Hard Enough-Chapter 295 - Missed chances and final showdown!

I tapped at my notebook with my pen. Scrawled across a handful of pages were my current ideas to ‘break’ Destiny Bond.

I hadn’t scratched any out yet as they were still technically in ‘testing’ phases. I’d started writing up documents on my computer and adding links to the various videos I had taken while training against Agatha.

She’d been all too amused to let me record my failures.

Joke was on her though.

One of these days it wouldn’t be failure that they’d record.

I knew there was a way to do it. There had to be a trick, or even several. The thought constantly niggled at my mind that there was something I was overlooking or not remembering from my past life.

A small chirp had me reaching up to bring down Zubat from my shoulder where she’d been sleeping off this morning’s training.

She staggered over to a jug of juice I’d blended up and I tipped it into a small plate to help her lap it up easier. When she was done I repositioned her on my shoulder to let her continue sleeping before moving to the other pokemon that I’d brought with me.

I poured some more juice out of the jug so that Gible could lean out of his small bed to lap it up. He wiggled and grinned at me with all of his teeth before nestling back into the bed that I’d gotten for him.

In truth it was a heating mat with a stainless steel tray which had desert sand in it, something that Gible enjoyed immensely.

I moved back to my desk, and gave my notes another look over.

A shield around the pokemon using aura. Faking out a fainting. Deliberately using moves like False Swipe that would force the opposing Ghost pokemon to the point of being still awake, but unable to do anything which would be an effective K.O. without triggering Destiny Bond.

I also had slapped together ideas from other settings such as trying to ;disrupt the flow of energy within a pokemon’s body.

Outspeed the bond by having my pokemon fully buffed speedwise.

I tapped my pen on a simple line of text.

I could potentially take the burden on myself, draw the bond into myself as well, making it a three way bond instead of two. That might cause it to be ineffective but it also had the greatest risk.

I liked to think I was smarter than trying that, but another part of me felt this one, more than any other idea I had, would work.

I just knew that should I try it, win or lose, once I explained it to anyone, Sabrina would be furious with me for risking myself like that.

I tapped my pen, underlining and deepening the letters on that idea. I had to admit that it would be extremely… shounen. Which fit with the Pokemon franchise to a certain point of view… if you didn’t account for the manga I vaguely knew to be much darker in content.

I added a note at the end stating that this is a method of last resort and should not be tested before then.

I nodded to myself. There. If Sabrina happened upon my notes she couldn’t be angry at me.

I chuckled to myself knowing that wasn’t how it worked.

Still, there was something I was overlooking.

I shifted my focus back to the first point. I’d tried to use Dark-type energy due to its super effective nature against Ghost, but there was a better typing.

I added a sub point to the first point, which I’d been working on for a while, to start trying to normalise my energy and make it neutral to see if that worked better. If I could tap into ‘Normal’ typing, there were better chances of breaking the bond.

I sighed, knowing I’d probably be better off showing my current notes to others. Oak could certainly weigh in, but I also had half an idea to tap Pryce about this. If there were ever a man who was eager to get one over on Agatha, it would be him.

He’d be a good source of information. Sabrina, once she was finished with the final crash down of the surge of trainers seeking to get their final badge for the tournament, would be able to help me.

I had plenty of reading material and small tasks like this that I could ask her about on the ten-hour flight to Hoenn.

I’d made sure to get first-class tickets, and thanks to my accountant’s pointers, I’d been able to deem the trip ‘business’; thus, it came from the Gym’s funds rather than my personal accounts.

An alarm began to chirp on my wrist, and I swatted it to silence, afraid that Zubat would freak out, only to almost knock a glass of juice off my desk. I snatched at it and in turn sent my papers flying.

I sighed as I kept my grip on the glass, knowing that cleaning up broken glass and juice would be worse than the fallen papers.

On my shoulder, Zubat whined at the slight jostling but otherwise remained asleep.

Huh, I really had tired her out.

A quick look at Gible showed nothing but his fin sticking out of the sand.

I’d have to check my markers to see if they were getting close to evolving soon. I only had a few more things for Zubat to learn before I let her off her ‘leash’. I had no doubts that as soon as she evolved to Golbat, it wouldn’t be long before she carried over as a Crobat.

Gible… was going to be an interesting case however as he’d grow significantly as a Gabite. I wanted him to have a lot more muscle mass before then so I was keeping an everstone on him.

I set about cleaning my office, and as I was picking up the last paper, I paused. A small leaflet advertising a certain berry seller’s wares had fallen under my couch.

