Hard Enough-Chapter 284 - Gary’s final badge

Alright, Dodrio was injured and Raticate and Umbreon were both tired from pretty much carrying him and the team to this point. Gary recognised that and knew it was an issue, but to be fair no other Gym in Kanto had a Gauntlet that went as long as the Saffron Gym.

He still had Blastoise, Kadabra, and the new pokemon he’d specifically gotten for this fight in Lavender Town.

Haunter had been a tricky find and while there had been a Gengar goofing around, Gary knew that he was better off trying to get the Haunter if it was amiable enough to join his team. A Gengar, no matter how kindly, was a pokemon that he was hesitant to acquire as his first ghost type.

He’d been raised on horror stories about what Gengar could do if they really felt inclined to and as he’d gotten older and started preparing for his journey, he’d discovered that the stories Gramps told were, if anything, sanitised.

Gengar, if they wanted to be, were living nightmares. It was better to get a Gastly or a Haunter and train it up so there was at least a bond there to make it listen. Even with Haunter there had been a few training accidents where Haunter had shown a bit of affection with a Lick only to laugh at the pokemon or person that got paralysed as a result.

A Gengar wouldn’t have stopped at a Lick.

Gary kept his eyes locked with Sabrina only to freeze. Shit, people said that Sabrina could read your mind if you looked her in the eyes.

Damn it! What should he do instead? Stare at her chest? And get turned into a boy that only spoke in pokemon?

Supposedly that was something she’d done to a guy once!

Also it would kind of be wrong with Brock being her boyfriend.

So… he should look at her hands? Or feet? Damn it, why wasn’t there a handy counter that you could learn about on the pokenet!

He decided he’d just have to look her in the eyes and try not to think too much.

Be like Ash. An idiot with nothing going on in his mind. He chuckled at the idea and that helped relax him.

Alright, time for operation be an empty headed goof!

Gary reached for his first choice only to frown. He’d laid out his pokemon on the table and the lights had dimmed.

Which one…

Sweat began to trickle down his spine. Shit! He only meant to pretend to be like Ash, not become the bumbling idiot!

It was the rightmost pokeball. It had to be!

Without second guessing himself he whipped out his first pokemon. “Go Umbreon!” Gary wouldn’t tell anyone, but when the pokeball broke open and Umbreon appeared, relief surged through him greater than anything he’d ever felt.

He didn’t want to become the next success meme on the pokenet like that kid at the Pewter Contest. His fame was going to be earned through success, not by the mother of all fails.

Sabrina made a show of inspecting Umbreon, a slight curl to her lips as a pokeball in front of her rose into the air and launched itself forward.

“Go, Starmie,” she announced flatly.

Gary leaned forward. Alright, they’d changed out the field while the lights had been down which was perfectly fine but now with Umbreon some of the dark energy taint could be reapplied.

The flags dropped and Gary got off the mark fast. “Dark—” was all he got to say before Starmie was unleashing waves of purplish energy while the gem in the centre of its body fluctuated through a variety of colours.

Gary frowned for a moment as Umbreon ran forward to close the gap and get off the Dark Pulse it knew it had to perform, only to trip and face plant. “What?” he muttered in shock.

Umbreon rolled up onto its feet and shook its head off only for Gary to stiffen. “Dodge!” he bellowed as Starmie unleashed a powerful blast of water with what had to be a Hydro Pump.

Holy Arceus! This was nothing like fighting against the old woman! Her pokemon had known what to do and they were nowhere near this quick with attacks!

“Quick Attack to close in!” Gary shouted and Umbreon threw itself into a sprint that had to arc around as Starmie traced Hydro Pump after Hydro Pump unerringly on where Umbreon would be.

This forced Umbreon to take a wider route than Gary might have liked, but it still saw them finally come into attack range only for Starmie to spin away with Rapid Spin.

Gary felt his brow twitch before sighing. Right, of course, it wasn’t just that he needed to limit Sabrina’s ability to use Teleport with her later pokemon. Urgh, freaking speedy psychic pokemon!

“Baton Pass,” Gary announced, knowing that this wasn;t working.

Before he could even get his pokemon to start withdrawing Starmie stopped spinning and began to glow, boosting itself in some manner.

