop had expected it. "Swing left!"

"Swing?" Cassius repeated. He watched carefully as Grookey stabbed its branch into the ground without stopping its momentum, speedily swinging in a circle around the branch once, then twice—before using that speed to launch itself in a hard ninety degree angle to the left, dislodging the branch at the last possible moment and taking it with it. The Round passed harmlessly where Grookey had been previously maybe a tenth of a second earlier. Tucking into a roll as it landed, Grookey managed to maintain some momentum as it returned to a sprint.

That managed to draw some oohs from the crowd, plenty shocked by the unorthodox maneuver. Cassius was certainly among them. "How did he do that?" For as easy as Grookey had made it look, Cassius wouldn't fool himself into thinking it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Managing to make such a sharp turn without losing Grookey's stick in the process was absurdly impressive by itself—doing it while dodging an attack and keeping some semblance of its original speed could have been a miracle.

Cassius had been expecting similar praise from Gloria, and was surprised when he was instead met with relative indifference. "S'alright."

"Alright? You saw what I saw, right? That was an insane dodge!"

"M'not disagreein', prick," Gloria grunted. "S'just... not efficient in the long run."

The long run? "How?"

Gloria watched as Grookey performed the specialized dodge again on the pitch, this time to the left as it avoided another Round. "Grookey's final evolution is Rillaboom. You know what that is?"

Cassius scrunched his face in attempted recollection. "... no."

"Whatever. Rillaboom isn't some nimble, agile-based 'Mon. It's big, lanky, and carries some fuck-all drum on it's back constantly. As a result, it isn't much for speed or dodgin'. Whatever speed it has as a Grookey or Thawackey, it trades in for attack and some defense." She eyed him purposefully. "Do y'see what I'm gettin' at?"

Another moment to think. "It... gets stronger?"

"No," Gloria sighed. "If you're serious 'bout trainin' a Grookey, you needa have 'em focus on attack-oriented strategies. Focusing on having Grookey dodge instead of drilling useful fundamentals that will help down the line is a giant waste of time and effort."

"Pokémon can adapt though, right?" Cassius asked.

"They usually do," Gloria conceded. "But when Pokémon are young, time spent training them should include relevant strategies that can be carried over and applied when they evolve. Otherwise, you end up wasting time having to retrain it from scratch, and forcing it to unlearn a lot of what it had drilled itself on before it evolved."

Gloria thought for a moment. "Imagine you have a human baby. You teach it normally as it grows up, talking 'nd eating 'nd all that, 'cept you have it master crawlin' 'stead of learnin' how to walk. S'easier in the short-term—babies don't come out the gate knowin' to walk, 'nd for a time, crawlin' is all they can do—but in the long-term, how many adults d'ya know that still crawl on all fours? Now you have to spend time teachin' a near adult to walk all over again from scratch, and have it forget how to crawl, when you could have just had it work up to walking from the start."

She gestured to the stadium around them. "Now, imagine having to do that durin' the region's biggest Pokémon battling circuit, where time's at a premium. Get it?"

It made sense. Cassius tended to focus more on the short-term, since he was in danger of immediately losing, but Hop and Gloria understandably didn't think that way. They had their entire careers to think about, and more pressingly, their debut run in the challenge. There was a balance they had to strike between impressing now, and setting themselves up for future success.

But as Cassius watched Grookey finally walk down Gossifleur after a third swing, he wasn't so sure the immediate benefits weren't worth the time Hop had obviously put into training this specific maneuver to Grookey. Gossifleur looked helpless to stop Grookey, launching Round after Round almost in desperation. As it was, it was too slow and too late to do anything about Grookey at their current distance.

"Scratch!" Hop commanded. Shelving its branch atop its head, Grookey raked its claws across the helpless Gossifleur. "Keep goin'! Scratch again!" Quickly turning, Grookey went for the face this time, prompting another pained shriek from the opposing Grass-type.

For the first time, Cassius watched Milo express a bit of panic in his commands, as Grookey continued sliding across and scratching Gossifleur in quick succession. "Rapid Spin! Get him off you!"

Like a top, Gossifleur rotated itself at a quickly increasing speed, loosening Grookey's hold on it. Detaching, Grookey retreated some ways away, awaiting orders from its trainer on what to do next.

As was Cassius, until he saw that pondering look on Hop's face again. As Gloria had made abundantly clear, that meant trouble. So he waited to see what he would do, even after Gossifleur stopped spinning, watching the two Pokémon and trainers stare each other down.

"All this wasted fuckin' time," Gloria droned, agitation rising. "Just fuckin' standin' around, when ye could be doin' literally fuckin' anythin'!" She shouted that last word, getting to her feet in rage. "Move, fuckin' dafty! Fight!"

