Hard Enough-Chapter 296 - Diamond still in the rough

“Let’s go Primeape!” Ash roared, whipping out his pokeball to send it to the forward quadrant as I released my greatball.

It disgorged exactly like I wanted it to with Titan set to land halfway into our area.

My starter formed from the red energy before the gravity and momentum of my throw asserted itself.

Titan soared through the air. Graceful, like a brick being tossed at a glasshouse.

With Titan’s appearance the crowd sucked in their breath as one, causing a vacuum of sound and air. Eyes tracked Titan as he arced through the air.

The only noise that came with Titan’s flight was the music of the Gym Leader medley starting to build in intensity.

Titan hit the ground and added his percussion to the beat's tempo, and my heart began to thunder as we synced up.

Titan felt my excitement for this match and a huge grin stretched his scaly face. He registered the music and instead of roaring he laughed.

Across from us Primeape bristled at the slight.

Through Titan’s eyes I looked right into Primeape;s the challenge laid down without any hesitation.

“Ready? Begin!” shouted Dennis from the side.

Primeape didn’t wait, exploding forward with a fist cocked back.

“PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMEEEE!” he screeched as he came on.

Ash twitched in surprise at the ferocity on display but adapted fast. “Close combat! Keep them in range!” he shouted.

Titan and I grinned. Instead of backing off, I had Titan step forward, dig a clawed foot into the ground, and twist his body.

Primeape lunged, throwing everything he had into a powerful haymaker that would ruin anyone’s day.

If it landed.

Titan wove around it, bobbing with his upper body while pivoting on his anchor. As he did, his tail tore through the ground, causing spikes to jut up.

One application of Stealth Rock set up while we dodged.

Primeape stumbled from the miss only to perform a small hopping adjustment before kicking the ground and trying to swing its fist around in an arcing backhand that would send Titan into next week.

Titan ducked low and I felt the fighting energy wafting off the hit almost seer Titan from its passage.

Another pokemon might have made the mistake of flinching from the near miss, but Titan kept his nerve, controlling his body. Before he’d even finished the bowing movement, I had him keep moving, transforming his momentum into another direction by having his legs kick off while his tail dug in. This saw him hopping to the side and creating another gouge in the ground as he moved.

This allowed us to evade Primeape as he tried to catch us out by lashing out with a rising knee that would have caught Titan on the chin if he’d stayed.

“Primeape! Shift it up with Stomping Tan—” Ash declared, realising that his current plan of destroying Titan with the four times super-effective fighting type attacks wasn't going to work if he couldn’t land a hit on us.

I stopped his attempt to use a Ground move cold by having Titan, still low to the ground, suddenly explode into a Giga Impact from close range.

Primeape went from throwing punches and kicks to being outright steamrolled as Titan caught him under the arms. He powered forward roaring as a corona of energy built up around him.

He hit peak speed within seconds.

“Primeape use… shoot! Use Close Combat on the wall behind you with your feet!” Ash called, trying to minimize some of the damage to his pokemon.

Surprisingly, Primeape followed his orders, if just barely.

Titan still slammed him into the far wall, causing the barriers to glow red with the power of his attack before he backed off, leaving Primeape to slide down the ground.

Titan stalked back to the field, a slight lethargy to his movements the only sign that he was affected by using Giga Impact. I knew we’d still be able to dodge and move around, but calling for an outright attack would take time as his aura reserves calmed down.

From the number of times I used moves like Giga Impact and Hyper Beam, I was starting to build up a hypothesis as to why the attacks were as powerful as they were and why other moves couldn’t be used for a short period of time afterwards.

It had to do with a pokemon’s energy becoming too agitated to be consciously controlled. It still worked to tank some hits so they were knocked out rather than injured or killed in the wake of such attacks being used.

I marked it down as another thing to suggest to talk to Sabrina and Oak about.

