Author's note: (Ignore if the story is already finished) I've gotten much more responsibility than I had before, plus school's now becoming a thing. Soooo... the updating schedule for this story is becoming a bit out of whack- I may (Or may not!) need a week and a half to update- I'm gonna take my time and make sure the chapters coming out come out well done and not rushed.

That being said- please enjoy!

Chapter 83: Strength isn't everything

Kai's heart was beating a thousand times a second as she watched Eri walking toward him.

'She may have gotten stronger,' Kai said, 'But I still should be faster than her. As long as I keep my distance, and remain calm, I should be fine…. For now, I have to activate Flow.'

Kai closed his eyes and opened them, revealing their color changing into then clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, preparing to enter the second state of Flow. But instead of powering up, nothing happened. Kai furrowed his brow in confusion and stared at his hands and realized his body was trembling.

He then looked up at Eri, who wordlessly closed the distance between them within a fraction of a second. Kai couldn't even let out a gasp before getting hit by a devastating gut punch. As Kai stumbled back, the 'mouths' on Eri's gauntlets which were shaped like Taros' head opened, revealing the giant girl's bare hand, which grabbed Kai by the shoulder. Eri pulled Kai in and headbutted him in the face- causing him to nearly trip onto his bottom. Eri then swept Kai's leg with her own, causing Kai to collapse- only for him to land on Eri's rising knee, which she shot directly onto his stomach. Kai let out a pained cry before Eri clasped both hands together and swung her arms down like a hammer onto his back. A dust cloud emerged once Kai's face slammed onto the ground- one so big that it threatened to consume the entire base.

Everyone around the area that was still conscious covered their faces from the dust storm that flew.

"Ugh..! That was a devastating…Close combat combo..!" Nemona shouted.

Meanwhile, Eri crouched and picked Kai up by the back of his neck and looked at his bruised up and nearly unconscious looking face.

"Lay down here and remember to think twice before challenging Team Star." Eri then tossed Kai onto the ground like he was trash, turned around and walked away.

Kai realized it: his confidence had slipped away the moment Eri had transformed. The fear that he felt when her hair first turned from brown to blue reared its ugly head.

But that fear was what made Kai frustrated- not at Eri, but at himself. He had come this far- pushed himself so far, only to fall and cower.

He remembered when he was less experienced- when he fought Mela and forfeited against her when she threatened to use her Starmobile's power to obliterate him. He came too far and grown too much to lose here like this...!

Everyone's eyes save for Eri's were on Kai, who groaned as he began pulling himself up. Yellow Electricity began sparking around the boy.

"Where… do you think you're going..?" Kai asked.

Eri stopped walking as Kai balled his thunder gauntlets, which had electricity surge around them.

"Don't turn your back… on your opponent!" The boy finally got to his feet. Kai roared as he darted toward her opponent's back- and threw a thunder punch.

Electricity surged outward from the point of impact, and despite the loud roar of the attack- Eri didn't move or show any sign of damage. Kai gritted his teeth in anger and began punching Eri's back rapidly- every punch sounded like a jolt of thunder striking the ground mixed with the sound of a fist colliding with armor.

It was like watching a Weedle trying to destroy a steel wall.

Kai threw a final punch- and it was able to do a single thing that none of his previous punches could do: Move Eri's body an inch.

Kai's eyes widened in fear as he took a step back.

"You're right about the fact that I shouldn't turn my back to an opponent," Eri said. Eri turned to face Kai, and only then did he realize how much taller and threatening she was compared to him. Her shadow loomed over his quivering body.

"Although, You're not an opponent." Eri said. "You're a victim."

Eri landed a devastating elbow onto Kai's nose with so much force that his helmet was shattered. Kai stumbled back and cried out in pain. Before the boy could clutch onto his nose Eri grabbed the boy by the face and slammed him onto the ground- the ground broke apart like glass at the point of impact. After the dust settled, Eri stood up and placed her foot onto the downed boy's chest.

Looking up at the girl, her radiating blue aura, the glowing lights that resembled eyes on Eri's helmet visor brought shivers to the boy's spine. That was when the question on his mind turned from 'How can I win this?" 'Can I win this?'

"Give up." Eri said.

How could he even win?

Fighting against someone at Eri's level of strength…it was insane- beyond insane.. There was no possible way anyone could ever stand a chance against her power. Those punches that he threw were his most powerful yet- and that did close to nothing against Eri.

She was a monster. Just like Geeta was.

"I-..." Kai frowned. "I-..."

Suddenly- Kai's gauntlets disappeared- a single yellow orb flew out of Kai's chest and took the form and shape of Pawmo- who used Sky Uppercut to strike Eri right in the face. Eri let out a cry of pain and surprise as her feet were lifted from the ground in near slow motion in Kai's mind.

Every spectator that was watching gasped.

