Hard Enough-Chapter 279 - Just a normal fight?

Teddiursa stayed low like the plan called for.

He, Brock, and Mama Empress had sat down and worked out a plan before the match mostly because Brock knew that he still couldn’t give out orders to Teddiursa through the link that all the older pokemon had.

Teddiursa wanted to form that bond and had tried with their training but it always felt like his brain was being tickled instead of anything linking them.

Still, they’d come up with a plan that he could accept.

Teddiursa dug his claws into the ground, tensing and relaxing, tensing and relaxing over and over in readiness for what was to come. It wasn’t doping but it did help to get him ready to fight as his body settled more and more.

The flags from the referee rose, then fell, and Teddiursa dug his claws in as deep as they would go as he heaved.

A large section of earth shot up into the air as Teddiursa flung it at Exploud before its trainer could order anything.

Teddiursa didn’t wait around to watch if it hit. This too had been covered in the plan. Sitting still was to be a sitting Pidgey. He needed to be moving and on the attack straight away.

With a patch of ground already torn up, it was easy to tip over and into the foxhole he’d dug where, now out of sight, he dug furiously following the plan but knowing that at a moment’s notice, he might have to shift and change it up.

Brock had spoken to him about that a lot during their training sessions.

He was a normal type, which meant he had the best potential to change things up and adapt on the fly.

They had a plan for the moment but that could change.

Everything and anything could change! Most of all himself!

Teddiursa tore through the ground with Dig, his claws working furiously before he began to angle upwards.

He was eight swipes into his charge when he remembered another part of the plan that had been in case Exploud came out against him.

Teddiursa rubbed the top of his head against the roof of his tunnel, collecting the loose earth in his ears before curling them up.

He wanted to shake his head, but like they’d practised, he didn’t. Instead, he kept moving up, knowing he’d be fighting soon.

His whiskers twitched as vibrations rattled the cave. That Exploud had done something.

Teddiursa’s heart thundered in his chest as he dug and dug and dug upwards racing as fast as he could, redoubling his efforts to get out of the ground before their trick could be discovered.

He felt something shift above him, and suddenly, there was light. He threw himself into clear air, spinning as he did, searching, seeking, and fretting that he’d misjudged it, only for a purple limb to shift just to his left.

Out of instinct, Teddiursa twisted his head and bit down hard.

“OUCH!” boomed the Exploud causing the air to distort in a shockwave.

Teddiursa shuddered as the powerful noise washed over him forcing his bones to shake. His ears ached and that was with them curled up as tightly as he could push them biting down on the forearm of the Exploud.

Which seemed to be one of the only points on the big ugly pokemon’s body that didn’t have a vent that could expel air.

Teddiursa thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t bitten down any higher where an elbow vent was. He’d have been blown clean off just from Exploud's cry of pain!

This thing was strong!

But that just made him want to beat it more!

“OH YOU’RE A LITTLE PUNK YOU ARE! NOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET IT!” cried out the Exploud as it caught sight of Teddiursa.

Teddiursa growled in response, keeping his teeth firmly clamped. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of letting go to talk. He’d been flicked off Bertha’s tail and limbs too often during training when Brock wasn’t around to fall for that old trick!

“Exploud stop playing around! Use Uproar to blow it off!” the Exploud’s trainer ordered.

“CC!” Brock barked at the same time.

Teddiursa’s eyes flicked around. He could strike the limb with his paw which would probably hurt Exploud a little but he knew you always tried to go for body shots when you could.

If he’d been bigger he might have been able to swipe a paw into Exploud from here but with his little stumpy paws, he only had one choice to get off Close Combat.

He leapt.

At the same time, Exploud started to inhale in preparation. Its vents sucked in the air even as its vast gaping maw opened in readiness to attack.

Teddiursa hadn’t been planning it, but he suddenly found himself sucked into Explouds giant mouth.

Teddiursa only had a moment to register this as he arced through the air straight into Exploud’s mouth. Exploud’s eyes also bulged in realisation as Teddiursa went from attacking to about to be eaten!

Teddiursa couldn’t help himself, he stretched his neck out and tried to bite down on something.

He missed the lips, then the tongue and finally he shot towards a purple dangly thing at the back of Exploud’s throat.

Teddiursa opened his mouth as wide as it could go and clamped down on the purple dangly thing.