If I was right about this, then theoretically I had a point to build off of when it came to learning how to use moves that were similar to Hyper Beam or Giga Impact.

Moves like Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant, or Hydro Cannon.

I couldn’t recall precisely what the rock type move was, but if I had a starting point it would be a hell of a trick to learn and a feather in my cap as a Rock Gym capable of teaching such a move to pokemon.

“PRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMEAPE!” Primeape screeched as it slammed both fists into the ground. Rather than allowing itself to slump, it rose, rage manifesting in its eyes as it glared bloody murder at Titan.

Other pokemon might have been intimidated.

Titan merely snorted in derision.

‘Its bark is worse than its bite,’ Titan said through our bond, and I chuckled.

‘It’s screeching certainly hurts the ears,’ I agreed.

“Primeape! Go for Reversal!” Ash shouted, hammering the podium’s railing with a fist.

I settled into the bond, using my own energy to calm that of Titan’s to allow him a faster return to full strength as Primeape once more charged straight in.

I refrained from shaking my head. This was an Elite challenge, I could coach him to the right decision in normal Gym matches and taunt him to be better. But as it was right now? Any mistakes he made were mine to capitalize on.

Primeape’s punch caused a shockwave of air when it was unleashed, but once more, Titan and I were ready.

The punch may as well have been in slow motion as Titan allowed instincts from training with Hypnotoad to take over.

He ducked low.

Low enough to have the underside of his jaw scraping against the ground as his hands braced on the floor.

The air shook as the punch failed and as Primeape tried to readjust Titan pounced, pushing with his arms and legs and slamming his body into Primeape and knocking him onto his back.

When Titan came up this time, he rose to his full height.

I let my gaze shift from Primeape to Ash so I could let him understand the mistake he’d made in challenging me.

“Earthquake,” I commanded verbally.

Titan stomped forward and hammered Primeape into the ground, treating him like a nail as shockwaves rippled out.

Primeape shrieked in pain only to fall still a moment later. Titan stepped back instantly but kept his eyes locked on the downed pokemon.

“Primeape! No! Get up bud!” Ash called and for a moment I thought I saw Primeape twitch only for nothing to occur.

When Primeape didn’t stand, or indicate it could still fight, Dennis dutifully raised his flags. “Primeape is unable to battle!”

Ash slumped before sighing and drawing up his pokeball to return his pokemon. He whispered some praise to it before selecting his next pokemon.

Titan and I leaned forward in anticipation, knowing what was about to happen.

We’d been particularly subtle with our use of Stealth Rock today, and I couldn’t see any way Ash would know it was there.

Ash selected his pokeball and prepared to toss it only to pause his eyes narrowing as he flicked his eyes about the field. I held my breath, holding my signature pose and avoiding the urge to shift.

Did he know?

On some level, he must know something was up.

Ash shook his head and threw his pokeball.

Hmmm, he had good instincts. The problem was that he needed to extrapolate off them instead of simply relying on them.

I chuckled. Ash listening to his instincts could be a problem and a solution, it seemed.

The pokeball broke open a moment later and Ash’s Tauros took to the field.

I held back a disappointed click of my tongue.

For all Ash’s potential and the various lessons I’d run about tactics and Metas. Ash was trying to hammer me, of all people, with a powerful style of battling.

Ash, from what I’d seen, was best when he was fighting smart, not strong. He sort of had to, with most of his pokemon not being fully evolved.

That would later not be such an issue as he grew and learned how to leverage his pokemon’s strengths, but right now that wasn’t how he was fighting.

Primeape into Tauros? That stunk of Aah trying to use strong pokemon to win this fight.

It wasn’t to say his pokemon weren’t strong, it was just that they had a long way to go before they entered the same league as any of my Elite.

Stealth Rock activated and Tauros flinched as the field effect slammed into it.

Titan shifted, stomping his foot and twisting so that his tail whipped around and smashed a giant section of rock right into Tauros before it could recover.

