“Let’s go Machamp!” Brawly bellowed as he whipped out his next pokemon.

Something about the action twigged in my mind. There was somehting about how quickly he’d flicked out his Machamp’s pokeball just now.

I made a note of it while also spotting that Brawly had a remarkable fastball with not just the release action being lightning quick, but also the throw itself doing professional baseballers proud.

I had an idea what that meant for me and this fight, but I had to push it to the side as it didn’t matter in the face of the Superpower pokemon taking to the field.

The signature fighting-type pokemon took the stage with all four arms bent and pointed towards Titan. “Ma! Ma Champ!” growled Machamp. The muscles on display might have even gotten Trixie to nod in acknowledgement.

None of them were merely showy buff though, they were streamlined and compressed like coiled wire, contained their own potential energy.

I had to give credit where credit was due, this pokemon looked like a real beast.

Where Breloom had been brightly coloured and quick to hop from foot to foot, indicating a strong pokemon with a predilection to fighting with kicks, Machamp immediately adopted a fixed stance with arms pointed at Titan.

With a pokemon that had four arms, where each arm was capable of hurling boulders or punching the ground and causing localised earthquakes, it made sense the Machamp would focus on a fighting style that featured hands.

While two of the hands were slightly bent with their palms facing forward, the others were held in closer in a loose pose that let me know that if Titan got too close, he’d be grappled and locked down.

Titan shifted accordingly to the threat, reading my mind about the threat levels and what they meant.

We’d need to play this very smart or else we’d wind up done in.

A slight shift of Machamp’s feet drew my attention down to his knees which were just as callused, while the shins had a slight discolouration compared to the rest of Machmp’s body.

It reminded me of a documentary I’d watched about Muay Thai fighters and how they kicked palm trees to strengthen their legs and deaden their nerves to the pain. It usually resulted in slight physiological changes, which I might be seeing in person with this Machamp.

Hmmm, not just a sole focus on the hands and grappling.

Hmmm, Focus Punch, Low Sweep, Probably Focus Blast, Submission and… what else? I thought to myself. If I recalled our fight from the last two times correctly, Brawly also had some abbreviated commands that I’d need to be watching for.

One of which had been Bullet Punch.

I sent the command without a moment of hesitation.

“B—” Brawly started to yell, only for me to already have Titan throwing himself to the right to avoid the oncoming attack. “—P!” he barked, and Machamp kicked the ground and launched into a headlong charge that was much faster than I’d been expecting.

Behind Machamp a cloud of dust shot up into the air from the kick-off to propel Machamp forward.

Machamp came on with fists chambered only to fire and unleash a powerful brownish energy with each swing.

Each swing tore through the air and released a loud whoosh with its passing but thanks to already being on the move before even the command could be sent out Machamp’s attacks whiffed.

That didn’t stop Machamp adjusting and trying to close and land a speedy Bullet Punch. I had Titan keep on with his momentum, rolling to avoid the danger.

As Titan kept rolling, however Machamp strode forward, powerful steps propelling it into punch after punch that Titan had to dodge.

That sent warning bells ringing in my mind. The gap was closing and that would mean it would be easier for Machamp. We were in serious danger of him hammering a super-effective move onto Titan.

I needed to respond fast but an outright aggressive action that drew Titan in close such as a repeat Aerial Ace was not something I wanted to risk.

While Aerial Ace was my shiny new ability, I had other options.

Instead, I had Titan continue to roll, evading and causing the ground to shake and bits of the earth to be thrown up as Titan’s spikes carved up the battlefield.

Brawly tried to get his Machamp in close but I wasn't interested in entering a slug-out fest with a pokemon that had double the number of arms as my pokemon.

Even as Machamp rocketed forward to attempt another attack sand began to swirl about Titan’s form, obscuring him and helping him evade the attack from Machamp.

He followed this by sending up a huge spray of sand right into Machamp, effecting a pseudo Sand Attack.

The sand splashed right into Machamp’s face and it flinched back in shock only to shake its head as one set of hands worked to clean out its eyes.

Pocket Sand, I thought to myself while Titan snorted at the old joke he braced to rise.