They were lucky their booth was elevated, and that the crowd was starting to boo again, or else her words might have carried all the way down to the pitch. Instead, Hop continued waiting, Milo taking the opportunity to let Gossifleur catch its breath. Hop was lucky Milo wasn't giving Gossifleur a Potion, or any other healing item.

Milo seemed happy to take as long as Gossifleur needed, leaving the onus on Hop. After what felt like ages, he finally spoke. "Branch at the ready, Grookey."

"What's he doin'," Gloria angrily muttered.

"Toss it up!" Hop commanded. Snarling, Grookey summoned every ounce of strength it seemed to have and launched its branch into the air, well above itself and Gossifleur.

Cassius and Gloria, along with the rest of the crowd, watched the stick spin in the air. So did Milo, until he realized his mistake. "Don't look up, Gossifleur!"

"Scratch, Grookey!" It had maybe been a half-second that Gossifleur was distracted, but that was apparently long enough for Grookey to once again rush upon it. Cassius looked at where Grookey had been standing previously, noticing a small divot it had dug into the grass—a little foothold to launch itself off of, like a track runner. He hadn't been standing still for show, but to buy time.

Grookey's sharp claws dug into the diminutive Gossifleur, this time using its weight to slam it to the ground as well. Hop was once again intent on continuing the assault. "Keep Scratching!" One scratch, two scratch, before Grookey finally kicked itself away after a third and final Scratch. It assumed its assault had been plenty enough to finish the job. It had.

"Gossifleur is unable to continue!" The referee called. "Milo, please prepare your final Pokémon."

Milo sighed, shoulders deflating slightly, though he had yet to relinquish the smile on his face. He looked to mouth something that might have been "crafty," before returning Gossifleur to its capsule and preparing his final Pokémon, Eldegoss.

Unsurprisingly, Gloria still didn't look happy. Cassius could hazard a guess why. "I'm guessing that wasn't a Hop Dande original?"

"No," she confirmed. "Lee pulled that out with his Grookey in the first leg of his circuit run."

"Leon had a Grookey?"

"He had one of every native starter. Part of what makes him so good—he can train up damn near any Pokémon he gets his hands on." She shook her head. "S'beside the point. Hop's been riffin' on Lee this entire fuckin' fight. I know he didn't spend all that time trainin' tryna copy Lee's moves. He's got somethin' original comin'."

She sounded weirdly certain, considering how up in arms she'd been only minutes earlier. "You're sure?"

"I have to be," she said simply. "I'll kill him otherwise."

Eldegoss entered the clearing with a flash, floating softly atop the turf with a smile as easy as its trainer's. Milo didn't seem even a little nervous, and neither did Hop. If it weren't for the massive stadium and the loudly participating fans, they might have looked like two friends going at each other in a friendly spar.

Alas, it was not. Normal spars didn't usually involve Pokémon growing exponentially bigger at the click of a button.

As quickly as Eldegard had been sent out, it was recalled into its Poké Ball—only this time, it was swirling with a glowing red aura, before enlarging to almost five times its size. Milo had no trouble with the added weight. "Here we go! Dynamax time!"

The crowd roared its approval as Milo gave a soft pat to the oversized capsule, before launching it into the air as high as he could. The Poké Ball exploded open, booming like thunder as it revealed an Eldegoss that towered over Milo, and the rest of the pitch. Its cotton fluff shook and spread itself as it floated, and quivered as it bellowed a roar announcing its arrival onto the battlefield. The crowd had never been louder, chanting as a singular collective in support of their gym leader.

"Miii—looo—

"Miii—looo—

"Miii—looo—"

Again, Gloria had ripped through Milo so quickly that the crowd hadn't even been a factor in their fight. But now that it was dead even, and of a much slower pace, the crowd was fully engaged, using their voice to the best of their abilities. It was intimidating from all the way in their sectioned-off seating area. He couldn't imagine what it felt like down there, all alone, with only your Pokémon beside you.

Not to be outdone, Hop recalled Grookey into his own rapidly expanding Poké Ball. "Our turn!" Hurling the capsule, Grookey burst in a red beam and slammed into the turf at a similarly gigantic size, pounding the ground in anticipation, likely overflowing from the surge of power. This would have been the first time it had Dynamaxed, Cassius assumed. You could visually imagine it all you wanted, but he supposed there was no preparing for suddenly becoming as tall as a building for the first time.

But, as Grookey towered over everything, so tall that little red cloud formations swelled atop its head like a halo, there looked to be no apprehension on its face as it stared down its similarly massive opponent. Hop was equally concentrated, his brows knit into a look of pure focus.

"Can't afford to stand around," Gloria shifted anxiously. "Go win, Hop. Don't wait for it."

Milo got things started. "Max Overgrowth!"