I scowled at the advert, knowing that its claims of being able to negate rock-type attacks once were actually true. I had made sure never to draw attention to it as it was circumstantial to most trainers, but having faced off tens, if not hundreds, of trainers who’d forked out for that, it worked all too well.

I was about to scrunch it up and toss it in the bin when the idea struck. If rock-type moves could be negated or weathered…

I set the leaflet down next to my notepad and added another, specifically about finding any berries that might have the same effect against Ghost types.

I knew they had to exist, but for the life of me, I couldn’t recall what they were. This was another thing to investigate, and one that had a lot of potential—not just against ghost types. Perhaps I should invest in a berry farm or two?

I added some points to call an arborist… or a local realtor. The dark part of me kind of liked that idea. I sent a quick message off to my lawyer about acquiring an orchard. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

My transceiver buzzed as a call came through, signalling that I was running close.

“Hey Alexa, sorry I was just wrapping some things up,” I hurried out the door, collecting both Gible and Zubat into their pokeballs as I went. “Be out in a second!”

Alexa hung up a moment later only to walk briskly around the corner, followed by Rachel on her skates. “Were you brooding in your office again?” Rachel asked.

I shot her an unamused look. “I was doing no such thing.”

“Sure you weren’t. But no problem boss. We’ve got some simple fights ahead with most of the trainers running the gauntlet, but then we have an old face coming back!” Rachel shouted excitedly.

“Old face?” I asked.

Alexa nodded and brought out her trusty clipboard. “Says here, this guy has challenged twice before? He was one of the last trainers last season and he was the first this season. He’s apparently spent almost the entire circuit getting into fights and touring the various battle clubs. He has an impressive record considering he’s had over a thousand fights.”

I blinked. “A thousand fights?”

“Won over half of them,” she said, showing me the record. “Gotten himself two sponsorships as well. The kid is locked in for another season or two at least.”

I whistled, recognising the kid now. Gio. “Heh, damn he has done well for himself.” I gave his file a look. “Damn we really have come full circuit haven’t we if Gio’s coming back.”

I handed back the clipboard after looking over his slightly expanded pokemon roster. Nidoking was still there as was Poliwrath, Golem, Kadabra, Arcanine, and Electabuzz… but no Raticate? I loaded up his trainer profile on my Xtransceiver and sighed.

“Ah, seems it hasn’t all been clear skies for young Gio,” I said, seeing the note about him registering his Raticate as perished after a match in Fuchsia. Damn it was only a few days ago as well.

“Ah, that’s rough,” I said wondering how he would be holding up.

For most of the morning I only had a few simple fights with a few trainers that were desperately trying to make it through to the tournament failing as they found themselves falling short.

Fatigue was showing in a few cases as instead of shrugging it off we had another three cases of trainers whiting out, which was very telling with this being the end of the season. They should have been able to handle that better.

When it was finally time for the Elite challenge at lunch time and thus Gio’s arrival, I was feeling hopeful for a damn good fight.

When we got to the point of announcing his entrance he came in with little fanfare and stood on his podium with a listless attitude. The crowd noticed this and instead of widespread applause welcoming back the challenger they murmured to themselves in concern at his appearance.

I frowned. Hmmm now that just wouldn’t do, I could pull him aside and talk to him or I could say something that would ignite his fighting spirit but what would be best for him?

I wanted to fight him. The kid had obviously grown stronger and this would be a perfect way to let him measure his growth… but at the same time…

My mind turned over what I’d picked up from his file. Gio hadn’t Journeyed with any other trainers for last year and neither had he gotten any friends this year, so all he would have known for companionship were his pokemon.

Hmmm, that did put it into perspective.

I sighed and suppressed the fighting spirit that wanted to get out from the moment I’d seen it was him coming in to fight.

Sometimes, I had to not just be a Gym Leader, but human. The kid didn’t need a fight. He needed someone to talk with.

I sighed and hit a button that turned the lights back on. “We’re not fighting,” I said firmly.

This caused a few people in the crowd to groan in disappointment, but I thought I caught a few of them nodding in understanding. Gio himself didn’t seem to hear my announcement and only reacted when the podium he was on started to lower.

“Huh? Wait? What’s going on?” he said, blinking and taking in his surroundings.

I waved a hand to Rachel to handle the crowd. She grinned and grabbed A.J. and Greta. “You two! Exhibition fight right now, let’s go!” she called, and I made a note to praise her for her quick thinking as I landed on the ground.