Tauros faltered in the face of this powerful one two combination. It stumbled going to one knee before staggering up to its feet where it glared defiantly at us. Huh, had to give Ash credit he might be slamming his pokemon into a rock wall by attempting to fight us with power, but he had pokemon with some serious endurance.

Ash staggered as surprise flashed over his face. “S-sunny Day!” he reflexively said and I had to give him points for having half a clue. Tauros bellowed, stomping its feet and summoning a ball of fire high into the air.

It wasn’t the most original of set ups, especially when I knew he had Charizard and Bulbasaur on his team, but I had to give him points for trying.

We sent another Stone Edge his way.

“Leap to the side!” Ash called desperately and his pokemon just barely managed to throw itself out of the way only to stumble when we followed up with an Earthquake.

Tauros fell to the ground and this time didn’t get back up earning a small nod of satisfaction. I hadn’t really spoken with Forrest about Ash much for the week he’d been home, instead asking about Forrest’s training sessions, battles and adventures.

If Ash had stuck to his previous methods then Tauros, for all its inherent power, hadn’t had any more training than the day Ash had called it up to ride it around.

Which, sort of counted? But not in any meaningful way.

It was rather obvious that so far in this fight, Ash had relied on two pokemon that he barely trained with. Their bond was lacking and in more than one instance Ash had to give longer orders than he’d be able to get away with during a pokemon battle, especially going into the tournament.

That said, with Primeape and Tauros out of the running he’d be pulling out his normal roster forward.

“Let’s go! Bulbasaur!” Ash shouted, and I prepared Titan to give Bulbasaur a one two greeting only for Ash to surprise me by having Bulbasaur exit his pokeball while up high.

Bulbasaur soared through the air, stumpy little legs outstretched and an ‘oh shit’ look on its face as it realised that it had no business being that high in the air.

Before it could start to flail or despair however, Ash barked a command. “Vine Whip to the ground! The floor is Lava game!” Ash shouted.

I tilted my head at that order. If the floor was Lava…sending Vines into it would be a terrible idea. They must be referring to some subtext that I had no idea about.

Heh, good idea on his part.

Bulbasuar’s vines shot down to the ground and he tottered there for a moment before staggering a little. It looked a lot like a stumpy kid standing on rail-thin stilts that he had no business using.

Bulbasaur for his part looked equally unsure of this arrangement, but as soon as it locked eyes on Titan, it gained some resolve.

When the Stealth Rocks fired, it’s resolve faltered as it stumbled, attempting to dodge only for the rocks to slam into it and send it tottering from side to side.

Titan and I both tilted our heads, unsure if we needed to do anything.

On paper Ash’s Bulbasaur would be able to absorb any vibrations we dished out with Earthquake, while also being able to dodge extremely well with the use of its vines for other attacks such as Stone Edge, Rock Blast, or even Giga Impact. The higher position also gave him a slight vantage point advantage with things like Razor Leaf or Solar Beam really being powerful from that position.

Buuuuuut, on paper and in real life were two different things. Ash had some good ideas but I think he needed to clue his team in before relying on these sorts of tactics.

Titan certainly agreed with me as he swept his tail out and caused a giant wave of dust and sand to billow out, growing as it went until suddenly the field was overtaken by a Sandstorm.

Titan stepped into it, vanishing from Ash and Bulbasuar’s senses no doubt.

“Bulbasaur! Stay up in the air and use—” Ash shouted only for the howling winds of Sandstorm to cut off his order.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and ran through Ash’s potential plays. Solar Beam would be powerful, but only if it hit. Ash wouldn’t risk it, just like he wasn’t going to risk lowering his pokemon to the ground.

So, Razor Leaf, or something else… I thought I saw a silvery glimmer in the air which got me to act instantly.

I had Titan Dig into the ground to limit the risk of something being coated into the Sandstorm.