Eri fell onto the ground with a thud back-first. Pawmo landed on the ground next to his trainer.

And then, he turned and started shouting his name over and over again as though he were giving him a lecture. Kai's eyes widened as Pawmo grabbed Kai by the collar of his armor and kept yelling at him with passion behind its voice. While he didn't understand a single word that his pokemon said- he could feel its passion and adamance toward him.

"Pawmo... You don't want me to give up... do you..?" Kai said.

Kai's hands twitched before he started to clench them. Electricity began surging around his body as he slowly began to stand up. Kai began to glare furiously at Eri, who stood back up. "I forgot for a moment...that I shouldn't care how powerful my opponent is…!"

Electricity surged around Pawmo's body as well.

"I shouldn't care about my temporary lapse in confidence!" Kai roared.

Thunder flew down from the sky above and struck the ground beside them, wind began blowing around the trainer and Pokémon- their hair flew in the wind graciously. "I don't care about my past losses!" Kai cried. "I don't care about hurting others' feelings when I beat them- I don't care about any of that!" Kai pulled out a Tera orb from his pocket. "And most of all… I don't care that you're stronger than me! You're going to lose... because you're not me! All I care about now…IS BEATING YOU!"

Lightning fell from the sky at that moment and struck both the trainer and Pokemon the moment after Kai crushed his Tera orb. A large electric pillar of thunder rose below him and his Pawmo. Eri covered her face with her arm to shield herself from the blinding light- and so did everyone else in the spectator crowd.

As the light faded, and Eri moved her arm away, she let out a tiny gasp.

Kai's armor was shining gold. Electricity coursed around his entire body- and a yellow scarf made of electricity was wrapped around the boy's neck and flowed proudly in the wind. His thunder gauntlets had become slightly bigger- but had retained its normal shape.

"Whoa...!" Nemona cried.

Kai's hair was now shining white, and his eyes were glowing red.

"The real fight starts now," Kai said. Kai took a step forward and became a bolt of lightning- darting toward Eri like an arrow, who took a step back and pulled her fist back, ready to strike the lightning coming her way.

Kai's body turned back to normal just before meeting with Eri- and he threw a punch of his own.

The fists of both combatants collided, and a huge orb-shaped explosion of lightning erupted around the two of them. The orb then erupted into a pillar of white light, which exploded as both combatants leapt into the sky.

The two of them fought while in the air like pro boxers- Kai was attacking with incredible speed, throwing punch after punch, which Eri ducked and weaved under while throwing punches of her own, which were too slow to hit Kai.

Slowly, the bodies of both fighters slowly floated toward the ground.

The wrists of both fighters collided, forming an x shape between them both before they pushed each other back and landed on the ground with some distance between them. Immediately Eri sprinted at Kai, throwing an uppercut which Kai stepped back to dodge- and Eri threw another punch, which Kai ducked under. Seeing an opening, Kai darted toward Eri and landed several body blows- his fists moved so fast that they looked like they were vibrating. Eri gritted her teeth as she began to stumble down to one knee before grabbing Kai by the leg. Kai managed to kick Eri off before he could fall. Eri knelt on one knee again, and Kai landed a kick onto her face- which she ignored as she tried grabbing his leg again. Kai backed away before her hands could touch him, shuffling his feet as he remained in his battle stance as Eri slowly stood up.

He was doing it. He was actually doing it. He actually stood a chance. Now that he thought of it, Eri was powerful, but not as powerful as Nemona when she used her signature Pokémon. It seemed that just because Eri got to the third stage of Flow, didn't mean she became stronger than everyone else who hadn't.

Eri shifted from a boxer's stance to a grapplers- opening her arms wide and opening her hands.

Kai watched carefully, waiting for even the slightest movement of Eri's body, giving her physical strength the due respect it deserved.

Eri shot like a rocket at Kai, who put his hand out and fired a thunderbolt attack which Eri spun her body to dodge. Kai gasped as she closed the distance and landed a punch directly on his face, his body flew into the air like an arrow, and his body dragged across the floor and left a dirt trail. Kai quickly raised both of his legs and leapt back onto his feet- only to see Eri had already closed the distance in preparation to land another devastating punch.

Kai's red eyes shone for a moment as he darted, dodging Eri's punch and landing rapid fire body punches with one arm. The sheer number of punches was enough to actually stun Eri.

Kai felt the muscles in his arms burning, but he pushed through the pain- he could feel the vibration of his fists with each punch aimed at Eri's body. Evey swing of his fist he then aimed at Eri's face was a victory in itself, a victory over his self-doubt. Every punch was a reminder that his opponent wasn't the unstoppable monster he made her to be in his head.

As Kai's confidence grew, so did his speed. He began moving extremely rapidly, punching again and again so fast that afterimages were left behind in his wake- for a moment it looked like a thousand Kais were punching Eri all at once.