“Hey Gio,” I said, nodding to the young man. Let’s go talk for a bit, okay?” I said, nodding towards the backrooms.

Gio opened his mouth only to slump as the fight left him like he had a hole that he’d plugged up only for the offer of someone to talk with to cause everything to spill out. “Yeah, sure that’d be nice,” he said in a defeated tone.

I led Gio out of the crowd’s gaze and sat him down to have a chat. This wasn’t exactly something I had to do as a Gym Leader, but when you encountered so many young people, it wasn’t uncommon that you often found them at a low point in their lives.

As a Gym Leader and a person, I wanted to help them reach their best. I sat, knowing that the next hour or so was going to be a bit raw emotionally. It never precisely got easy to talk about losing someone precious, but sometimes, to heal it was what was best.

“I didn’t lose a pokemon until I was in my first year as a Gym Leader,” I said, starting us off.

Gio listened as I spoke and when I was done, I let the quiet remain as he processed everything that I had said. I hadn’t told him to do anything or give any advice. I’d just told him it was hard.

Once he looked a bit more centred than before, I asked the question, “Do you want to talk about it?”

He looked up with watery eyes and nodded.

And with that, it was my time to listen.

Ash slumped over the seat in front of him while Misty nudged him. “Ash! Sit up!”

“Urgh! It’s just! I was looking forward to a big match! I wasn’t expecting…” Ash flapped his hands at where A.J. and Greta were throwing down. Ash had to give Greta credit; she had some surprisingly strong pokemon.

The fight had come down to an Ivysaur against A.J.’s Sandslash and while Sandslash was outspeeding Ivysaur, it wasn’t able to get any hits in either as Greta defended marvellously with a variety of different tactics.

Forrest shrugged, keeping his eyes on the match as Ash and Misty squabbled. “Eh, sometimes things like that happen in Gym matches. Gio must have lost a pokemon.”

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“Lost it?” Ash questioned with a tilt of his head. “Why isn’t he out there looking for it th—”

Forrest gave Ash a flat look that was mixed with something else. Envy? Why was Forrest envious? Pikachu just sighed and shook his head. The vein in Misty’s forehead twitched.

“Ash, I meant he lost it, as in his pokemon died,” Forrest said quietly.

“Oh,” Ash said feeling like an idiot. He tilted his head forward so his eyes were covered.

“Never heard of it being expressed that way?” Forrest asked before Misty could say something mean.

Ash shifted. “I’m used to my Mum talking about pokemon ‘going to the farm’,” he replied.

Forrest merely nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”

Misty squirmed. “We called it going into the big ocean for a swim, one we couldn’t follow them on.”

Misty stared at the floor for a moment before coughing. She looked from Ash to Forrest. “Do you think I will have to do that if… When I take over as Gym Leader of Cerulean?” she asked.

Forrest coughed and straightened up. “Only if you want to!” he said before shaking his head. “I mean it is different for everyone isn’t it? Brock could have just fought him. Honestly, I think he was even considering it for a moment there. Brock has this persona that he adopts when he fights people where he will deliberately try to get you fired up. I don’t doubt for a second he could have said something to get Gio to fight, but… He might have just thought it would be too mean?”

Forrest offered a shrug while Ash considered what his friend had just said.

One thing Ash had noticed was that if you could get Misty to ask a question Forrest would usually talk a lot more than if Ash or someone else asked it.

It was kinda weird, but something he kept in mind when he wanted something explained. Ash mulled things over for a while, even going as far as to draw Pikachu down onto his lap to gently pat.

The electric mouse shot him a confused look before settling down at the look on Ash’s face.

For the next few minutes Ash did nothing but think about what it would feel like to lose one of his friends.

He wasn’t sure he could but some part of him clenched as if in readiness for a punch or something tearing into him, despite nothing actually threatening him.

Ash sighed and pat Pikachu one last time before taking the feelings he had, wadding them up and tossing them away!

That’s what his Mum always said to do when he was feeling down! Well, she said a lot of things honestly but her advice about this was pretty good.

A loud explosion caused Ash’s head to snap up and he blinked in shock as Greta’s Ivysaur was thrown in the face of a rising Sandslash.

“Got them!” A.J. roared in triumph.

Greta grasped the rails and her eyes widened. Ash felt something pulse through the air, and he and his friends were all straightened in their chairs. “Ivysaur! No! Vine Whip to catch yourself!” Greta shouted and Ash felt desperation in her voice as her pokemon arced through the air.