Gary twitched as he realised that he needed to raise up the pokeball he wanted now! Otherwise the Baton Pass would cause a random pokemon to take to the field which could end up being disastrous, especially if Dodrio was forced out!

Gary snatched up Raticate’s pokeball and breathed out in relief as he realised that he’d gotten the right one.

Raticate appeared and Gary smirked as Mia’s cheers reached his ears. Judging by Raticate’s twitching ears, he’d heard as well.

“Thunder!” Gary roared, not willing to mess around anymore. He wanted this Starmie out of the way now!

Raticate sparked up and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning into the air that shot up only to rocket back down a heartbeat later only for it to hit nothing.

Gary frowned, his eyes questing about only to find nothing.

If this was any other setting he might have called foul, but if there was one thing Gym Leaders were renowned for, it was their abiding by the rules.

So, if that was the case then Starmie had to be hiding. The ground was undisturbed so Dig was out, and Starmie couldn’t fly which only left…

“Tch! Minimize?” Gary asked only to get no response from Sabrina. Gary’s mind raced. None of the moves he had for Raticate would work, he needed Umbreon back out here and fast.

“Return!” he barked, annoyed at being forced to do this. A slight glimmer in the air allowed Gary to know where Starmie was currently but trying to keep track of it was a task in futility.

All Sabrina had to do was send her pokemon spinning off one way before jerking in another and Gary found he’d lost it.

He was still quick to throw out Umbreon once again and begin blasting the field with Dark Pulses, only to get one off and then be nailed by a Hydro Pump.

Gary’s scowl intensified. Should he keep tainting the field with dark energies and give up on using Umbreon to fight? It seemed like Sabrina wasn’t going to oblige him with a straight-up fight. He’d have to rely on area-of-effect attacks.

“Keep on the pressure!” he ordered, knowing he was consigning Umbreon to getting hammered. He was quickly proven right as Starmie, what he could see of it, danced in and out of range for each Dark Pulse to fire Hydro Pump after Hydro Pump.

By the third time this had played out Gary had maybe a quarter of the field locked in and he might have pushed to take Starmie out then and there if he didn’t have a better option.

“Baton Pass!” he called, reaching for his next pokemon to be sent out.

When the pokeball broke apart this time, Haunter took to the stage and it leered at the space only to tilt its head.

“Head in the fight, Haunter! Starmie is Minimized,” Gary informed his Haunter.

Haunter made a show of putting two fingers together as if confirming he had heard Gary right.

A rumble announced that Sabrina and her Starmie weren’t sitting idle while Gary got his pokemon caught up to speed. A moment later a huge wave began to crest from her side and threatened to sweep Haunter away.

“Leap into it and use Thunder!” Gary commanded and Haunter cackled as he did just that, throwing himself headlong into the onrushing wave seemingly without a care in the world.

Gary could only suppose that life or death situations were rather different once you were a ghost.

The entire wave lit up and Gary felt a grin come over him as it collapsed on itself.

Haunter emerged with a giant grin on his face. He turned and opened his mouth to vomit up what looked like half the wave before cackling at his antics.

Gary chuckled and began to look around the field, eyes questing for Starmie.

A gleam caught his eye and he pointed right at it. “There Haunter use Dark Pulse!” he ordered and Haunter swept in and exploded dark energy on top of what had to be Starmie.

A moment later Gary was rewarded by a red beam of light flashing towards a small speck on the ground.

The referee raised his flag. “Starmie is unable to battle! The score is one nil to the challenger!”

Gary pumped his fist at that. Alright! He had this in the bag!

Before he could get too into celebrating another pokemon took to the stage and Gary straightened up as one of the signature pokemon of the saffron Gym appeared.

“Kadabra!” chanted the pokemon.

“Haunter use Suck—” He started to order only for Kadabra to flash and a Disable caught Haunter before it could get off its attack.

Sabrina then chained that right into a close-ranged Teleport that saw Haunter flinching backwards, only for psychic energy to engulf Gary’s pokemon.

“Dark Pulse now!” Gary roared.

Haunter twitched and Gary could see the dark energy begin to expand from within only for Kadabra to make a dismissive flick with its hand and for Haunter to go flying into the far wall.