Silvery glimmers like that were typically much larger and something I associated with Sleep Powder. Hmmm, that was going to limit our options somewhat, especially if Sandstorm was tossing it around the field.

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That… could potentially spell disaster for Titan… but it would also potentially impact Bulbasaur.

I had Titan remain underground, waiting for any hint that Bulbasaur had been impacted. A hard thump would be the best ‘tell’ after all. Bulbasaur as a grass-poison type might be perfectly well suited to handle poison attacks, but that wasn’t going to be the case for Sleep Powder, not if it blew back on itself in the Sandstorm.

Instead of a soft thump of Bulbasaur hitting the ground, a powerful shockwave tore through the Sandstorm.

I snapped my head up to find Bulbasaur still teetering above everyone on his ridiculous stilts, looking slightly sleepy. The field itself was shaken about but not enough that it would affect Titan.

It did however cause the Sandstorm to weaken considerably.

“Come down fast Bulbasaur!” Ash called, and surprisingly his pokemon retracted its vines until it was standing on the actual field.

Had Ash trained his pokemon to follow commands while asleep or was this simply Bulbasaur’s instincts at play bringing it down to the earth while it slept?

As soon as it did it relaxed, slumping forward and pushing out little snores.

Titan exited the ground underneath it and caught Bulbasaur in his jaws.

I shot Ash a pointed look only for Ash to smirk. “Sleep Talk!” he declared and from point blank range Vine Whip was unleashed.

Titan released Bulbasaur spitting and spluttering as Bulbasaur hit the floor and bounced while vines battered at Titan’s face.

Huh, that was a crazy plan… It also sort of worked. If Ash had been a little luckier he’d have unleashed a point blank Solar Beam into Titan’s face.

I was about to unleash an attack of my own only to catch sight of the still swirling silvery powder. Shit, I couldn’t ignore that.

I switched things up and went with Surf.

Titan stepped back and water rose up behind him which he dutifully stepped back through instead of choosing to ride. It was exceptionally weak and did little more than wash the field clean.

In the stands the crowd began to murmur in confusion with only a few people actually seeing what the threat was.

There was no way in hell I was letting Titan fall victim to a lingering Sleep Powder that would see him potentially taking a free Solar Beam.

Ash had already gotten off one attack on us, I wasn’t giving him any freebies.

“Sleep Talk!” Ash barked and the still sleeping Bulbasaur twitched only for nothing to happen. I exhaled in relief. It must have failed for some reason, a move that Bulbasaur couldn’t use while asleep, apparently triggering and therefore failing.

The Surf I used with Titan worked to wash away any Sleep Powder that had been on the field but it also had the side effect of waking Bulbasaur up.

The little grass type shook its head and growled in our direction, ready once more to fight.

“Alright Bulbasaur! Razor Leaf!” Ash shouted.

I huffed, annoyed that Ash’s third pokemon was doing so much better than the last two, but then again I’d known it would get harder, not easier with Ash’s actual roster.

Titan sank into the ground with a nod of respect towards Bulbasaur.

“Coat the field with Slee—” was as far as Ash got. Titan launched out of the ground and caught Bulbasaur in his jaws once more, and this time there wasn’t any restraint on our part.

Titan bit down and Bulbasaur shrieked in pain before going limp.

Titan spat the smaller pokemon out before putting a foot on it making sure that if Bulbasaur tried anything it was going to be crushed.

I frowned for a moment. If that had been Don, things might not have gone so well… for a a few of Ash’s pokemon. I’d have had to restrain Don a lot more than I would have Titan.

For the first time in the match, I paused to wonder if that perhaps hadn’t been the goal Mew had been aiming for.

If indeed it had a goal.

Ash returned his pokemon and laughed slightly only to peter off as he caught sight of my less-than-stoic expression staring at him. Ah, I’d been lost in thought and defaulted to my resting bitch face. Whoops.

Ah well, it worked for this moment.