Ivysaur, instead of merely toppling to the ground and landing heavily, unleashed two thick-looking vines that launched downwards and slammed into the ground, allowing Ivysaur to right itself before landing lightly on the ground.

Ivysaur roared out a challenge, only for a moment later it begin to glow.

Everyone in the crowd gasped as Ivysaur evolved before their eyes. It’s body growing thicker and heavier while the flower on its back bloomed into a vibrant specimen. Ash sniffed the air and was amazed to find he could smell the sweetness of the flower even from where he was sitting in the second row!

“Huh, guess I can stop going easy on you now Greta!” A.J. said and Greta grinned at him.

Ash grinned, knowing they were about to go big. “He certainly learned how to taunt people pretty well from your brother!”

A pink-haired girl in front of them snorted and glanced over her shoulder, revealing herself to be Rachel. “Nah, that goof has always been rough around the edges.”

Greta unleashed a mighty Razor Leaf only for Vines to snap out and catch it, causing it to twirl faster and faster.

When Venusaur eventually released the attack, almost a quarter of the field was shaken up as another quarter was torn into.

Sandslash, who’d been in the middle of a Dig manoeuvre to dodge, was hurled out of the ground and beaten with that one move, causing Greta to punch the air in victory.

The crowd rose to their feet and joined her with their applause. Once the match was over Ash and the others meandered out, not interested in watching any of the fourth tier matches of people that were desperate to get their final badges even if a few of them might have a shot.

Ash and the others had too much training to do these days.

“Still not going to try and earn the Bejewelled badge Misty?” Ash asked as they made their way around to battle courts.

“Eh, I figure I might leave it. It’s nice but I don’t need it,” she said with a shake of her head.

Ash sighed. “You just don’t get how battling is supposed to work. You’re supposed to push yourself which is why Brock set up that challenge in the first place!”

Misty gave him a flat look. “You just want to be able to rub that badge in Gary’s face, admit it!”

Ash coughed. Misty rolled her eyes. “Urgh sometimes I wonder if you even grew up at all this year! You’re such a child!”

“I’ve grown up plenty!” Ash retorted.

Misty raised a singularly unimpressed look his way.

Before either could continue to argue a kid approached them. “Hey, you with the dumb face!”

Both Misty and Ace whipped around together. “Who’re you calling dumb!?” they roared in unison only to cough as they realised they’d responded to that.

The kid backed up a bit, not expecting their reaction while Forrest put a hand to his lips and stifled his chuckles.

Pikachu on the other hand fell from Ash’s shoulder where he rolled around on the floor, laughing at Ash and Misty both.

Forrest, ever the peacemaker of their group, smirked. “How about a doubles battle kid?” he said, which the kid quickly accepted.

Ash prepared two pokeballs only for Misty to also draw out two pokeballs.

Forrest smirked. “Are you two able to team up for a second?” he said as he opened his arms to accept Pikachu.

Ash stared. “You! That’s not what I thought you meant!”

Misty gaped, shocked at Forrest’s trick catching her as well. Forrest just grinned and moved to one of the free battle courts to set up the doubles match.

Ash shared a look with Misty. “Does it seem like Forrest has been a bit… different since coming home to Pewter?”

Misty nodded an exasperated smile forming on her lips. “Yeah, I think he’s relaxed a little. Probably a good thing,” she said.

Ash nodded, thinking about how his hometown wasn’t that far away. He’d encountered his mum around Kanto while on his journey, but it wasn’t the same as going home.

Also, it would be nice to see all of his pokemon in one location rather than trading them out just to spend time with them.

“Ash, you ready?” Misty said, jostling his elbow and reminding him they were about to fight some twerp.

Ash nodded. “Yeah! Just don’t get in my way!” he stated, making sure Misty knew he planned to start blasting straight away.

Ash missed the way the vein on her forehead began twitching or the way Forrest gained a huge grin from the sidelines.

Ash sent in his newest pokemon Beedrill only for Misty to send out her Starmie which used Thunder. Beedrill only barely dodged the attack.

Ash shot Misty an incredulous look. “What was that about?”

Misty shot him a venomous look. “Oops! Looks like you got in my way!”

From there things only got worse for their ‘team’.

When they lost, Ash knew it was Misty’s fault.

He rounded on her the instant the match was done only to find her equally ready to breath fire.

Forrest stepped in quickly.

“Maybe we should take a step back for a bit?” Forrest suggested, and Ash shot him with a pointed look. It had been his fault they were in that mess!