One of the things I’d tested for when I’d first started training with Titan as a Larvitar was to work out which ability he had.

Back then, I hadn’t realised how some things like abilities, did or did not translate point to point.

I was to this day still getting caught out by a few assumptions I had, but back then I’d tested and thought that Titan had Sand Veil as his ability.

This was important as Sand Veil made it harder to hit a pokemon in a sandstorm which was a Tyranitar’s bread and butter.

It wasn’t until later that I sat down and retested my earlier hypothesis that I had to conclude I’d been wrong and that it was just way harder to hit Titan for pretty much any pokemon barring a few when he created a sandstorm.

He never passively created sandstorms but he did cause a lot of rock and earth to be crushed or carved up with his passing which made it all too easy for a Sandstorm to form.

From there all you needed to do was twist and throw some sand around.

With Titan rolling, he was sort of doing a spin, albeit his angle of rotation was different than usual.

Now I just needed to get him back on his feet and fighting properly.

One would think that a pokemon as large and heavy as a Tyranitar would have difficulties getting up.

That was laughable though as Tyrantitar didn’t stumble to their feet.

They hit the earth and pushed it down so they could stand without things getting in the way.

But seriously, they tail slapped, punched, and kicked the earth to get into an upright position.

This attack on the ground always caused a small quake which was then followed by an aftershock when Titan hit the ground.

Brawly and his Machamp got one, final good look at Titan back on his feet before the sandstorm swept over the field, obscuring everything from everyone’s eyes.

Everyone except for Titan and I.

For everyone else, the field became a tableau of shifting sand and howling winds.

For me, it became a gentle susurration as I shifted my senses to listen through Titan’s ears.

Titan, as an ambush predator that had perfected hunting in sandstorms could hear past the howling, past the whining of the crowd. He could hear the thundering heartbeat of Machamp and the crunch of sand underfoot as Machamp shifted his weight.

“Tch! Machamp, we’re going to have to shake rattle and roll!” shouted Brawly to be heard by his pokemon over the top of the howling wind. With him transmitting his orders so loudly, it was all too easy for me to listen in.

If I had been relying on just my ears, I might have only heard a tiny portion of that.

It still surprised me however when instead of committing to another attack, Machamp returned to his pokeball.

Hmmm, if he was bringing out a pokemon that could fight in the Sandstorm without taking damage he only had a few options for those that were part fighting type.

The first, and perhaps most deadly pokemon that I could think of was Lucario.

I felt a slight trickle of concern as my mind leapt into overdrive about just how bad that would be for me.

Lucario was a pokemon that had a plethora of skills that would make this fight much harder, chief among them being its signature Aura Sphere move.

I watched the big screen for some indication of what was to come hoping that Brawly hadn’t gotten his hands on a Lucario.

That would make this fight suddenly a lot harder.

While I did this, Titan flicked his tail, starting to create some Stealth Rocks only for something to rocket through the air and unleash a new pokemon to the field.

As a heavy thump heralded the arrival of Brawly’s Hariyama I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t a Lucario, Brawly hadn’t gotten that lucky.

Still, the speed with which Brawly had gotten his pokemon onto the field. He’d practised the quick release method I’d encountered once before. Huh, had he been watching that match or had Brawly encountered it himself?

Damn, while we’d been able to get Stealth Rock set up it wasn’t in time to activate on his Hariyama.

I’d need to be faster in future, not that I expected it to matter right now with what I suspected Brawly’s next action would be.

“Surf’s up!” ordered Brawly.

Titan shook his head and suggested Dig for evasion. I ran my mind, which was still amped up and jumping from thought to thought at lightning speed, through the various scenarios we’d get into with this.

Brawly knew I wasn’t going to tank a Surf straight to the face with Titan, so he’d have to have a follow-up answer.

An easy enough solution was to commit to throwing out the surf and then leap backwards with a Stomping Tantrum to catch Titan while he was buried in the ground.

I considered another angle that would put us on the attack, and Titan’s scaly maw stretched into a fearsome grin.