“What? I wasn’t out of the fight! I’ve encountered fights before where Bulbasaur got Sleep Powder used against it and have been meaning to close off that weakness. I also used what Forrest said the other day about you checking trainer’s pokemon and their movesets in the morning and adjusted.”

I felt a slight twitch of annoyance at that.

I had actually checked Ash’s team out directly before the match. In fact, I’d changed my process so that I checked twice, once in the morning and again directly before the match so I couldn’t be exploited like that.

It was just that pokemon movesets were not something I or indeed anyone could track in real time. The League just flat-out didn’t include that information. You could build up a list from watching a pokemon’s previous fights to work out the most likely moves they would know, but there was always the risk of Technical Machines being used.

Which, case and point, Ash had done for today’s match.

I nodded. “Well it worked, for a given value,” I said while mentally nudging Titan. We’d need to be careful that Ash didn’t have any other tricks to play.

If ever he had one, it was more likely to be on his Pikachu.

Ash grabbed for another pokeball as the score was announced as Three nil in my favour. “Go! Krabby!” Ash shouted.

I twitched in annoyance.

Right when I’d been in the middle of praising him… He goes and throws out another pokemon that I was pretty sure he’d never trained with or fought with before today.

I should feel relief, but at the moment, all I felt was annoyance that Ash was making these sorts of mistakes. I hadn’t said them during the training camp as they seemed elementary to me. Apparently, Ash still had some glaring holes in his understanding, which I was going to gladly educate him on.

After the match was over.

Stealth Rocks once more activated and Ash twitched. “Hey! What gives?” he shouted.

I ignored him and instead went for the kill with a Stone Edge that slammed into Krabby and sent it out of the field.

It notably didn’t get back up causing my frown to intensify. Ash’s head whipped around to where his downed pokemon was and he stiffened in surprise. “Krabby?” he said nervously.

He returned his pokemon and whirled around with a scowl. “What gives? Why did Stealth Rock still work after you used Surf?”

I raised an eyebrow, pointedly clutching at my arm to stop myself from giving the answer. This wasn’t the classroom, and this also wasn’t a normal Gym match, I reminded myself.

Ash scowled, then paused and glanced at Dennis, who was acting as Referee. He worked his jaw before slumping. “If this was another situation, I might demand a review or a foul… but not against you,” he said.

I blinked in surprise at that. “Oh?” I asked, prompting him for his reasoning. I wasn’t going to say anything but… well I could forgive myself a gentle nudge of encouragement this once. I was also curious as to his reasons for not calling a foul. He was entitled to it.

Ash shook his head. “There’s something I’m not seeing. If Stealth Rock is still active then there’s a reason Surf didn’t wipe it away like it should have.” Ash rubbed his jaw, pointedly ignoring the ticking clock that signalled when he had to release his next pokemon by.

“That Surf… it was too weak. You deliberately used a weaker Surf?” he asked, shooting me a thoughtful look.

I held back on answering. Kid had good instincts.

Ash nodded to himself. “You used a weaker Surf to get rid of Sleep Powder but keep the Stealth Rocks active. I didn’t account for that when I sent out Krabby,” he declared.

Ash held up his second last pokeball. “I won’t make that mistake again!” He whipped his pokeball out right as the counter ticked to one second. “Go Squirtle!” he shouted and once more Ash sent his pokemon up into the air where it reacted with shock at the release.

Titan and I locked eyes on it as the Stealth Rock activated.

“Withdraw special! Ash ordered, causing Squirtle to draw its head and limbs into its shell, denying Stealth Rock any chance of slamming into fleshy bits.

It was an effective tactic for limiting any damage that might come from Stealth Rock and it also put him on the offensive straight away.

Titan and I tracked the oncoming Squirtle and right as it swept in to hit Titan, he and I both smirked as he kicked off the ground and spun himself into a forward flip that saw him leaping over Squirtle.