A surge of power flooded the entire pitch, reaching down to the very ground the trainers stood on. What was once finely-trimmed turf grew rapidly, expanding to thick undergrowth almost as tall as Hop. Higher beyond that, massive mushrooms were summoned around Grookey, the Chimp Pokémon attempting to whack them indiscriminately with little effect. Eventually, the mushrooms had Grookey fully bound and immobile. boxing him within.

The stems stopped growing, but the mushroom heads did not. With a sinister red glow around them, they expanded like balloons, swelling and swelling until with a giant pop they exploded, right in Grookey's face and body. A pained bellow accompanied the explosions, and as the headless stems eventually wilted and dissolved, Grookey was revealed to have fallen to one knee, conscious but not unharmed.

Even for as massively damaging as it looked, Max Overgrowth was still a Grass-type move, and thus largely ineffective. Cassius knew that, but he still was unable to fight the worry coursing through him. Grookey had pushed itself hard with its fancy dodging and constant Scratches against Gossifleur. There was no way of knowing how much it still had in the tank after all of that necessary maneuvering. The only one who would know was down on the field.

Hop, unharmed from the all-encompassing attack thanks to the protective barrier around the trainer's box, looked largely unfazed by the attack. So much so, that he seemed to know exactly what to do after Grookey returned to its feet.

"Plant your branch into the ground, Grookey!"

Grunting in response, Grookey removed the branch from atop its head, similarly enlarged to the size of a large tree. Using two hands, it drove it into the ground, just deep enough so that it firmly embedded itself among the heightened shrubbery and grass. With a few experimental tugs, Grookey confirmed that it was firmly rooted in place.

Cassius, once again, was lost. Planting the branch was a defensive maneuver used for dodging, he assumed. There was no way he was going to dodge any Dynamax attacks within the enclosed pitch now, especially without any established speed or momentum. "What's he doing?"

Milo seemed curious as well, choosing not to immediately bark out any orders to Eldegoss. Hop readily took the initiative, putting his plan into motion. "Bounce around the barrier!"

"What?" Cassius watched in confused awe as Grookey began the process of building speed by swinging around its branch, before using its gathered momentum to launch itself to its right, not unlike the specialized dodge. A brief bolt of fear shot through him as he saw the massive Pokémon careening for the crowd, but Grookey was instead met with a reverberating blue barrier that shielded the crowd, catching Grookey's large body before anyone could get hurt. Bending its legs upon impact, Grookey launched itself at the opposite wall, maintaining its speed as best as it could despite its huge frame.

Milo was laughing as he watched Grookey bounce around like an oversized pinball against the barrier's walls. "What fun!" His smile remained as he attempted to get a bead on Grookey's trajectory. "Let's try for a Max Strike. See if you can aim where Grookey's gonna be."

The Dynamax version of what looked like Round charged up within Eldegoss' mouth, its beady eyes attempting to decipher where Grookey was going to launch itself next. Up, down, left, right—Grookey wasn't making any pattern it was adhering to obvious, if it even had one, and it didn't look to be tiring either. Giving what might have been the Dynamax Eldegoss version of a shrug, Eldegoss launched the beam of sound in a random guess, aiming to its left.

It missed completely, harmlessly hitting a section of the barrier while Grookey instead bounced itself to the farthest wall from Eldegoss, before launching itself toward the planted branch, taking a quick breath before spinning twice more to regain speed and continue the process all over again.

"That's an absurdly agile Grookey," Gloria noted. "Durable, too. Been swingin' itself like mad since it entered the fight, and it don't look even a little tired."

Endurance had clearly been the focus of Hop's training. "But still, it can't do that forever, can it?" Cassius asked. "At some point, it'll run out of gas. And it can only be Dynamaxed for so long."

"True. Which means he needs to hit Eldegoss soon. But Milo knows that—that's why he's not doin' anythin'. In order for Grookey to hit him, Grookey's gonna need to get physically close to Eldegoss." True to that, Milo seemed content to wait on the pitch, silent as his and Eldegoss' eyes carefully watched Grookey. "He's bankin' on gettin' an attack off before Grookey can touch Eldegoss."

Cassius nodded. "So Hop needs to be the one to take the initiative."

"And time it right. Grookey's durable, but it's taken big hits. A Max Strike at point blank might do it in." For as calm as she sounded, she was chewing on her bottom lip with increasing regularity. "Just needs to be smart, or he loses. All it is at this point."

He supposed it was. One hit, one miscalculation, and you lost. Cassius sighed, rubbing his face and attempting to quiet his breathing, pointedly ignoring the nerves pooling in his belly. Sports were so dramatic.