Gary cursed as he caught sight of Haunter. Damn it. That… was not how things should have gone.

Gary raised Haunter’s pokeball only for a chill to sweep over his body. Gary blinked as the hairs all over his body stood straight.

Haunter rose, eyes glowing red, the goofy expression gone for the first time Gary could ever recall as it locked eyes with Kadabra.

Kadabra for its part shifted into a ready stance.

“SP!” Gary ordered and Haunter launched itself forward, racing across the battlefield like a wraith. Gary could barely track it, but he swept his head around only to find Kadabra had formed a Protect around itself.

Haunter growled and slammed a fist with dark energy into the shield but it did nothing but make Kadabra raise an admonishing finger waggle that seemed to only further enrage Haunter.

Not good, Gary thought to himself.

“Haunter!” Gary bellowed. “Get a hold of yourself! You’re playing their game not yours!” His mind raced with what else he could say only for what his mouth had already sprouted to register.

Huh, that would work.

“Play the fun game! Not the lame one!” he ordered and Haunter blinked, losing some of the ominous glow.

“Nice one Gary!” Mia hollered from the stands.

Gary didn’t have the time to nod at her words, instead deciding to unveil something he’d been working on for when he challenged Brock.

“Pain Split!” he ordered just as the Protect faded.

A bond, similar to that of Destiny Bond appeared and launched out, tagging Kadabra before it could evade. The bond pulsed and a healthy glow shot from Kadabara into Haunter causing him to swell as strength returned to him at the expense of his foe.

Haunter cackled and Gary grinned. There, that would be a solid chunk of damage done while reversing the earlier impact.

Kadabra teleported to his side of the field where it spun about and raised a hand.

Haunter didn’t hesitate, this time performing Dark Pulse defensively before Gary could even order it.

Instead of launching a Psychic however Sabrina baited him and launched a Psybeam that was slower to form. The Dark Pulse exploded only for Haunter’s vision to return in time to see the beam attack slam home.

This time he didn’t get up, and all Gary could do was sigh and nod. He returned his pokemon and held the pokeball to his forehead. “You did great bud,” he whispered to the pokeball, hoping that in some manner the pokemon within could still hear him.

Gramps liked to claim they could but Gary wasn’t so sure about that. They were knocked out after all. How were they supposed to hear anything?

He placed the pokeball back on his pokebelt and looked down at the five pokeballs before him.

Dodrio may as well be already on his belt.

Kadabra… Gary licked his lips. He had no doubt that Sabrina would absolutely lay the smack down on him if he used it…

It was well known that using the Gym’s own signature pokemon against it usually was a bad idea..

But against her pokemon, another of its species was the best shot Gary had.

He grabbed the pokeball and whipped it out. “Come on out Kadabra!” Gary roared.

The silence that swept through the stands felt like someone had thrown Gary into the silencing field once more, but it wasn’t that.

This silence was different. It had been brought about by the sudden wave of people sucking in startled breaths.

They’d known he had Kadabra, but they’d thought he’d have never dared use it against Sabrina.

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Whispers followed but Gary pushed them away, instead focussing his mind on the fight before him as the two psychic pokemon locked eyes.

More notably, when Gary looked, Sabrina met his gaze, and for perhaps the first time in this match really looked at him. Her gaze was that of a judge weighing up a criminal and Gary suddenly worried that he was about to be found wanting.

It might have been Gary’s imagination, but for a moment he thought her hair started to hover in the air around her.

Gary shivered as her eyes began to glow.

The two psychic pokemon brandished their spoons at each other, causing Gary to look away from the powerful trainer he found himself facing off against.

Gary prepared himself to fight a hellish Teleport spam battle.

“Cl—” he started to order his pokemon to get in close only for light to suddenly explode off Sabrina’s Kadabra.

Gary cried out in shock as spots swept over his vision.

“What the?” he called before his mind accelerated to put the pieces together and work out what had just happened.

Sabrina had just used Flash, a move that wasn’t well regarded by many.

Gary just knew that someone was going to point out that her using Flash was rather appropriate considering that Dark pokemon were her biggest counters.

Sadly for Gary, it wasn’t a tactic he’d been prepared for.

“Protect!” he roared blindly, unsure what was happening but deciding to hedge his bets regardless.

