I finished my training bout against a trio of Guardian trainers and moved off to the side to rest for a spell.

There I found Karen leaning against a boulder overlooking the field we’d claimed holding up a pokeball only for it to look like shadowy smoke was forming off the ball.

I walked up and kept quiet in case it was dangerous but Karen looked away without a care. “Sup?” she said.

“Sup!“ I mimed. “What’s that? It looks pretty awesome,” I said leaning in.

“I’m infusing dark energy into my pokeball, it causes a sort of smokey effect when I release the pokemon within it. You can only really do it if the pokemon within has the same typing but that’s not a problem for a good chunk of my roster,” she said.

“Huh, neat, I’ll have to give it a go,” I said, reaching for a pokeball to start on that straight away.

“Soooooo, you lost eh?” gushed Karen with a relish that made me think of someone discovering a buffet with their favourite foods from their favourite chef. For Karen, that metaphor held up surprisingly well when I considered my recent ‘loss’ to Agatha.

I sighed and put the ball away, instead taking a sip from my water bottle.

When I was done I gave Karen a singularly unimpressed stare when I realised she was still being smug towards me. “Have you beaten her yet?” I riposted.

Karen’s smile twitched. “I’ve done it before,” she claimed.

I raised a singular, disbelieving eyebrow. Karen waved her hand dismissively, “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you.”

I continued to stare at her and even went so far as to slurp on my water bottle pointedly.

“Oh fuck off! Don’t ruin this for me! It’s bad enough I had to grow up fighting her. That old hag never pulled her punches you know?” she said while looking away.

“Hmmm, sounds like a ‘you’ issue along with a skill difference,” I replied.

Karen responded by giving me the finger. Sabrina, Janine and Lucy joined us at that moment.

Janine gave Karen a disappointed look while Sabrina merely ignored her and swept over to claim my water bottle.

Lucy shifted nervously. “Were you fighting?” she asked hesitantly.

I waved my hand back and forth. “Nah, we were just messing around. Karen was just trying to bait me is all.”

Janine’s look of disapproval grew.

Karen flapped her hand at the younger girl. “Oh don’t try that on me, I’ve dealt with pro tricksters long enough to recognise a fake,” she said.

Janine huffed but relaxed her expression into her more normal, stern appearance.

I turned to Lucy. “How’s the preparations for the Battle Pike going?”

Lucy perked up. “Oh! Wonderfully actually! I’ve got everything set up, and the area just needs trainers to come around. We’re still setting up Anabel’s Tower and Tucker’s Dome.”

I hummed questioningly, and she elaborated. “The tower is taking a bit more time due to its size, and Tucker is being rather… particular with the arrangement of certain windows and mirrors set up throughout his Dome.”

“I would have thought the palace was going to be the hardest to set up,” I commented.

Janine, who’d been starting to vibrate with the discussion of buildings occurring around her, jumped at the chance to enter the conversation. “It’s because the Palace was actually already present as an old ruin from a bygone era. Spenser has asked to keep a lot of the ancient murals and statues in reinforced displays while only expanding one wall.”

“Were there any hidden rooms?” I asked, recalling my discussion with Agatha last night.

I pulled out Titan’s empty greatball and toyed with it by infusing it with dark energy. It began to smoke like Karen’s had earlier. Huh, neat, that would make for a cool entrance.

On a field across the way, where Titan was training with Zephyr and Don, I felt him shift and look back at me. I nudged him mentally to keep his focus on his training.

“Not in that wall, but there were some hidden sub-basements that had to be cleared out of Duskull and Dusknoir along with a lot of old tapestries that had perished beyond saving,” replied Lucy.

“They had to clear those out to reinforce and deepen the battlefield that Spenser wanted!” Janine said quickly to get in her two pokecents.

I chuckled, “You’ve certainly been paying attention to what’s been going on on the Battle Frontier, haven’t you?” I asked. “Got a favourite?” I asked only to mentally chide myself, there was no way she was going to say anything other than—

“The Battle Pike!” Janine chimed. “I enjoy the stylistic design of the Servipor, along with being themed. You haven’t just worked on the building, however but also set up the landscaping to complement the structure! I’ve seen discussions from the builders about how they wouldn’t consider it nearly as nice without the accompanying gardens!” she chimed.