Ash grimaced. “Maybe we should. I’d like to head home for a day or two, and it’s easy enough to reach, especially with Pidgeot and my rider’s license,” he declared.

Misty frowned. “If that’s how you feel!” she snapped.

Forrest gave them a worried look. “You want to break up the party?” he asked, eyes darting back and forth.

Ash felt something clench in his core and he shook his head. “No, just… have a break for a bit like you suggested. I want to go home for a bit, and relax, but I’ll do that after my match with Brock,” he declared.

Forrest nodded slowly, “That makes sense. Your match is tonight yeah? Know which pokemon you’re going to use?”

Ash shrugged. “I was just going to…” he trailed off as both Forrest and Misty stared at him like he was an idiot. “... to swap out my team so they were set up for it!” he announced as he quickly sprinted for the nearest pokemon centre, knowing that if he just winged it he was going to get shouted at.

When he reached the pokecenter he parked himself down in front of the computer before pausing to consider who would be best on his team.

He couldn’t skip Pikachu, so there as one, then there was Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Krabby, which got him up to four pokemon. He tapped at Charizard’s pokeball in thought. Charizard was his strongest pokemon… and over the course of the training camp he had gotten stronger… but Brock had a track record against Charizards.

Heck! He’d fought a Mega-evolved Charizard to win the Golden Week Tournament! Ash set Charizard’s pokeball to the side, knowing that he needed someone else. He mentally apologised as he considered who was going to replace him.

His list of potential replacements… wasn’t very long, and for the first time in a while, he regretted not being more prolific in capturing Pokemon.

Another lesson learned during the camp was that the depth of rosters mattered, especially during large tournaments.

But, despite that and the chance that he and a few other trainers had during their excursions to add to their teams, he’d held off. Now, he was kind of regretting that only caught a Beedrill.

He had Beedrill, a herd of Tauros… and that was it. He’d gone on his Journey and from a year’s work he’d only gotten himself a team of ten pokemon.

Well, technically more but that was only because of the herd of Tauros.

Perhaps that was what he should do? Send out a pair of Tauros? He had gotten to train with them a little during the camp but… it didn’t seem like a good plan.

He sat back and shut his eyes, working on what he could do.

Ten pokemon.

Ten…

He listed them off in his mind.

Pikachu, Pidgeot, Butterfree, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Krabby, Tauros, Beedrill, and… He frowned. Who was he missing?

He jolted as he realised he’d almost forgotten one of his strongest pokemon and someone who was perfect for this fight! He keyed in a number, and a man with a huge jawline answered.

“Fighting Spirit Gym! Home of current and future Champions! Do you want the best results? You called the right place!”

Ash grinned. “Anthony! I’m about to fight someone strong, and I need my pokemon back! Is he ready?” he asked.

Anthony’s grin was answer enough and before long Ash had a spot cleared on his team for the perfect pokemon for his team.

He then marched around to the back of the pokecenter to release him and check him over.

“Hey there! It’s me Ash!” he called as he released his pokemon. It formed up and glared at Ash.

Ash looked it right in the eye.

Primaeape punched Ash right in the gut and sent him flying.

Ash landed, rolled and lay for a moment dazed. Pikachu who’d seen the punch leapt to the side and growled. “Pi Pika Chu!”

Ash groaned, but at the same time, a laugh bubbled up as he recalled one of the first things he’d learned about Primeape from his Pokedex. If you looked them in the eyes, it was a challenge.

Well, Ash had challenged him. “Hahaha! You’ve gotten stronger, Primeape!” Ash said as he waved a hand at Pikachu. Ash adjusted the point he was looking at to just above and to the left of Primeape, letting it know he was looking at it now, but not in a confrontational manner.

This was another thing he’d picked up from the camp, but not from any lessons, but from Flannery during a training session with Charizard.

Ash held in a smirk; it wasn’t a good idea to smirk at a Primeape. Still, If Charizard knew that lessons taught specifically to help Ash handle him were being used on his ‘rival’ Primeape’, Ash just knew that he would be annoyed while also pleased.

Primeape preened and stomped up to clap Ash on the shoulder, greeting him truly instead of just falling back on instinct. Ash took in the toned muscles and hardier mitts that made up Primeape’s hands.

He looked way stronger than when Ash had left him!

“Primeape, we’re going to be fighting a super powerful opponent! The strongest some might say!”

That got Primeape’s undivided attention. “Ape?” he asked.

Pikachu hopped up on Ash’s shoulder and spread his hands wide. “Pi Pi Pi Pi Pi Pi! " he said, spreading his hands wide.