Kai's right fist started surging with intense electricity as he landed a final uppercut onto Eri's chin a loud thunderclap roared the moment his fist connected.

A wave of wind blasted outward into the crowd- while not as powerful as the gust of wind that came from Eri's attacks- it still made the spectators have to shield themselves.

Meanwhile, Eri remained standing as Kai's fist pushed against her chin.

"I'm…not…going to lose…!" Eri said, pushing her chin down against her opponent's fist and glaring furiously. "If I lose… then this base…falls..!"

Kai then realized that he never said that he was challenging her for a friendly match- she still thought that he was coming to disband the base. He could correct her right now… but decided not to and grinned.

"If I lose…! Then everything I've worked for…in this base… will be gone..!" Eri shouted.

Eri let out a battle cry, slamming her fist onto Kai's side with incredible speed and power. Spit flew out of Kai's mouth.

'How… is she so fast..!?' Kai thought.

Almost immediately, a memory flashed in his mind.

'From what I remember Cassiopea telling me,' Kai remembered his own voice when he was talking with the others about the plan to help Eri. 'Eri's Shining-star ability allows her to get stronger the more damage she takes.'

Kai's mind flashed back to the present.

'I knew that her power would increase when she gets hurt…' Kai thought, 'but I didn't think her speed would too..!'

Eri grabbed Kai by his chest before slamming him onto the ground. Then, Eri slammed her foot onto the ground- and the power of her stomp resonated with the ground below.

With the immense pain he was feeling- he realized something: She was using the move Stomping Tantrum, a ground type move.

Kai felt Eri's boot slamming into his stomach with incredible force- so much so that his body began being dug into the ground more and more with each oncoming stomp.

"I won't let anyone beat me!" Eri as her next stomp was powerful enough to tear a hole into the ground and dig them both deeper into it and plummet through the dirt. Kai tried to use the move Discharge- only for his electricity to fade due to being deep underground.

"I am going to defend Team Star no matter what it takes!" Eri shouted.

Kai gritted his teeth.

"Protect..!" Kai cried. A sphere shaped barrier appeared around Kai- blocking Eri's next oncoming stomp. Electricity sparked freely around Kai now that his barrier was protecting it from the ground- and Kai used it to propel himself along with Eri from the ground.

From the spectators' point of view, all they saw was a massive hole- and then suddenly, they saw Eri and Kai come out from the hole- Eri fell to the ground as Kai came out next, breathing heavily as his barrier faded.

He had forgotten completely that Eri could use ground type moves since his Combat Breed Taros knew them. That would mean Kai's electric typing had become a burden.

That was when a smile came to Kai's face. If his electric type was a burden… he could just remove it.

Kai went on all fours as Eri stood up, and then darted like an arrow, sprinting straight toward Eri with his arms extended. Eri reflexively reached her arms out in defense. Both fighters held each other back by clasping onto the others' hands and entering a deadlock.

Kai grinned widely as he sparked with blue electricity, and Eri glared as her hair and cloak flew wildly. Electricity began sparking around the two of them as rocks began to float around them.

"DOUBLE SHOCK..!" Kai roared.

"WILD CHARGE!" Eri shouted.

A loud blast of lightning struck them both from the sky before an eruption of electricity spread across the entire team star base- one that was powerful enough to make a blinding white light shine across the entire area. All of the spectators covered their faces- and amazingly, none of them were sent flying by the awesome force of electricity that blasted them.

The bright light and dust from the explosion settled, revealing Both Eri and Kai both trembling as electricity sparked around them both- they kept each other's hands clasped in their grip.

"You knew about the move Double Shock… huh?!" Kai cried. "You knew that it removed my Electric typing…allowing you to use an electric type move of your own without the damage penalty…but now, look at you… You're paralyzed..!"

"And so are you…!" Eri said. "Our speed should be exactly the same now- but I havent lost my power. You lost the one thing that gave you an edge, and I lost practically nothing…!"

Both combatants felt as though a heavy weight had fallen onto their bodies- every movement they made, even the slightest twitch of their arm took every bit of strength they had. Both fighters then released each other from their grip, allowing their hands to droop down low.

That was when Kai realized it- he wasn't just feeling the paralysis coursing through his body- he could feel his invoker armor becoming much more weighted.

Pawmo had already fainted. Kai's heart sank. But only for a moment before he began to laugh.

"I can still win." Kai said. "I'm still standing, so I can still win…"

Eri let out a war cry before charging after Kai- and he couldn't move himself in time as Eri threw a punch at his face. The sound of the punch echoed in the area. Instead of falling, Kai gritted his teeth, pushing his cheek against Eri's fist and started smiling. "You're…not as powerful as before…" Kai said. "Is your Taros…also unconscious..!?"