I hummed as Lucy blushed at the praise. I hadn’t looked over the plans for any of the buildings, but what I could recall from the games… well the games never really cared much for the environments around the Gyms unless it was part of a puzzle to get into the Gym normally.

From what I recall, the Battle Palace had the most stylised garden with the Battle Pyramid having boulders or rock ornaments in the lead-up to it.

Hmmm, maybe I should go for a trip out, at least to the Battle Frontier during my downtime this year.

It would be cool to talk shop with Brandon and see the Legendary pokemon he had access to.

Specifically Regirock.

A click of the tongue had me glancing away from Lucy and Janine to find Karen glowering at Sabrina, only for Sabrina to be still ignoring her.

“Has Agatha gotten you working on that aura-sensing ability she demonstrated against me?” I asked.

Karen shook her head, sending her long silvery-grey hair swishing back and forth with the action. “She’s shown it off, but I’m still not at the stage of being able to link with all of my pokemon. So she hasn’t really bothered with it when we fight.”

“Thought you said she didn’t pull her punches?” I asked.

“Well, apart from that!” Karen corrected with a snap.

I hummed and decided to let the matter drop, “So still working on establishing the depth of your bonds with other pokemon on your team?” I asked.

“Yes, the Mega Evolution is… somewhat helping,” she said.

I hummed in consideration. “You know, it might not have been the worst thing out for me to be given Steelixite instead of the more potent Tyranitarite,” I suggested.

Karen frowned only for Sabrina to perk up and beat her to the punch by saying, “Because it forced you to work on said bond with a different pokemon than you were used to,” she said. “Thereby expanding your control by making your work in a different direction,” she posited.

I nodded, agreeing with everything she’d just said. “Still, I think the day I find a Tyranitarite is going to be awesome,” I said, knowing that while I had built up my bond with all my pokemon, there was a special place in my heart for Titan still.

Sabrina looked thoughtful, “I hadn’t considered the implications of using a different pokemon to mega evolve and how that would impact your bond.”

I considered Sabrina, as a psychic type she would have a lot of potential for her other pokemon to mega evolve with Gardevoir, Slowbro, and Medicham.

“You also cheat by being a psychic naturally,” claimed Karen.

“Sounds like a skill issue to me,” Sabrina said as she handed me my water bottle back before nodding towards where Koga had assembled a trio of Guardian staff. “Koga wants me for the next exercise and it seems Agatha wants you Brock,” she said while walking off.

“I hate your girlfriend Brock,” Karen said as she glared daggers at Sabrina’s back. Lucy fidgeted at that but Janine just ignored Karen and drew Lucy back into talking about buildings.

“Well I think you’re the only one that she goes out of her way to antagonise, so I’d say the feeling is mutual but you do bring a lot of it on yourself,” I pointed out neutrally.

Karen grunted at that only to fidget with her hands. It took a few moments but she eventually said, “Say Brock, why haven’t you taught some of your pokemon Taunt and Sucker Punch?”

I paused in standing to go back to the next training bout I had planned to consider Karen’s suggestion. “You know… I can’t say right now beyond Taunt being rather situational with its limited duration of effect and Sucker Punch…I think most of my pokemon can’t learn it?” I said scratching my chin.

“Please, like that’s stopped you with other moves before, you just train them to increase the power and duration!” Karen said with a clenched fist.

“Says the girl who didn’t use them against me,” I replied.

“No point, you’re as straightforward as they come, but against someone like Agatha if you were to fight her seriously you should have it. In fact we should all probably have a few pokemon capable of it.”

I sent her a look and she made a circling gesture in the air to signal the group at large. “I’ve been rereading some of the old war notes and Taunt was something mandated to have, as part of a pokemon platoon and have one of them constantly using it.”