As Hariyama called up a surge of water from the reservoir, I had Titan step back and match him.

From the water around the edges of the field a loud gurgling noise carried over the howling winds as people saw water being drained from both sides of the field.

Then Brawly called up a tidal wave, only for Titan to copy him. Both waves formed and surged forward, crushing the shifting sandstorm as they swept forward.

While the crowd shrieked and roared, I continued to stare across the vanishing sandstorm, waiting for the moment that Brawly would become visible. I was betting a lot on being able to predict him and I wouldn’t know if I’d guessed right until I saw his eyes.

Right before both waves crashed into each other, the sandstorm faded enough that I got to watch Brawly’s face as it morphed from confidence to shock.

His eyes tracked from where his pokemon was mid-leap, already committing to an attack behind the wave where he would have expected Titan to emerge with Dig to where Titan actually was.

“Hari! Look out!” he shouted as Titan leapt from the top of his wave, throwing himself at Hariyama’s back only to blur as we chained our attacks to perform an Aerial Ace that saw Titan spinning through the air.

My grin was full of teeth as Titan fully committed himself to the strike.

A wave of foreign vindication and joy swept through me from Titan’s side of the bond as he delivered a tail slap that was empowered by Aerial Ace.

Damn, I hadn’t really considered how pleasing it would be to a pokemon that was especially susceptible to fighting-type moves to be able to hammer his foes like this.

Hariyama rocketed into the muddy ground and shook the field as he impacted.

A moment later, Titan lande,d and while he tried to dig his claws in and widen his stance to stay close to Hariyama, the damp ground saw him slide away from Hariyama.

It took but a moment for him to twist and reorient himself on his downed foe.

“GET UP!” Brawly shouted, realising how desperate this moment was for him and his starter.

Hariyama’s eyes snapped open and his arms pulled back like twin guns cocking before they fired.

Both of Hariyama’s giant hands shot forward and slammed into the ground allowing Hariyama to rocket up into a standing position, where he was able to adopt a fighting position against Titan.

Titan shook his head and rumbled in warning.

Brawly took a moment to breathe and sweep his eyes over the field, the pokemon on it and even up to me.

I merely took it all in with a languid blink, my next move already fed to Titan.

The field was now drenched with small puddles scattered around.

There was little likelihood of being able to get out another Sandstorm unless I spent serious effort on pushing for it. I dismissed that thought as too wasteful. Time in a fight was far too precious to waste.

The only other viable way it would work would be if Brawly went for a Sunny Day into Solar Beam set up which would dry out the field.

With Breloom having been taken out in the first exchange I doubted I’d see that happen.

The other issue with having a muddy field would be that certain ground attacks such as Earthquake or Stomping Tantrum wouldn’t be as effective.

Not that I minded. I had other plans in play.

Titan swept his tail and sent some mud splashing out over the field. The mud splashed with a wet splat but it left behind small points of stone that stuck up threateningly.

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If Brawly wanted to trade out pokemon I’d oblige him with some hidden Stealth Rocks.

Just because the field was muddy didn’t mean I couldn’t use it to my advantage either. While Bertha was the biggest mud lover, Titan, as her partner, was used to playing around in the mud and knew how to move in it.

“DP!” Brawly barked.

I recalled precisely what move this was from our previous match so even as Hariyama was leaping into the air to commit to a Drain Punch I had Titan skip to the side, flicking mud with his tail as he went to cause it to splat against Hariyama’s eyes.

Titan didn’t have to go far as the mud slid him just out of range of the attack but Brawly proved himself as a cunning contender by having his pokemon spin with one hand already racing to launch yet another strike into Titan.

“Focus Blast! Angle to the left!” shouted Brawly, making sure to correct for his foe’s position againse his slightly blinded pokemon. Hariyama also wasn’t hesitating to launch. It was only right at the end that Hariyama corrected for where Titan was.

Instead of trying to block the attack or meet it head-on I had Titan drop to the ground.

I practically screamed ‘Drop!’ through the bond even as Titan’s instincts were warning him of the incoming attack.

Titan responded by hurling himself to the ground, not willing to wait for gravity to claim him.