An attentive eye would have noticed that Grookey had slowed its swinging marginally, an indication of building fatigue. Milo was one such observer. "Max Strike at the ready," he announced, Eldegoss floating a few dozen meters for a better shot. Slowly, a building energy coalesced in its mouth, careful as to not fire too prematurely.

Hop seemed ready. "Almost there," he spoke carefully, watching Eldegoss closely. A few moments passed, seconds bleeding into each other, the crowd on the edge of its seat in anticipation.

After what felt like forever, Hop sprung into action. "Now! Launch forward!"

"Max Strike, spread it out!" Milo shouted.

The beam was faster—it was called the speed of sound for a reason. Grookey, having launched itself from the back wall of the barrier, had only managed to make it to its branch, not even halfway to Eldegoss as the Max Strike tore its way toward Grookey. Even the fancy dodge it had executed earlier wouldn't have saved it from harm, seeing as the beam of sound had effectively covered a swing both left and right.

That was fine. Hop was thinking more vertically anyway. "Swing up!"

Grookey didn't even have the time to spin around the branch as it rocketed toward the branch, instead redirecting itself upward as quickly as it possibly could. Using the top of the branch as a sort of impromptu step rather than try and swing, Grookey shot to the air, hoping to clear the burst of sound rushing toward, even if only barely.

It was a close call, and Grookey had launched itself a tad too far forward and not enough upward, meaning its right leg got clipped by the Max Strike. Painful, certainly, but hardly out of the fight, as Grookey managed to power through it and correct itself in the air as its forward momentum carried it... right toward Eldegoss.

Milo tried to get a command out as quickly as he could, but it was already too late. "Eldegoss, try and float above—!"

Grookey crashed into Eldegoss like a comet, its superior weight bringing it crashing to the grassy terrain beneath. Though the landing might have been marginally softer than it would have been on normal turf, Hop and Grookey were immediately on the attack. "Max Strike, Grookey!"

A superpowered Max Strike turned Grookey's claws a blinding white, claws sharpening in an imitation of a super-powered Scratch. Grookey rained its claws upon the previously untouched Eldegoss, ripping through its defenses painfully. Hop wasn't done, though. "Jump off toward the ceiling, and bounce down again!" Snarling, Grookey dug its feet into Eldegoss before using it to propel itself upwards toward the top of the barrier, flipping in midair and using its feet again to launch it back down, momentum and gravity combining into another powerful crash into Eldegoss.

"Roll out of it!" Milo shouted, desperate at this point to buy enough time for both of their Dynamax states to end. His pleas went unanswered, however, as Grookey continued to land Max Strike Scratch after Max Strike Scratch at Hop's command. Only after Grookey had landed a fourth consecutive Scratch did the red aura around the two finally fade, their sizes shrinking them both into their normal sizes. Adding to the suspense was the massive cloud of lingering dust that had billowed from the grassy terrain also dissipating concurrently with the end of their Dynamax states.

The suspense was broken when a tired yet satisfied Grookey emerged from the dust, quickly finding and retrieving its branch before limping slightly over to Hop. When the dust literally settled, Eldegoss was down, out, and clearly defeated.

"Eldegoss is unable to continue! Gym Leader Milo is out of available Pokémon! Challenger Hop Dande is hereby declared the winner!"

Stunned silence quickly morphed into boos from the crowd, even as Cassius and Gloria both let out relieved sighs. That was closer than either of them would have liked, Cassius thought, but he supposed not every fight would be a Gloria-esque torching of their opponents.

Hop met Milo in the middle of the pitch, the two sharing a handshake and a good-natured laugh as Milo congratulated Hop on his first professional victory. The two separated, Milo making his way back to his separate entrance and locker room, but Hop remained planted to the spot.

"What's he doing?" Gloria asked for what felt like the hundredth time. Cassius cast a worrying glance, suddenly nervous all over again despite the fight having ended.

Hop clenched a fist, bent his knee, and angled his arm across his body. His smile was easy, and certain. Then, with flair and quickness, he shot his arm to the sky and struck a pose, holding it for effect. That smile morphed into a grin, reveling in the aftermath of his first professional victory, and of a dream happily fulfilled. The pose looked familiar to Cassius, oddly, before the realization hit him.

"Oh, no," Gloria groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

Cassius echoed the sentiment. Mainly because he'd never heard a louder chorus of boos and jeers in his entire life.

Imagine a chimpanzee shooting around the walls of a cage, or similarly small enclosure. Now imagine that chimpanzee but hundreds of meters bigger, in a stadium filled with people who paid to see it. Pokémon's a funny and wacky concept to write.

Thanks for reading. Feels like I'm getting into a groove with these chapters. I'll probably give you the next chapter in seven months now that I've said that, but that's for the me seven months from now to deal with. For now, I only hope that you all enjoyed Hop's first pro bout.

See you next time!