The air that had been sucking him in stopped in an instant and Exploud screamed in pain.

Surprisingly, the noise didn’t hurt as much. Teddiursau didn’t understand why that was, but he wasn’t about to ask why.

Oh no. What should he do now? He was practically eaten already! How was he supposed to adapt from here?

“BULK UP!” bellowed Brock, and Teddiursa followed the order. He trusted Brock—he knew what to do!

His fur fluffed up and his muscles suddenly felt more powerful, but more importantly, the back of Exploud’s throat suddenly became plugged.

“Spit it up!” barked the other trainer.

Exploud made some choking noises and its mouth and throat began to work furiously.

Around Teddiursa, small holes were opening and closing furiously at the back of the throat, and air rushed in and out with each movement.

Cheating cheater that cheated! It had more air holes!

Just for that Teddiursa bit down harder and twisted his body so that he blocked some of them swiping with his tiny paws of fury as he closed in on the walls of the back of the throat.

He missed!

Curse his tiny, adorable existence!

He wanted to be big and strong like Mama Empress! And for that, he needed to be stronger!

For now, he needed to adapt and overcome!

He swung his body around again, the cries of pain coming from Exploud were music to his clogged-up ears.

His swing finally saw him slamming into the wall, which caused his fur to become slick with spit. Teddiursa didn’t care; he only had eyes for the wall, which he slammed into with his feet, allowing him to kick into it and swing back around to hit the other side.

Each swing saw him clogging up various air holes, which caused Exploud to choke and splutter. Teddiursa got the impression that it was teetering back and forth.

Good. He kept swinging from the dangling thing he had attached himself to and began pummeling it from the inside.

He went back and forth, kicking, punching, and fighting with everything he had!

Finally Teddiursa felt it topple over and hit the ground. Teddiursa found himself shaken and thrown from the dangly thing.

Teddiursa rolled out of Exploud’s giant mouth and slid on slick ground only to find himself in the open once more. A shuddering sigh escaped the downed Exploud, and Teddiursa twitched.

Part of him felt like he should scurry back and bite it again to be safe only for a loud voice to call out.

“Exploud is unable to battle! The score is now one-nil in favour of Brock!”

Teddiursa whirled around, instincts flaring only to find himself in the arena and not fighting to not be swallowed whole.

Lights, sounds, and smells washed over him as people surged to their feet and cheered.

Teddiursa stared.

Had he won?

He won right?

He glanced back at the downed Exploud and felt something rush through him. He’d done it! He’d won!

Teddiursa whirled about until he looked at Brock, who was grinning at him with a gigantic smile.

“Teddiursa, that was one of the most metal things I think I’ve seen in a long time!” he shouted and Teddiursa laughed.

And then something clicked, and for the first time in his life, Teddiursa felt something linking himself and his trainer. It wasn’t just an understanding or awareness; it was a link.

He knew that Brock was rejoicing in his victory right now, even though Teddiursa wondered if this was all a dream.

With this link snapping into place Teddiursa felt like he had a current of power coursing through him. He knew right then and there that if he wanted to, he could evolve.

He looked into Brock’s eyes, and Brock nodded.

Teddiursa grinned, and the light evolution consumed him.

His once small and stumpy body grew, stretching out until it hit the ground. His face shifted, becoming more angular even as his muscles swelled and clenched.

When the light faded, the stadium remained silent.

Teddiur—Ursaring shifted his weight, feeling the differences in his body even as he swept his eyes over his own body.

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He was taller, heavier, and had a longer reach. His mouth had shifted, and his shorter teeth had been replaced with something longer and sharper. The hair on his body bristled, no longer slick with saliva.

His mind felt changed, more receptive even as it documented the various smells, sights, and sounds.

Ursaring clenched his claws and rose to his full height.

He felt powerful!

He locked eyes with the widened eyes of the trainer they were facing and opened his maw to let loose the first true roar of his life and he was gratified to hear the deeper rumble echo through the silent stadium.

“MORE! BRING OUT MORE AND FIGHT ME!” he roared.

Brock’s emotions surged, and he glanced back to find his trainer’s grin had more teeth to it. Heh Brock was a cool guy.

Ursaring swept his gaze to the cameras, the blocky black things people stared into. Bertha had told him all about them and he looked into the eye of the item as he rumbled out his next comment, knowing Mama Empress was watching on.