“That so?” I asked, having not known that. “That actually makes a lot of sense.” If you were in a fight with people like Team Aqua they couldn’t suddenly boost a pokemon up and have it take to the field once more.

“Yeah, you should teach it to Titan and that big snake of yours,” she responded.

“Jormungandr?” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, him,” Karen waved her hand dismissively. “Both of them would work, no?”

“Hmmmmm,” I said, pondering how that would shift some of the moves. If I was careful I might not lose any moves but I doubted that. Titan already had a lot of moves under his belt but perhaps he was smart enough to push for more. Jorm was in a good place right at the moment and I wasn’t confident he could learn another move without dropping something else. But…. I did have other options.

Knight, or even Teddiursa, could pick up such moves, and it would help to have them specialised.

Taunt for all it had, was limited to a duration of two turns in the game, didn’t translate exactly. There was actually some serious potential for it if I could learn how Agatha ‘read’ my bond with my pokemon.

“I might start trying to work it into Gym matches,” I suggested, toying with the idea of training up some Aron and Lairon for that. It would help me get the ‘feel and timing’ of when to use such a move and when not to. A lot of it would come down to prior research and if it would be worth using in a match and I was always leaning more towards simply hammering at a pokemon than tripping them up, which… wasn’t the best attitude to have. Spamming taunt and using the other turn for a ‘tick’ was always a popular but seriously annoying tactic from the games..

I resolved myself to do some more homework and integrate it into the Gym.

Heck, I could make it a learning process for most of the Gym which might make it easier for me to pick up.

I nodded, liking this plan of action.

“That’s a good idea, thanks for the chat Karen. It was really helpful,” I said, enjoying the way her face twisted into a smile only for her inner bitch to hate that she’d been helpful and for it to flicker into a scowl. She was so like Agatha, it was hilarious.

Silly Tsundere.

“Time to get back into it, though cause Agatha is calling for us,” I said.

Karen grunted but followed me only for me to blink as Janine pointedly joined us. The younger girl walked like she was trying to make herself taller than she actually was and gave me a defiant look.

“I’m not falling behind everyone else!” Janine firmly stated.

Karen shot her a look. “You even got a bond with your starter yet?”

Janine’s face soured at that. “I… am still working on it with Venomoth,” she muttered.

I hummed. For some reason, I’d thought her Golbat was her starter pokemon, but then agai,n Venomoth was her strongest pokemon from what I had seen.

“You’ve gotten stronger since you interned at my Gym,” I complimented.

Janine shot me a pleased look before perking up. “Oh! And I got another Golbat to evolve!” she announced.

“Another?” I said.

Janine coughed. “I have been spending a good deal of time working with the Golbat swarms that live behind the family estate,” she said.

“Don’t Golbat swarms usually carry a lot of diseases?” asked Karen.

“That is salacious lies!” Janine growled even going so far as to chop the air in Karen’s direction.

I coughed. “You said another though? How many Crobat do you have now?”

“Three!” Janine said, and I whistled, impressed at her success.

“Think you could look over my training and dietary plan for my Zubat?” I said, bringing up my Xtransciever with the data displayed in a spreadsheet.

“Oh? Yes that would be—” Janine started to say before Agatha gave a pointed cough.

“Children, you can talk and trade notes with each other later. We are already going to be running late, and some of us will have to deal with a certain Champion and other Elite Four members… Who are annoyed I’ve been sandbagging on them,” Agatha interjected.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Janine stiffened, “Apologies!” she said while doing a small bow.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said a moment later when Janine shot me a worried look.

Agatha merely shook her head. “Karen, you are to continue fighting with more of your team, you need to strain yourself.”

Karen marched off with four other trainers, lining up against her with both of them sending out two pokemon to increase the difficulty of the fights and force Karen to rely more on her bond rather than giving verbal commands.

“Janine,” Agatha said, turning to the younger girl. “I would suggest you change your meditation methods if you are not finding yourself resonating with sitting down and trying to ‘feel out’ the bond as others do.”