The sound of something heavy hitting a Protect sounded out and Gary blinked his eyes furiously to get his sight back.

He managed it just in time, to see the boulders that Sabrina’s Kadabra had flung fall off his pokemon’s Protect.

Gary exhaled in relief, glad that he’d backed his instincts just now.

Still, Flash eh? He’d have to make a mental note of that one for later. It was a solid strategy.

“Taunt!” Gary commanded, deciding that he needed to stop the most notorious tactic Sabrina was known for with her pokemon’s ability to Recover.

It might also stop her from using Flash on him again.

In response, Gary felt a wave of something wash over him and when he looked up he realised that Sabrina’s glow had intensified.

That… couldn’t be good.

A moment later he was proven right as a gentle light engulfed Sabrina’s Kadabra.

Gary stiffened as the light of evolution claimed her Kadabra.

“How are you doing that?” he asked only to trail off as Sabrina’s Alakazam levitated in place and locked eyes with Kadabra.

Kadabra took a small step back and Gary swallowed before shooting his gaze back to Sabrina.

“You should have known better,” she announced, once more projecting her voice without actually speaking.

Gary shivered but still barked out an order. “Close!” He ordered and Kadabra Teleported into Alakazam’s blindspot at his back before raising a dark, empowered fist to slam into Alakazam’s back.

Before any such attempt could land, Kadabra was launched by a small dark ball that Gary knew to be a Shadow Ball.

Kadabra slammed into the far wall only to slump to the ground, unable to rise. Gary returned him and once more praised his pokemon’s efforts.

Despite the loss, Gary couldn’t help but feel like Sabrina had just taught Gary something. And it wasn’t just that you shouldn’t attempt to use a weaker psychic against a stronger one.

No, it was the evolution of Kadabra.

There was something there. Something she’d done in front of everyone.

Gary licked his lips. This fight was already going to be deeply reflected on, but those few moments? Gary was going to drag out every sensation and every observation he could, because if he was right, he’d be able to work out how to evolve his own pokemon from what he learned.

If this wasn’t a Gym match with so much on the line Gary would have gotten down on his knees begged for a pause if he had to, all so he could write down his initial impressions to lock things into memory.

Win or lose, today he’d learned a lot, but he wasn’t going to just sit back and let things play out like this. He wanted to win.

He palmed his next pokeball, knowing he needed this more than anything.

“Go, Raticate!” he barked, sending out his trusty Raticate, who came out twitching and ready to fight.

“Sucker Punch!” Gary shouted before cursing the slip of tongue. It would have been faster to stick to the shortened command. Raticate knew what to do though and leapt into action, dark energy blurring around his form as he sprinted at Alakazam.

In response Alakazam reached out with its hands and tugged at the air, wrenching it up into the sky which caused the ground to tilt upwards and Alakazam to be hidden by the raised earthworks.

Raticate merely committed to the attack, leaping up and over the wall before lunging down with a shrill cry. “Ratiiii!”

A flash from the other side of the divide let him know that Sabrina had blinded his pokemon once more. Urgh, hopefully Raticate didn’t flinch…

A slamming noise let Gary know Raticate had stayed the course. Gary did a little pump of his fist as he shouted his next order. “Crunch!”

While his pokemon was close, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance, not against Sabrina with an Alakazam. If Alakazam got loose especially with Raticate blinded he’d wreck Gary’s team.

So Gary did the only thing that seemed right, he kept up the pressure.

After all if she wanted to, she could… Gary’s mind stalled out on him for a moment and a chill ran through him for the first time as realisation swept through him.

Sabrina could Mega evolve Alakazam.

If she wanted to, she could crush his entire chance at this badge whenever she wanted.

“Alakazam is unable to battle! The score is now two to two!” called the referee, shocking Gary out of his downward spiral.

Gary blinked. “Wait, what?” he said. He shot Sabrina a long look. “What gives? You’re not going to use your biggest trump card with Mega evolution?” he called.

The crowd broke into murmurs at this and Sabrian raised an eyebrow. “I think you were struggling enough without that, but also Mega Evolution isn’t something you can merely call out with any pokemon. You need a deep bond between yourself and the pokemon. My new Alakazam, while well known to me, is but a candle to the hearth that is my strongest Alakazam.”