Titan soared through the air, and Squirtle shot underneath us only to slam into the ground and skip like a rock thrown on a lake. Squirtle skipped on a few more times before coming to a stop at the edge of the field where it exited its shell with a shake of its head.

Titan landed heavily, right in time to unleash a potent Earthquake that sent the unsteady Squirtle toppling onto its back.

“Withdraw into Hydro Pump!” Ash called and once more his pokemon tucked itself up into its Shell.

I had to hand it to him, it was a good move to boost Squirtle’s Defense but where it didn’t work so well for him was with the follow up.

Squirtle attempted to unleash Hydro Pump only for the shot to track high. Titan didn’t even need to dodge.

With Squirtle on the other side of the field I offered up a plan to Titan which he accepted.

We started with a simple Stone Edge, causing a large boulder to rip through the air only for Ash to blast it with a Hydro Pump having sighted up better.

Titan used Squirtle’s distraction to advance a few steps only to repeat the action.

Ash stiffened as he spotted the pattern for what it ws. We advanced, unleashed a Stone Edge and then kept moving while keeping Squirtle locked down.

If Squirtle was stronger he might have been able to both defend and attack with the same move, but as things stood Squirtle wasn’t strong enough.

It could only barely hang on.

“Switch it up! Surf!” Ash called.

This time, it was Ash’s pokemon that summoned forth a giant tidal wave. I hummed, tracking his pokemon’s position in the wave before having Titan dive into the ground with Dig to evade. We popped back out the other side and fired off a trio of Stone Edges at Squirtle’s back only for the little pokemon to dive into the wave to evade.

When the field was once more revealed, it was sodden. This time I knew the Stealth Rocks hadn’t survived.

Hmmm, a bit late in the match for that to be taken off the table. I thought to myself.

“Go on the attack with Rapid Spin once more” Ash called, spotting how Titan was unharmed and still launching waves of rock and stone at his pokemon.

Squirtle twirled once more through the air and this time Ash clenched his fist. “Use Bubble Beam while charging in!”

From within the shell, a steam of bubbles wafted out around it creating a trail of potentially damaging bubbles.

In response I had Titan grab a section of the field in his claws before once again throwing himself into a front flip.

Only this time we did it much earlier.

This allowed Titan to both leap over Squirtle and slam a rock right onto Squirtle's shell, stopping it cold and halting the wave of bubbles.

With Squirtle beneath us it would be child’s play to end it. Something Ash agreed with as he withdrew his pokemon before we could knock it out.

I locked eyes with him and found him to be grimacing, like he’d tasted something foul. “I’m getting a lot of my pokemon into terrible positions,” he said aloud, his head tilting so that his eyes were hidden under the shadow of his cap. “I need to be better,” he declared.

“Bit late in the match for that declaration,” I pointed out.

Ash nodded. “But not for the tournament,” he said.

I didn’t say anything. Ash only had a few days but in a few days a hefty number of Ash’s weak points could be shored up easily enough. He just had to work with what he had and hope for the best.

I didn’t expect him to win, not with powerhouses like Brawly, Flannery, Roxanne and a few others running around. They had too much depth and experience. I’d be impressed if he made it into the top thirty-two, with how many trainers there were to beat this year.

“So? You done?” I asked, holding back a smirk as Pikachu bristled on Ash’s shoulder. Ash didn’t hesitate to grin.

“I saved the best for last! Go Pikachu!” He shouted, sending out the most iconic pokemon of the entire pokemon world.

Pikachu landed right on the edge of the field and without Stealth Rock to trip up his pokemon, Ash didn’t hesitate. “Speed boost plan!” he shouted, demonstrating that he had been working on some things with his pokemon.

Pikachu vanished in a blur of speed only to reappear slightly to the side before disappearing again.

I held back a smirk, ordering Titan to unleash an Earthquake that rocked the field.

Shards of rock shot up into the air, but instead of being tripped up by the area-of-effect attack, Pikachu slammed his tail into the ground and absorbed the shockwave like he was sitting atop a spring.