Ash nodded, knowing his partner was psyching Primeape for the fight ahead. “We need to be at our strongest, and that means I need you, but before that, we need to sync up!”

Primeape started to twitch with excitement as Ash reached into his pack and drew out a pair of sparring mitts.

“Ready to sync up! It’ll be a one-two dodge combo!” Ash declared.

Primeape’s fists blurred, performing two straight jabs before swinging with his left hand into an uppercut that Ash had to dodge.

Ash rolled away and came up, shaking at the near miss. “That… wasn’t exactly what I meant but nice one!” he said, deciding to stay positive.

He still had a few hours! He could do this!

I waved the last regular challenger for the day away with a small grin. The kid had some spunk but damn if he wasn’t backing himself into a corner trying to get four badges in the final week!

He had one of them now so it wasn’t completely over and done with but…

He had three days to get to each city and then fight… well he was going to face some tough opposition while trying to face Janine as his last match. His timetable was frankly absurd, and if I didn’t know he was rich, I would have considered it impossible.

As it was, he would burn through a lot of cash paying for Teleports around Kanto.

With him done and dusted, I moved up to the trainer's rest area. I keyed my radio. “Rachel, you got that music I asked for queued up for this match?”

“All over it, boss!” came the reply. “Can we use this more in the future? It kind of bangs! Are you sure you want it to play only when the match starts, though? That’s not usually how things go.”

I smiled to myself knowing why I was doing this only now. “Oh, I just want to apply the pressure this time around. Kid’s had long enough to have his run at me,” is all I said.

“Gotcha!” Rachel replied before signing off.

I moved up to the top area and settled in to wait as the crowd for the night match filtered in.

Due to Gio’s mental state being off, only two Pokemon couldn’t be used for tonight’s match.

Jormungandr had undergone a tough fight yesterday, just as Selene had, which still left a host of pokemon open as options.

I kind of wanted to see how Ash compared to Sanchez, but I was willing to let the dice roll on this one.

When it came time for the match I rose to the sound of the signature Stomp-stomp clap that shook the building as the crowd made its presence known.

I keyed the button for the light above me as I adopted my signature position. “Are you ready?” I said feeling a spark as I locked eyes with Ash properly. For some reason he looked beaten up with a split lip and numerous scratch marks over his arms along with smudges over his clothes.

Ash met my gaze without wavering, not at all bothered by his sorry state. “I and my pokemon are ready!” he announced.

I considered him. He’d been fine this morning when he, Forrest, and Misty had joined Yolanda and I for our morning run. I considered pausing my plans to ask if he was alright, but the fire he was showing me made me wave that idea off.

I instead decided to mentally shrug it off as unimportant. This was Ash Ketchum. The kid could probably trip into an adventure on the way to the toilet.

I marched down the stairs and launched myself from roughly halfway.

When I slammed into the podium, a techno beat began to thrum along with drums and horns.

The opening sequence of the Gym Leader medley of Kanto began to play as pictures of my Pokemon flashed past us over and over on the screen until finally settling on one in particular.

Ash’s eyes widened in surprise as I tilted my head at Don being selected.

I twitched in surprise when the big screen fuzzed with a small glitch playing out over it for a second that had me stiffening.

The picture ticked over once more to show a different pokemon’s profile.

What the? It had stopped for a solid three seconds! That meant it was locked in.

We didn’t bait people with anything longer than a second for the final switches. That shouldn’t have happened. What was going on?

A small giggle, like that of a child or a cat along with the lightest of brushes swept past my ear and I stiffened and snapped around to see what was there.

Instead of seeing anything like a pink floating cat, I found Rocko and Dennis with their heads together staring at a computer screen.

They saw me looking their way, and they shrugged. “Glitch in the big screen with lag on the server!”

I nodded, knowing that wasn’t the actual answer.

We didn’t get glitches like that, not with Porygon running around in the system. The defragged and stopped issues like this regularly.

No, this was someone… or something else putting their paws on the scale.

I glanced up at the screen and pursed my lips in thought before looking back down to Ash.

I drew my hand up and snapped off the greatball from my lanyard and raised it up to Ash before flicking it out. “Titan! Go!” I shouted right as the music cut from the introduction to the battle sequence.

I grinned, feeling myself getting pumped up more and more.

Ash was the last person I had booked in for an Elite challenge match and in a lot of ways it felt like the final challenge of this year’s circuit.

Time to see how far he’d come.