Sabrina raised her hands and made a weighing gesture. “Both cast light and a small amount of warmth, but one is more established. This is one way of looking at bonds which is important to consider when attempting Mega Evolution,” Sabrina stated.

Gary sniffed. “Oh good, as long as you’re not looking down on me,” he said.

Sabrina raised an eyebrow and Gary coughed aware that Sabrina was rather tall. “Uhm just forget that,” he muttered.

“I’m sending that to the pokenet!” called Mia.

Gary snarled and shot her a murderous look but she didn’t look up from her transceiver.

Gary sighed, well, he supposed he wouldn’t have done anything different if their roles were reversed. Still annoying though.

He was going to have to make sure he won so that people overlooked the silly comment now, instead he focussed on the issue he’d spotted just now. Raticate was out of position. He couldn’t see Raticate and, worse, they were on Sabrina’s side of the field, meaning she could drop a pokemon right on top of him.

“Raticate, get back—” Gary started to say only for Sabrina’s pokeball to launch itself forward without a single twitch from Sabrina.

It disgorged a pokemon and Gary shot his gaze upwards as a small pinkish face appeared on the screen above.

“Quick attack evasion!” Gary roared, knowing he didn’t want his normal type anywhere near that fighting-psychic pokemon.

Raticate leapt over the lip of the earth dip and spun to get its eyes on where Medicham was only for a flicker of movement to catch Gary and Raticate by surprise.

Medicham appeared at Raticate’s side and kicked out sending Raticate flying.

“Cate!” shrieked in shock more than pain as he tumbled into a standing position and whirled about. Gary thought furiously. That hadn’t been Quick Attack or Extremespeed to follow after Raticate.

Had Sabrina taught her Medicham to perform Teleport? That would make sense considering that Brock was quoted in an interview after his match as citing Sabrina as the reason his Lunatone could Teleport.

No… Gary shook the thought off. She would keep that for her elite team if she did it at all. Unless for her it wasn’t that big of an issue?

Gary clicked his tongue. He wanted to keep on the attack. He had half the pokemon Sabrina could use for this fight down and out!

No, calm, he thought to himself. Close it out properly.

“Return!” he commanded as he grabbed up his best hope of pushing Sabrina back.

He held the pokeball up to his lips. “Time to show everyone bud,” he whispered before letting rip. “Come on out! Blastoise!” he roared.

The crowd rose at seeing one of Kanto’s starters take to the field and Gary smirked as his first pokemon landed and locked eyes with Medicham.

“Shell dance special!” Gary ordered and Blastoise sunk into his shell with Withdraw only to begin a Rapid Spin that combined with Water Gun to see a torrent of water lashing out as it swept towards Medicham.

In response Medicham counter attacked, darting in, low to the ground only to twist and buck off the ground.

Medicham twisted with Blastoise and in a single moment, Blastoise went from attacking to being launched across the field with a flick of Medicham’s feet.

Gary gaped.

There hadn’t even been a hint of psychic energy around Blastoise. That had been pure strength and skill on Medicham’s behalf.

“How did you…” he trailed off uncertainty before shaking his head as Blastoise crashed to the ground. “Shake it off bud! Repeat but this time come in low to the ground!”

In response, Medicham took a stance with one leg sliding behind it while it cupped its hands as its hip.

As Blastoise swept in, Medicham didn’t so much as twitch as it was battered at first by the water and then by Blastoise.

Blastoise spun and ground his body against Medicham and the much smaller pokemon once more defied Gary’s expectations, refusing to get swept away and instead locking itself down and enduring.

Understanding slammed into Gary’s mind a moment before Sabrina’s plan revealed itself.

Gary looked up into Sabrina’s eyes and for a moment thought he heard her say ‘Reversal’ directly to him but it might have been a trick of his mind.

Medicham punched forward and like an errant pinball in a machine, Blastoise was launched into the far wall only to bounce and spin about forcing Blastoise to protrude his limbs and head out of his shell to regather his bearings and stagger about.

Damn, Sabrina had just clowned on him by accepting that hit.

“Blast—” he started to say only for a psychic lash of energy to slam into Blastoise and knock him to his feet.