Titan twisted, raising and launching a Stone Edge without a moment’s hesitation upon seeing his opponent stopping in place.

Instead of throwing itself out of the way Pikachu surprised everyone by drawing itself down to the ground as close as it would go. It evaded the huge boulder and the aftershocks of Earthquake by never touching the ground.

That it looked like a shortened accordion for a moment there was irrelevant. That… had actually been damn impressive.

“Keep up the plan Pikachu!” Ash prompted and Pikachu jumped up before speeding away. Hmmm interesting, Ash was prioritising speed?

Instantly, a very specific move came to mind, and I had Titan step back and summon his first proper Surf for the match.

Ash stiffened in surprise at the move as Titan rose into the air with his arms crossed. The wave itself stretched out wide and encompassed the entire field.

Ash’s eyes darted desperately left and right, seeking for some form of sanctuary before he clenched his jaw and accepted he was going to have to take a hit.

I didn’t buy it for a second and just before the wave crashed upon Pikachu I had Titan leap off the back.

No freebies, I reminded myself. Titan merely smirked as he slammed into the ground while keeping his eyes locked where Pikachu was.

“Protect,” Ash growled out, surprising me as instead of taking the hit, or blasting it with an overpowered Electric attack he blocked it?

The wave splashed harmlessly against the Protect and turned the field into a muddy quagmire.

Which, considering Pikachu’s speed, somewhat suited me, while he wouldn’t sink or lose out on straight line speed he was now greatly restricted on his ability to dodge.

Stone Edges began to rain down around Pikachu’s Protect a moment later encircling him by the time the move finished.

“Guh! Pikachu! Iron Tail!” Ash ordered and Pikachu’s tail glowered with a metallic gleam as it smashed apart all of the rocks that had been blocking Pikachu’s view.

Ash looked up from the rocks right as Pikachu landed only to find Titan wasn’t on the field.

“Eh? Where did—” he started to say only for Titan to erupt from underneath Pikachu, catching him in his jaws and clamping down.

“Oh no! Pikachu! Use Thunder!” Ash shouted.

“PI PIKA CHU!” roared Pikachu.

For a moment I smiled with nostalgia as electrical energy rocked the field causing everyone else to flinch away. I didn’t.

How many times had I seen a moment like this where Pikachu let loose an insane amount of lightning for such a little pokemon? It felt right.

Even if it wasn’t all that effective.

I kept looking as Titan clenched harder onto Pikachu before slamming the little mouse down into the ground and finishing it off with a final Earthquake.

When Titan withdrew his foot, Pikachu stopped unleashing electricity and curled up in pain. “Cha!” cried the little Pokemon, and Ash gasped.

“No! Pikachu!” He shouted before throwing himself over the edge and hurrying towards his pokemon.

It took me a solid moment to recall that Ash, beyond the first attempt, never again tried to put Pikachu into his pokeball.

I swallowed down the feelings of guilt as the match was called in my favour. It felt like it had been a foregone conclusion for a while there.

Ash, for all his potential, had yet to tap into it fully. He’d also not backed himself on a few key points.

Was this why Mew had caused the glitch? It wanted Ash to face a stronger foe than he had been going to with Don while staying safe.

It seemed kind of rough, but then again, there was potentially a lot riding on Ash.

I approached him and Pikachu. “Want to take him to the medical bay? Chansey can see to your pokemon,” I said which Ash quickly accepted.

I signalled Rachel to dismiss the crowd and gave everyone a wave before moving off to join Ash.

I found him hovering back and forth between the various medical beds Chansey used to treat injured pokemon. Interestingly I spotted Jessie tending to Bulbasaur with a cloth and a watering can to refreshen the grass type.

I gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement before sitting down next to Ash.

“So? How do you think you did?”

“Terribly,” he said dejectedly.