She stamped her cane into the ground. “Normally I would not advise this as you are still quite young and I wouldn’t expect for serious growth, but with so many of your peers advancing Koga has informed me that you are growing frustrated.”

Janine shifted. “That is correct,” she said more to the ground than Agatha.

Agatha sighed. “You young ones, not satisfied with just breaking records, you need to shatter them, don’t you?”

When Janine made to look away Agatha merely threw her head back and cackled. “I love it! That’s the attitude that young ones should have!”

Janine straightened at that and I reached over and nudged her. She shot me a bashful look but I just smirked and shot her a wink.

Agatha turned to me. “For now you may remain Janine as I discuss Brock’s training plan, it will give you an idea of what comes next,” she said.

Agatha gestured to a flattened raised platform of earth. “You are going to sit there with a blindfold on Brock and attempt to feel out the energies around you for today.”

I blinked and looked at the arrangement of various Guardian trainers around the platform. It sort of reminded me of that one meme with the girl on the couch with all the guys behind her…

“You want me to wear a blindfold?” I said.

“Yes, you are going to try and just focus on that sixth sense within you. You are not to use your pokemon to cheat and instead you will need to sense the type of move that the various pokemon will be performing. We will be positioning different pokemon in a randomised arrangement around you. You are to point out which of them uses a move and what type of move it is, that is the first step to reaching the next stage of aura,” said Agatha.

I nodded and pushed down my apprehension to take up my position on the centre of the platform before donning the blindfold.

If anything so much as touched me I was still getting out of here.

I sat there for long minutes only for nothing to register to me.

“Are you doing anything?” I asked.

“We are, the pokemon are being instructed with nonverbals and are making sure to stay silent as they perform the various moves called of them. Continue to focus Brock,” responded Agatha from off to the side.

I grimaced, feeling more than a little foolish as I tried and apparently failed to sense anything. “I would have thought I’d feel it like I did with Gengy during the match?” I asked.

“Gengy wanted you to feel his power. There is a rather large difference between that and now Brock. All the pokemon here are keeping their energies within themselves as best they can. No more chat, focus,” Agatha ordered.

I huffed.

I would have thought I’d hear or feel something but whatever Agatha had the trainers do was effective as there were no free wins.

I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable only to frown and turn my head to the side.

“Is something the matter, Brock?” Agatha said.

I was about to say no when I paused as I felt that same wave of discomfit come over me.

“Something… over here… I don’t like the feel of it?” I said, unsure of almost every word I was saying.

“Any thoughts on what it might be?” Agatha prompted.

I opened and shut my mouth, only to slump. “No, nothing that I’d have any confidence with stating,” I said.

“Hmmm, we have run out of time, but we will be running through this more in future. If you are confident in your own Gym Trainers you might attempt something similar to this at your home,” Agatha said.

I sighed and took my blindfold off, only to find myself looking towards a Hitmonchan. It nodded at me, and I looked around and found a Scizor, Nidoking, Blastoise, Caterpie, Granbull and a Sunflora.

“You chose the pokemon types I, or rather, my energy was weak to?” I said, rubbing my chin before pausing on Caterpie. That one… didn’t hold up so well with my Rock type energy, but I suppose against Dark energy it made sense.

Agatha inclined her head. “You have better chances of awakening your senses to aura with energy typings that you are much weaker to.”

I started to nod only to blink. “So those people who have demonstrated awareness of energies such as a visceral reaction, are at the same level?” I said.

Agatha narrowed her eyes. “Who?” she asked instead of clarifying my question.

“Lance, he reacted the first time I used a Moonblast against him with Selene. He had an extremely strong reaction to it despite being further away from it than his own pokemon,” I said.

“Tch, of course he’s like you and the others, a prodigy even if he doesn’t know it yet.” Agatha stared off to the side with her eyes narrowed in thought.

After a few moments, she nodded to herself. “It seems I was right to hold back against him. The Elders have been holding back on his lessons as well to have more leverage. I have little doubt he will have begun a formalised regime for his own team now after seeing what you can produce.”