“I’m gonna knock em all out!” he rumbled and he knew without having to see her that Mama Empress was grinning at him.

“Time to show your sisters the way now, Ursaring,” Brock suggested, and Ursaring found that he liked that idea a lot.

He settled into a low pose, allowing his instincts to tell him how to move as their foe selected his next Pokemon.

“Shouldn’t have allowed myself to get sloppy there. I read into you sending out that little guy too much. Urgh! Gonna have to up the ante to clean the egg off my face now you realise?” he said as he tossed up a black and yellow ball.

Ursaring knew that Brock was tracking it carefully. He could feel his trainer's mind working furiously behind him, and that wasn’t surprising.

He’d always known that his trainer created the plans and tactics and watched for avenues of attack or defence for each of his Pokemon, but it was different feeling it happening.

Small moments of shifting in his foe were noted and discarded, and even as Brock considered which Pokemon was most likely.

Ursaring got the impression of a slovenly ape that had muscles rippling over its body that came with a hint of caution.

Ursaring nodded, accepting the assessment. He wanted to show everyone what he could do and being sloppy wasn’t his plan.

“Let’s go! Slaking!” roared the human as he sent out his pokemon.

Like Brock had predicted, it was the lazy ape pokemon. It lay on its side scratching its belly. It opened a single eye and peered at Ursaring.

“Eh, gotta fight you, eh?” grumbled the lazy ape. “Eh, guess I can do that, eh.”

It rose up onto all fours and locked eyes with Ursaring properly. A flutter of surprise came through the bond from Brock. Apparently, this wasn’t normal behaviour for Slaking.

“Slaking! Shake it up!” ordered their foe.

Brock responded with another Seismic Toss with a boulder, only this time he didn’t commit Ursaring into Dig.

Slaking raised a fist as Ursaring dug his claws into the ground.

Ursaring must have blinked as the next thing he knew he was being bounced as the world shook around him. What happened? Ursaring thought as he pushed himself into an upright position, only for a large hand to settle on his shoulder.

Fear and worry shot through the bond as Brock urged Ursaring to use Close Combat.

Ursaring responded by swinging his fist up and around, only for another meaty hand to catch his paw before it could connect with anything.

Ursaring blinked away the dizziness then and there, only to find himself face to face with Slaking.

“Eh, you’re alright. Night time for you now, eh,” grunted out the ape pokemon as the hand on Ursaring’s shoulder moved and darkness claimed him.

Ursaring blinked as the pokeball he’d been in released him once more. He shook his head only to blink.

Oh.

His fluffy, chubby cheeks weren’t there anymore. That’s right, he’d evolved… only to be beaten with the next pokemon he faced.

“Hey, Ursaring,” said Brock. “Got some people that want to see you,” he said before stepping back.

Ursaring had enough time to blink and process what Brock had said before a large green, scaly face lowered itself to get into his face. Ursaring twitched, only to find himself staring into the stoic face of Mama Empress.

“Mama!” he squawked in surprise.

“Hmpf, you’ve grown bigger but not up, I see. You're still calling out to me like you’re chasing my tail,” she muttered.

Ursaring coughed. “I was just taken by surprise is all!”

“Hmpf, rectify that. You fought well until you were taken by surprise.”

A trio of small thumps against his legs made him look down to find his little— now physically smaller as well, he smugly noted— punching his legs.

“Why’d you lose!” “You suck!” “We cheered for you and everything!” growled the trio of sisters.

Ursaring rubbed at the back of his head like he’d seen Brock do several times before. It felt oddly appropriate right now. “Oh, that was really nice of you! Sorry, I couldn’t beat that Slaking! You’re cheering helped me out a lot to beat the first pokemon I faced!”

“You weren’t expected to beat the first pokemon you faced,” Mama Empress stated firmly. Her face shifted into a small smirk. “So you did excellently for your first true Elite showing.”

Ursaring beamed at his Mama.

The punches on his legs continued. “Don’t lose next time!” “we’re not going to cheer for you if you lose!” “Yeah, learn to fight better!”

Ursaring chuckled. “I will, so please keep cheering!”

Brock, who’d been releasing the rest of the team while Ursaring had been talking with his family, turned his attention back to Ursaring. “You did amazing out there, buddy. You got into a tough situation in that first match and frankly, you were outmatched. But you performed perfectly with the initial plan and then adapted on the fly. I’m extremely impressed with you.” Through the bond, Ursaring could feel that Brock meant every word of it.