“Future Sight!” Gary gasped. Damn it! Had she gotten that off when he’d traded out his pokemon? It was the only time! “Blastoise buddy! You good?”

Blastoise rose from the ground and shot him a thumbs up and Gary grinned. “Thanks bud,” he whispered before locking eyes back on the Medicham. It too was on its last legs but it was a long way away.

Right as Gary was assessing the situation he heard Blastoise’s turrets make a small ‘ker-chak’ noise that he’d learnt to listen out for.

One thing he’d noticed about his pokemon? When the going got tough, Blastoise always dug deep and hit back harder.

With that in mind he knew exactly what he was going to do.

“Hydro Pump!” He commanded and a supercharged pulse of water was fired off from each turret only for a beam of psychic energy to be Sabrina’s response from Medicham.

Both attacks swept past each other thanks to the difference in heights.

Gary smirked as he looked up at Sabrina, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Both attacks landed and both pokemon collapsed.

“Medicham and Blastoise are unable to battle!” called the referee.

Gary returned his pokemon and gave it a fond smile. “You did great buddy, Sabrina threw a real surprise at us there with those moves of hers. I don’t think anyone else would have handled Medicham as well as you did,” he said only to grimace.

No, that was a lie. If Dodrio wasn’t still beaten down he would have sent it out against Medicham. It was after all the main reason Dodrio was in his team for this fight.

Still, three down, and one to go while he still had Umbreon, Raticate and Dodrio on his side.

“You’ve fought well,” Sabrina said, speaking for the first time. “I hope you forgive me for using this next pokemon. It is not on any lists you’ll find but it is very much one of my pokemon.”

A Luxury ball rose from the table in front of her, causing Gary to frown. Was Sabrina sending out her pet pokemon?

The ball shot forward and a small Kirlia was revealed. It spun a few times and bowed politely towards Gary.

Gary blinked. “Oh,” he said, at a loss for words. That… was a damn good pokemon to finish with.

Gary knew exactly how strong that pokemon was thanks to staying on top of the readings his Gramps liked to send him.

Fairy-Psychic was a hell of a final pokemon and if Gary had to guess, this little Kirlia was one day going to feature in Sabrina’s strongest team.

It flat out no sold Umbreon thanks to its fairy typing, and Dodrio had no moves that were super-effective against it.

Which just left his Raticate… who was no doubt tired. Gary worked his jaw. Sending out Raticate first would be a mistake…

Gary grabbed another pokeball, a plan forming in his mind. “Go Dodrio!” he commanded. If he could get off one move, he thought to himself.

Dodrio appeared but two of the heads immediately drooped low, showing how tired they were while the last head tried to keep its gaze on Kirlia.

Kirlia smiled, then like the world’s creepiest littler sister, its eyes glowed ominously and boulders and debris rose around it to be hurled at Dodrio.

“Agility!” Gary roared and his pokemon darted to the side to evade the attack. Gary perked up. Dodrio had done it. Hot damn!

“Now Baton Pass!” Gary commanded, resisting the urge to get off another move. The two tired heads shot him a thankful look as they vanished into their pokeball only to be replaced.

This time Gary kept his eyes on Sabrina and her pokemon, noting the way Kirlia made use of the time to have her eyes glow.

Gary smirked. Alright, if that was what he suspected, things were about to play out in his favour.

“Go Umbreon! One final push!” he barked as Umbreon took to the field.

Gary shot Sabrina a smirk but instead of looking annoyed Sabrina merely tipped her head, acknowledging the move.

Gary would never admit it, but in that moment he felt more recognised by anyone for his efforts than the majority of the awards or commendations he had waiting back at home. Weird how a simple nod could do that.

Kirlia shifted and brought her small hands up in front of her chin before swaying side to side. “Kirlia~!” sang the little pokemon, causing waves of glittering pink energy to radiate out.

“Dig!” Gary ordered. Umbreon dove into the ground avoiding the radiating waves of what had to be Fairy energy and instead launching a surprise attack underneath Kirlia, only for the little pokemon to start dancing on what had to be ridiculously light feet.

It spun, jumping from one point to another with barely a hint of where it would go with each movement.

Umbreon, unsurprisingly, missed completely with Dig and Gary could only click his tongue.