“Is he not already at the level of sensing aura from pokemon moves though?” I asked.

Agatha wagged her hand in a so-so gesture. “It can be instinctual at certain points, especially when your emotions are heightened. For serious, reproducible results, you will need a calmer environment. Formal training also affirms and solidifies what is already present. He had the capacity I have no doubt, but controlling it and interpreting it are very different things indeed and that will take time.”

She smirked at me. “As you will no doubt learn.”

I glanced around, recalling how very little I’d been able to feel despite the super-effective typings arranged around me. The only one I thought I was able to sense must have been from Hitmonchan. “Yeah, I guess it will,” I said as I rose and dusted off my hands. “Not that it bothers me, I’ve got time, and I’m not afraid of a little hard work.”

That earned me an approving nod from Agatha and set up a good end to the training session.

Before Agatha left I had to ask her something. “Apart from blocking it with something like Protect, or stopping you from performing it, is there another way to deny a Destiny Bond?” I asked. While I had shrugged it off initially I’d still gone through the motions of reviewing the match while I’d walked the kids home.

Destiny Bond… could be a serious threat for me, especially if someone pulled it off during an Elite challenge where I only had one pokemon to call on.

I didn’t doubt for a second that some clever so-and-so would connect the dots and therefore attempt it.

“I haven’t exactly looked for a way to negate one of my strongest combinations, but I have seen people attempt to blow it away with Dark Pulse, chew through it with Crunch, and even attempt to break it with Protect but so far the only method that has worked is to recall their pokemon before sending them back out,” Agatha said.

I frowned. “What about using a ghost type move on it like a Shadow Claw?” I said, asking more to cover all of my bases.

Agatha rubbed her chin and sent out a pair of Haunters to have them test the theory. When Haunter’s hand connected with the Destiny Bond there was a moment of shock only for it to take a good few minutes of attempting to break the Bond for it to actuall snap.

“So possible but not all that viable,” I muttered thoughtfully. Still… It was possible…

Agatha collected her pokemon and departed with a thoughtful look on her face which she threw my way more than a few times.

I sighed knowing that while today felt like progress it was really just that I’d stepped up to a new starting line and there would be a long trek awaiting me before I reached Agatha’s level of awareness of aura.

Amusingly reaching such levels would only be for the highest level matches against people that were completely nonverbal and by letting me sense what was happening I would in truth be returning the match to a similar state to both trainers shouting their orders.

Assuming they were at a similar level, of course, otherwise, I would be going into said match with a huge advantage.

I finished up my training only to march over to where I’d had Titan working on something with Zephyr and Don. “How’s he going boys?” I said.

Don sniffed derisively while Zephyr gave a tentative nod.

“We’ve got the rest of the day to get it down, so don’t sweat it too much,” I said to Titan. I was confident he’d learn a new trick or two before tomorrow.

I returned home with lofty dreams in mind only to be tackled as soon as I exited my room. I stood tall and glanced down at the little body pressed into me.

“Brock! Play Ghost catcher with me and Munchlax!” shouted Suzie as she waved around a bug catcher net.

I chuckled and followed her. For me, this was just another Sunday.

The very next day saw me returning to work with an unusual dread.

Yes, Monday’s were everyone’s least favourite day, but there was also a building sense of anticipation coming. I’d had a week off last week with only one actual challenger stepping foot into the Gym. Plus the time spent in Chrysanthemum, it was like coming back from a long vacation. Even if that was not really the case here.

This week however promised a return to normal form for me.

The morning was deceptively simple with a mere two and three-badge challenge.

It wasn’t until lunch and the much anticipated Elite Challenge match that I knew things were going to ramp up.

Brawly was locked in and there was an energy in the Gym that hadn’t been present in quite a while.

It was like when you were climbing a mountain only to spot a giant boulder hanging on a precipice. There was a potential there just waiting to be unleashed.

Word must have spread around about this match as all the local office workers and iron workers who had lunchtime breaks or people who’d called in sick to watch this match had taken up the front row. All of them must have been season members to have such tickets.