Brock lightly punched Ursaring’s arm. “But I also think we’ll have to intensify your training though. You’ve still got another evolution in you and if we want to get the most, we have to put in the work. No way that Slaking should have rattled my newest Elite pokemon that easily!” he said with a smirk.

Ursaring smirked back. “I’ll do better next time,” he growled.

Brock grinned. “I’ll be looking forward to that, as will all your fans,” he said cryptically before nodding to Titan and moving away. “I’ll get you all your celebration meal.”

Ursaring looked to Titan, who looked pleased. “So we won?” he prompted.

Titan turned and grinned. “That we did. Rather convincingly, actually.”

“What happened after I was knocked out?” Ursaring asked.

Before Titan could respond, he found himself bodied by Bertha who had a sparkle in her eyes that promised something good.

“Gather around kiddies for its time for a tale featuring yours truly! The one, the only! The Magical Mayhem best girl, Bertha!” she shouted as the drills on her hands and horn whirled to life.

Ursaring sat down and scooted forward to get the best spot only to blush.

Oh dear, he’d responded like he would have when he was a tiny Teddiursa. His sisters shot to the positions next to him and leaned forward, sandwiching him in.

Oh, well, now he couldn’t move cause he’d disrupt them. Yup, that was his answer if anyone asked. The other smaller pokemon that he used to train with huddled up around him as Bertha grinned.

Titan stood up, dusting himself off. “Really? There was nothing magical about your—”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! Haters will not be allowed to talk during story time!” Bertha waved a hand threateningly at Titan.

Titan rolled his eyes but sat down on the circle's edge, shooting everyone a grin. “Alright, you can start.”

Bertha huffed. “Please! I’m not so boorish that I would deny everyone their story snacks! I had my human go collect us all something!” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Ursaring and the others tilted their heads. Hadn’t Brock gone to collect their celebration snacks?

Gible tilted his whole body. “Didn’t Big Bro Brock say—”

Bertha leaned down and put a massive digit to his jaw. “Shhhh, the order was implied and Brock is such a good magical girl’s butler he performed it without me verbally giving him an order!” she answered.

Titan loudly snorted, and Ursaring chuckled.

Brock returned with a trio of large sacks over his shoulder. He looked at the semi-circle around Bertha, shared a look with Titan and rolled his eyes. “Alright, everyone, here’s your story time treats.”

Brock began distributing the contents of the sacks to everyone and Ursaring was pleasantly surprised when he got a much larger portion than he would have as a Teddiursa.

Bertha clapped her hands. “Alright! So there I was coming in after the villainous Slaking had taken out Ursaring with a cheap shot!”

“He cheated!?” roared the trio of Larvitar in shock.

Bertha nodded sagely as Titan facepalmed loudly.

“Indeed he did, for you see, he used dark magic to blind Ursaring before he attacked him!”

Ursaring was pretty sure he’d just been hit by an Earthquake before the Slaking jumped him, but he liked this version of events better.

So instead of objecting, he sat and listened as Bertha wove a tale about her as a majestic magical girl who took to the field to avenge him with her magical hammer-tail. This led to her one-shotting the Evil Slaking despite his attempts to use more evil magic against her.

“—but my heart was too pure and my cause righteous! So with Magical Hammer-tail attached to me, I swung it into the ground and broke the entire field!” Bertha adopted a cool pose. “They say that the battlefield is so wrecked that none will be able to tread there for decades!”

Ursaring gasped along with all the other little pokemon. Woah, that sounded cool!

Behind them, Titan facepalmed again with both hands and muttered. “They had it cleaned up within five minutes of our match ending,” but no one was listening to him with how Bertha began to wave her Hammer tail back and forth.

“So then I had to face down another foe in the form of a powerful dark Tauros! It charged me with horns stronger than steel and hooves that caused Earthquakes! But I caught it with my hands and hurled it into the air before powering up a super Magical Girl Punch!”

“Huh that’s… almost what actually happened,” muttered Titan behind them.

Bertha leaned down and grabbed a small boulder, which turned out to be Moxy the Geodude.

“Hey wait, I don’t want to be a part of your lover's tiff!” bellowed Moxy.

Bertha considered her for a moment before nodding and putting her down only to grab another boulder and flick it into Titan’s head. The boulder crumbled, and dust wafted around Titan’s head.