Sabrina had trained her pokemon to be able to avoid Dig naturally, because of course she did!

Umbreon stood and dusted off its fur from stray clumps of dirt. “Breon!” he barked at Kirlia who merely replied with a smug look of superiority.

Gary would have to remember that and practise it, cause that right there? He wanted to use that in future.

Game could respect game after all.

“Confuse Ray!” Gary ordered.

Umbreon’s eyes once more glowed and waves of sickly purple shot forward only for Kirlia to take up singing once more.

Ghost energy clashed against Fairy energy only for nothing to be negated and both attacks to hammer into each other.

Umbreon staggered back and a moment later a slash of Psychic energy appeared from the air and attempted to hit Umbreon only for nothing to occur.

Gary didn’t hesitate, instantly shooting his hand to the last pokeball before him. “Baton Pass!” he commanded and once more Umbreon vanished and was replaced by a slightly empowered Raticate.

“Close with Sucker Punch!” Gary ordered even as Kirlia’s glowing eyes began to intensify.

He had a limited window of opportunity now. Sabrina would have gotten off Future Sight during the exchange. Umbreon could tank them without concern but that wasn’t an option for Raticate.

The one goal Gary had in mind for Umbreon however wasn’t the negation of Future Sight but being able to get off Confuse Ray, which revealed itself to be the right call as Kirlia stumbled and the boulders she’d begun to pick up faltered.

Sabrina’s eyes began to glow and Kirlia straightened up, but it was already too late. Raticate got in close and slammed a paw into the little pokemon’s face sending Kirlia staggering back.

She fell to one knee only to snarl and rise with a spin.

“Iron Tail!” Gary shouted and Raticate spun, putting everything he had into the strike as Kirlia unleashed an insanely powerful Psybeam.

It slammed into Raticate’s flank and spun Raticate around.

It was a small thing, but if Kirlia had managed to hit centre mass, Gary knew Raticate would have been blown away.

Instead Raticate twisted, using the impact to spin faster and bring his gloriously ratty tail around like a whip to smack Kirlia with the singular super effective move Gary had available to him.

Kirlia spun and this time collapsed to the ground with a faint cry only for Raticate to stagger to the ground next to it.

Gary’s heart lurched as his pokemon’s eyes shut. He locked eyes on the downed Kirlia and along with the crowd stared.

After three seconds the referee’s flag rose. “Kirlia and Raticate are unable to battle! The score is four to four! The winner therefore, is Gary Oak from Pallet Town!”

Gary collapsed to his knees in shock, a shudder running through him. He’d had to use everything he had to win that match, and it still had almost fallen short. The podiums lowered as the crowd surged to their feet.

Gary staggered forward, reaching for yet another Hyper Potion only for his pokemon to be levitated to him much like Kirlia was levitated to Sabrina.

Gary quickly sprayed his pokemon over but Raticate didn’t open his eyes, too tired from running the Saffron Gym Gauntlet.

“You did great bud,” Gary said as he returned his pokemon.

He sighed with relief and then raised his eyes to take in the cheering crowd being led and encouraged by Mia. Gary gave them a wave before looking to Sabrina.

Sabrina opened her hand and with a flash of light a Marsh Badge appeared, hovering above her hand.

“Congratulations Gary Oak, you have proven yourself worthy of my Marsh Badge. Take it and display it with pride.”

The Badge floated to Gary and he took it in one hand, then he brought it up high to show everyone. The crowd intensified and Gary grinned.

“I’m proud of you my boy!” shouted a familiar voice and Gary paused. He turned slowly to find Gramps and Daisy sitting in the front row next to Mia.

Gary felt his eyes grow a little wet.

Damn, stupid old man was going to ruin his moment by making him tear up a little!

Gary waved as cooly as he could, glad that his family could be here to watch his match.

He turned and subtly wiped away any evidence of tears.

When he was done getting photos with Sabrina he marched up to his friends and family with a smirk.

“Eh, I had that, don’t know what you were so worried about Mia!” he announced grandly.

Mia rolled her eyes. “Sure thing doof.” She nodded to the door. “Pokecenter and then Mr Mimes?”

Gary grinned. “Sounds like a plan!”