“Hmmmm, yeah you did,” I agreed, not looking to sugarcoat it. “I was honestly amazed that you used three pokemon that I don’t think you keep as part of your main roster against me.”

“They had Type advantages with some of their moves or the strength to fight back… other pokemon I own would have been too disadvantaged against you,” Ash stated.

“Hmmmm, yes and no. You did those pokemon a bit of a disservice calling them out like this. Both you and them didn’t have enough trust. Often when you used a move with them you relied on longer commands instead of something short and sweet. In a battle against my best pokemon? You cannot be giving away time so casually as it just gives me all the time in the world to set up counters and plan. While not optimal, Your Charizard, Pidgeot and Butterfree would have been more cohesive and adaptive which may have just mitigated the issue of a Type disadvantage.”

I waved towards Bulbasaur. “When you brought out your regular pokemon you were way better. Like significantly so, to the point I had to stay on my toes otherwise you would have gotten in some strong hits.”

I pointed a finger back at Ash. “Your commands, while a bit out there and untested, were pretty effective for a while there,” I complimented.

“How do you know they were untested?” Ash asked, glancing at me.

“Eh, your pokemon were kind of freaking out about being released so high off the ground and your Vine Whip stilts were pretty inspired but very, very uncoordinated.”

I wobbled a hand in the air. “Effective though. As was your switch up with Sleep Talk. That’s some forward thinking that you need to engage in more. Your pokemon, while afraid of the new orders, still trusted you enough to follow through with them. Showing that your bond with your regulars is much stronger.”

“Yeah I suppose it is,” Ash said. “I felt that when training with Primeape in the lead up, but I didn’t get Tauros or Krabby out to train as much with them prior to our match.”

I nodded. “It’s basic stuff, but if you’re going to have a true pokemon team with depth, you need to cycle through your pokemon to give them experience in new settings.”

Ash nodded along at this. “I haven’t been trading my pokemon around at all until the training camp.”

I sighed. “I thought it was something like that.” I leaned back. “Other than that you impressed me in several areas, but to win against me with one of my Elite pokemon, let alone Titan? You need some serious polishing,” I said.

Ash, unsurprisingly had some serious potential. His problem right now was solidifying that potential into something.

“Thanks,” Ash said looking towards where Pikachu was starting to sit up. “I wasn’t ready for this match. I can see that now but…. I don’t think I regret it,” he said.

I nodded, pleased at the self reflection he was doing. He leaned back in my chair and hummed, allowing myself to relax. With Ash’s fight done I was home free from actually facing any more trainers.

I just had to shut up shop, and catch a plane.

“You know I was surprised you didn’t call foul on Brock,” offered up Jessie as she deposited Bulbasaur in front of Ash.

“Bulba!” said the grass type, turning to give Jessie a confused look before shrugging and waddling over to Ash.

“Huh? Oh, nah. Brock isn’t the type to cheat, I knew that so I knew there was just something I’d missed,” Ash said easily. “He’s too good a trainer to cheat,” he said.

I was just about to thank him for the compliment when he kept talking. “Apart from Smash Bros apparently. You always cheat when playing that according to Forrest.”

Jessie and I blinked at this. Jessie glanced at me and I must have looked pretty silly as she put a hand up to her surgical mask and giggled into her fist.

Ash ignored my dumbfounded look and instead tilted his head. He stared at Jessie. “You seem familiar? Have we met before?”

Jessie stiffened only for Ash to snap his fingers. “Oh! You must be another Nurse Joy! You nurses all look alike after all!”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and snorted out a laugh. “Oh Ash, you… have a lot of growing to do,” I said aloud. I stood. “If you’ll excuse me I need to go beat up my brother for spreading lies about me.”

I gave Ash and Jessie a look. “Good luck with the Tournament,” I said.

Ash whirled onto Jessie. “Oh! That’s how I know you! You’re one of my rivals!”

I chuckled as the door shut behind me. A sense of relief washed over me.

For me, the circuit was finished.