He snorted, and it blew away to show his unimpressed face. “What were you going to do if that was another Geodude?”

“Eh,” Bertha shrugged. “The second one should have been quicker speaking up,” she said, still holding Moxy like she was about to pitch her at Titan. “Now stop being a sour Meowth! Your time will come I promise!”

Bertha turned back to her listeners, who were now scarfing down their treats.

Ursaring’s sister on the left thumped him. “Hey, give me some of your treats, but don’t give the others any!” she commanded.

Ursaring snorted as the other two gave identical commands on his other side. It was so cute how they did that. He handed off parts of his food to each of them but devoured the rest before they could ask for more.

Bertha waved her hands to get everyone’s attention. “With three of his pokemon down, defeated by myself and Ursaring, Brock realised that I needed rest after beating so much evil so he sent out his next defender of love in the form of the gallant and courageous Knight!” Bertha shimmied to the left and waved her hands at Knight, who blinked as everyone turned their attention to him.

“Oh! Right uh, I beat up the next two really well!” he said.

Bertha coughed. “Right, leave the storytelling to me,” she said and then proceeded to tell a tale about how Knight faced off against a Snorlax in a battle that saw boulders bigger than even Bertha being thrown around only for the Snorlax to attempt to regather itself with sleep but Brock had trained Knight in the secret denial move of Taunt.

By the time Bertha was done recounting Knight’s part of the fight against Snorlax and then a Miltank that was surprisingly devastating with its Rollout attack, everyone was staring at Knight with stars in their eyes.

Knight shifted. “Oh, I hadn’t thought it was that impressive? I just had a job to do, and I fought as best I could?”

“Tsk, tsk! So modest!” Bertha shook her head and clicked her tongue. Bertha waved her hands about. “Knight was instrumental in breaking Norma’s pride! Why, by the time Titan took to the field against his Kangaskhan, the fight was already decided!”

Titan notably didn’t deny this. “Kangaskhan was a good fight, but yes, Norman had lost his hope,” he stated. “And that was Ursaring, Bertha, and Knight’s work. Thank you for that.” he said with a nod towards each of the named pokemon.

“It was,” Titan tapped his claws on his chin in thought. “Almost a relaxing fight,” he admitted.

Gawain, who was sitting off to the side slumped, “I was looking forward to showing off in front of Goldenrod again.”

Jormungandr, who’d also been part of the team, nodded in agreement. “I rather like getting to showcase my strength, but I think this was nice too,” he rumbled.

A trio of small hands patted Ursaring’s flank. “You did good, dummy.” “I’ll keep cheering for you.” “Good work, big brother.” The words from his little sisters made Ursaring feel like if he’d had his time again, he’d have been able to keep fighting against that Slaking despite the experience difference.

“I’ll train hard and do you proud,” he replied, gazing down at their little forms. An idea occurred to him then. They were pretty small compared to him with his new form.

He scooped them up and grinned. “Come on, everyone! Let’s go celebrate!” he roared, leading the charge to where the other pokemon on the reserve liked to rest. No doubt they’d all be impressed with his new form.

He couldn’t wait to show them all.

That night when it was time for bed, he led his weary sisters to Mama Empress’ cavern where she curled around them all protectively.

Ursaring hovered. He was too big to snuggle up like he’d done in the past. Should he go find his own cave now that he was big?

Ursaring found himself conflicted by these thoughts and he shifted uncertainly, only for Mama Empress to open an eye. “Stop fidgeting and go to sleep.”

“But I’m bigger now?” he asked unsure about himself.

Mama huffed and stood only to bite him behind the neck, where his skin was slightly thicker. He blinked in shock as she lifted him off the ground and deposited him among his sisters, who curled up into him.

“Soft.” “Warm.” “Good.” mumbled his cute, sleepy sisters.

Mama took her place once more, her tail curling up so that Ursaring was tucked into place. “There, until you grow up and know what you want to do, you will be staying with us,” she stated firmly, shutting her eyes.

Ursaring lifted his head and licked his lips. “Mama? W-what if I don’t want to grow up that way?” he muttered, hating how weak he sounded.

Mama didn’t even hesitate. “Then you’ll keep sleeping with your family until you’re ready to sleep alone. Goodnight, son,” she replied without even opening her eyes.

Ursaring laid his head back down, feeling like everything was right in the world.