Eri glared and threw another punch, and Kai swatted the punch with his arm as he threw an uppercut, which Eri managed to dodge.

Both fighters stepped back, breathing heavily as they fought against the weight on their invokers.

"That means we're evenly matched now…" Kai said.

Eri grit her teeth and ran toward Kai. Kai couldn't move in time as his opponent latched onto his stomach, attempting to topple him onto the ground. Kai slammed his elbow onto the back of Eri's head, and Eri ignored the pain as she pushed him onto the ground. Then, Eri let him have it- throwing punch after punch with a thunderous roar as she fought against the weight of her body with all of her might. Kai could feel the vibrations of Eri's knuckles on his cheek with every blow- but he ignored the pain as he pushed against Eri's shoulders and planted one foot onto her stomach. Kai tried his absolute hardest to push Eri off- who struggled to land another punch. He could feel his muscles crying out for mercy- but Kai let out a battle cry as he managed to send Eri flying over his body.

Eri and Kai remained on the ground for a while as they both slowly got up.

"I… Won't lose…!" Eri cried. "Team star…needs me…!"

"I refuse… to give up…!" Kai cried. "I've come… too far…!"

Both fighters managed to stand back up- both of them looked as though they could collapse at any moment.

After staring each other down for a moment, Kai threw the first punch- which landed and sent Eri stumbling back. Eri reared her head back before slamming it onto Kai's face, and Kai groaned loudly, sucking in air through his bared teeth.

Kai and Eri hit each other one after another- retaliating against the other's attack. Kai landed a punch to his opponent's stomach- then Eri landed a punch at his face. Both fighters were moving as though they were in slow motion compared to the speeds they were fighting before. But as they battered and bruised each other, their resolve remained strong- both of them refused to go down.

Eri was fighting as though her life depended on it- as though the entirety of Team Star depended on it. She would never admit it, but since she is the strongest Team Star leader, baring The Boss of Team Star, who wasn't even present- if she fell, then everyone else would follow.

Kai was also fighting as though his life depended on it. His wish wasn't as noble as Eri's- but he simply did not want to lose. Every punch he received, he saw a flash of his memory- of him beating strong opponents, like Nemona, Bombardier, Mela, and Atticus.

He remembered how insecure he was in the past- and how proud of himself he was now- facing off against someone so powerful. The reason why he fought so hard, was because he wanted to become stronger than them. He wanted to follow his dream so badly- to become the strongest trainer in the Paldea region.

Nothing would stop him in that goal- no matter how powerful his opponent is…!

Kai roared loudly as his will began to overtake Eri's- he began throwing more punches her way- and Eri became overwhelmed to the point of being unable to throw a punch of her own- and resorting to defending by crossing her arms. Kai threw an uppercut over Eri's defense, striking her in the chin and causing her to stumble back. Kai then reeled his fist back, preparing to throw a final punch, and Eri's face flashed a look of panic before she gritted her teeth and did the same.

Both fighters approached… and slammed their fists onto each other's cheeks at the same time. For a while, neither of them moved.

The sound of wind blowing through the air flew by for a moment. Eri's hair and cape flew in the wind along with Kai's electric scarf. Both fighters could feel their opponent's knuckles twitching against each other's cheeks. The zip-zap sound of the electricity that bound their movement so much began to ring out.

Then…Eri let out a cry of exhaustion, and fell to the ground. Kai breathed heavily, watching the blue color of Eri's hair beginning to fade along with the black color of her armor, and her cape.

He had done it.

He won.

He actually won.

Even though Eri was a step ahead of him in every way, he still won.

The sheer emotion that came from his victory caused tears of joy to well up on his eyes- he genuinely didn't think he could do it- but he managed to win anyway. Then, Kai let a boisterous cry, one mixed with happiness and pride, pride that he had forged with his own hands. Pride that he learned to have once he finally decided to look back at the previous victories he's had in the past, instead of ignoring them.

Kai continued shouting the very top of his lungs before falling on his hands and knees. He breathed heavily while staring at the floor, watching his sweat drip onto the ground...then, Kai let out a cry of exhaustion before falling to the ground, unconscious.

Penny came back into her room, covering her mouth before burping after finishing her dinner. She sighed to herself in annoyance due to the fact that she had completely missed the fight between Kai and Eri. She had to turn off her computer monitor due to her Dad barging into her room without knocking. (Despite the thousand times she told him not to do that.) Penny walked over to her computer and pulled up the window tab that had Kai's phone camera, which she had hacked so she could spy on him. The only thing she could see and hear the moment her monitor turned on again was Kai and Eri unconscious on the floor.

Penny groaned with frustration, and then yawned. She then decided that it was time to rest- she had a long day coming up tomorrow...She needed her full strength...if she was to dismantle Team Star with her own hands.