I wasn’t surprised.

One of the tasks I’d set Rachel up with when she’d signed on with the Gym was creating an online presence around the Gym.

And to maintain a presence you needed to feature content.

One of the content lines we’d been able to post about regularly had been my thoughts on trainers for the Gym Circuit that people should watch out for, along with highlights from their matches against me.

Brawly, as a trainer who’d come up against me twice, had a strong following thanks to my callouts regarding him.

What surprised me was that I could see most of Pewter’s Technical Academy present in the middle row. Behind them were other school kids with various teachers and what looked like minders who looked extremely pleased with this turn of events.

I stood in the out-of-sight trainer’s lounge looking at the full stands.

“Hell of a field trip,” I said to Rocko, nodding towards the stands.

“Yeah, kids are gonna learn a few things today, I’d think,” he commented with his usual droll tone.

I snorted. “Yeah, learn, sure thing. I think they’re more going to get hyped up and be unruly for the rest of the day,” I said.

As a thumping bass-heavy music before an electric beat pulsed, signalling for everyone to get ready as the battle proper was about to start.

People who’d been trying to head for the toilets or concession stands turned and sprinted for their seats.

With the music playing, I flexed my fingers and rolled my shoulders. “Getting about that time?” I said rhetorically.

“Knock em, sock em, rock em!” Rocko faux-cheered before clapping me on the shoulder. I nodded at him and glanced towards the referee podium, where Yolanda was looking stiff.

For her, this was one of the biggest matches she’d ever been asked to preside over, and while it might have been better to keep Rocko or Dennis the job, I knew giving her a front-row seat would help her immensely.

She was also very cute in the referee outfit with Terra sitting next to her on a raised bench but that wasn’t the only reason I’d asked her to stand in as the referee.

I had a sneaky suspicion about how this match would go, but I hadn’t voiced it to anyone.

It would all depend on how well I knew Brawly. I thought I had a good read on him.

As the tunnel heralding his arrival to the arena began to pulse with lights casting his shadow long over the field, I moved to the top of the stairs.

Brawly marched to the end of the tunnel and moved like a man on a mission as he kept his head straight as he made his way to his podium.

When the music faded away, Rachel led the now iconic stomp-stomp clap that heralded my arrival.

After several rounds of this a light above me lit me up and I stood at the top of the stairs staring down at Brawly.

The crowd roared and went nuts.

I let them loose for a minute before signalling that I wanted quiet.

The crowd fell quiet.

This wasn't how these events usually went, but I felt like this match needed more from me. If it was a touch more dramatic than usual I’m sure none of the crowd were going to complain about the show I gave them.

I held back any friendly grins I might have had for him in another setting and instead set my expression to that of stone.

“You have returned,” I rumbled, my words rolled through the Gym, and the crowd stirred.

“I have!” shouted Brawly defiantly.

“Today you will not face off against the pokemon from the badge challenge, you have instead come for my Elite challenge. Are you prepared to see which pokemon you will face?” I said.

I held my breath for a moment.

Come on Brawly. Do it. I thought to myself.

Brawly took a moment to inhale before something decidedly unfriendly came over his features.

He no longer reminded me of my friend but instead an invader to my home.

“I don’t want to face a random pokemon from your team!” he bellowed. Brawly held out a fist in my direction. “I want your best! SEND OUT YOUR TITAN SO I CAN BRING HIM DOWN! DO YOUR WORST!” he roared.

A small gust of air rushed across the field as the crowd drew in a shocked breath.

I just grinned wide and bared my fangs.

“Ha! Very well!” I said, popping Titan’s greatball from my necklace as I began to move.

Like an avalanche I swept down the stairs with rock and dark energies coiling through me.

Titan’s ball began to grow weightier in my grip even as smoke coiled off both the ball and I.

I held Brawly’s gaze as on the screen Titan’s picture took shape next to mine while six empty picture slots took up Brawly’s side of the match up.

When I reached the edge of the ring I launched across the field and slammed into the podium.

I crossed my arms causing Brawly and others to blink in surprise. They’d seen me holding Titan’s greatball and now I’d pulled something of a magic trick by apparently vanishing it.

It wasn’t anything quite so fancy, merely a flick of the wrist at the right time to make them lose track of the all important Greatball.

From above me, Titan’s greatball broke open, but to both mine and Titan’s surprise, he flew through the air surrounded by bits of shadow licking his form. He still roared his defiance before he even hit the ground.

He hit the arena and sent a quake through it and the ground shifted slightly upwards. Small stone spikes jutted out from the position of his landing, did my infusion of rock energy do that? When I did the trick Karen showed me?

He stalked forward pointedly as I began to intermesh our thoughts, syncing up on a deep level.

We’d have to bring out our best against Brawly of all people. He was the perfect trainer to end our run of victories at the Elite level.

I might not have given much of a damn about Agatha’s match, but this one I was going to put a lot more effort into.

For that purpose, I’d even gone so far as to change two of Titan’s moves he had access to.

When Titan had reached the very central circle, he rose to his full height and spread his arms wide in challenge.

Instead of setting him at the back as most might have assumed, I’d had Titan take the very front position where he’d be at the most risk.

Brawly inhaled in excitement and grinned as he selected his first pokemon.

Yolanda stepped forward and gave a quick run-through of the rules, even as Brawly and everyone else silently urged her to get on with it.

When one man stood to demand she get on with it, Titan and I both snapped our heads to glare at him. He sat down and we returned to listening to Yolanda’s pre-match declarations. When they were done, Terra offered Yolanda the flags she’d need. Terra, also with her tiny jersey, could melt hearts and empower Titan beyond anything he’d demonstrated in the past.

Titan gave a little croon at this before snapping his head back to Brawly.

I held back a smirk. The other reason I’d asked Yolanda?

That big brother energy we’d get from having her and Terra right at hand was an advantage I wasn’t going to ignore.

Yolanda raised her flag. “Release your pokemon and begin!” she shouted.

Brawly whipped his arm around. “Go! Breloom!” he shouted.

I narrowed my eyes as one of the ‘perfect’ counters to a Tyranitar formed across from us at close range. Both Titan and I felt a thrill run through us.

Brawly might not know it, but he’d just given us the perfect opening. Titan’s feet slid into a ready position as Breloom finished taking shape across from us.

With Brellom also taking the central position there was barely five metres between the two pokemon.

“Leech Seed!” barked Brawly as he went straight to give himself a permanent advantage.

Titan and I both grinned as seeds began to soar through the air towards Titan.

In response, Titan did the only thing he could.

He ran straight at them.

The seeds soared forth, and just as they were about to connect and wrap themselves around him, he suddenly vanished in a rapid acceleration.

Brawly blinked only to gasp as Titan appeared at Breloom’s side, his arm raised to catch the wrong-footed Breloom about the head before we powered on, hurling Breloom away with a super effective Aerial Ace.

Breloom skipped as it hit the ground and skidded.

When it stopped, it was out of bounds, but it didn’t rise to get itself back into position.

Everyone gaped, shocked at the sudden K.O. that appeared out of nowhere.

I grinned, and Titan huffed, dusting off his shoulders like a cocky gangster boss.

When people’s brains reset and accepted the turn of events, they roared their approval.

Brawly sighed and returned his pokemon. He shot me a chagrined look. “Weren’t going to make it easy, were you?” he asked.

“Not on your life,” I replied, slipping into a much more friendly smile.

Brawly ran a hand through his hair before stretching himself out tall and booming a laugh. “Hahaha! Damn! You got me!” he said exaggeratedly. I could tell it got to him, but Brawly was a cool guy; he could let go of his anger very quickly when he needed to.

Titan and I merely watched him, knowing this was more for him to relax and shake off the shock than actual banter.

Brawly raised up another pokeball and locked eyes with me, his expression shifting to once more serious. “Maximum effort?” he said playfully.

I grinned as Titan and I prepared for a fun, if challenging, fight.