He hit the ground with a loud splat only for the powerful gust of wind to be unleashed in the wake of the Focus Blast. A tiny part of the attack clipped one of Titan’s back spikes and Titan growled, lifting his eyes to glare bloody murder at Hariyama even as he pushed his energy into the ground beneath him.

Through Titan’s senses, I got a stronger trickle of dread at the fighting-type move that barely missed him.

With Titan on his belly, it appeared he was in an unfavourable position but I had no desire to get him up.

Instead, I chained Titan’s fall to slam into the ground and commit to a Stone Edge that shot forward and launched Hariyama back into the air.

While the attack wasn’t very effective it still did a good deal of damage and gave Titan some more breathing room.

This time Titan rose with mud dripping from his scales as we both kept our eyes on Hariyama.

“Kip up with your knuckles!” ordered Brawly.

Hariyama, rather than attempting to push off with its legs leaned forward and clenched his hands into fists which he dug into the ground. Large gouges were dug into the mud and earth as Hariyama’s fingers churned the field, forcing it to give him traction.

Hariyama then threw itself forward with a slingshot-like throw, which led to Hariyama’s legs leading the charge. Titan unleashed enough Mud Slap to blind Hariyama while twisting out of danger.

Titan spun only for Hariyama’s giant hand to close and latch onto Titan’s shoulder which allowed Hariyama to catch itself and stop its momentum.

“Got you!” Brawly crowed in delight as his pokemon stopped and Titan lurched from the sudden grapple.

I felt a momentary dread, only to harden my resolve, fuck it. Let’s roll the dice with another table flip.

I crossed my arms and allowed myself a smirk even as my mind screamed the only option I could see as viable to Titan.

“Titan,”

I intoned, my words carried throughout the entire arena as people who’d been mid-gasp found themselves silenced. “GO!” I ordered and Titan charged.

We weren’t bluffing or playing around, with Hariyama catching Titan, I had to take him out before he could rally and land another attack.

Brawly had planned that marvelously. If he’d been able to get off an actual attack, he’d have destroyed us.

So I had to keep him on the back foot, or in this case, I didn’t even let his pokemon put its feet on the ground.

Instead, I charged, with Hariyama in close range Titan was able to wrap his arms around Hariyama’s midriff and throw himself into a headlong sprint that was more tackle than the normal Giga Impact.

Titan ignored the slick conditions and the weight of carrying another pokemon as he pushed himself.

An aura of power built around him while Hariyama failed to gain any traction or to get off any attacks due to how Titan had swept under his guard and in close.

“Slap him!” cried Brawly desperately as Titan reached his top speed, the corona of power coursing aorund him served to deny any attempted attacks and Titan roared his triumph as they closed on the far wall.

When Titan hit the wall, the entire stadium rocked slightly as a wave of force swept out.

Titan hit the arena wall so hard when he stepped back, he revealed he had Hariyama nailed into the wall.

Around the site of impact, the barriers blared red in warning.

Titan stepped back, through the carved-up path, stalking back to the field without so much as looking back at his foe.

Hariyama lay crumpled against the wall.

The arena held its breath, waiting, and watching for a twitch or some movement to indicate that he was still up for the fight.

But none of that came.

Hariyama lay still in his crater, broken in his defeat.

I shared a proud look with Titan, who nodded at me before we directed our gazes towards Brawly, awaiting our next foe.

Brawly stared at his downed starter. “Hari buddy?” he said in shock.

Hariyama groaned but couldn’t muster the energy to move, let alone stand.

Brawly swallowed and raised a pokeball. “You did grea,t buddy, sorry for dropping the ball,” he said as his pokemon vanished into red energy.

Yolanda twitched when there was a lull in the fight and she raised a flag in my direction, remembering that she wasn’t just in the referee’s podium for a front-row seat.

“Hariyama is unable to battle! The score is two-nil!” she announced.

Brawly paused at that. He shut his eyes and nodded. “I just need one,” he said to himself, and I didn’t point out to him that the one pokemon he had to fight was ostensibly one of the strongest pokemon in the League right now.

Brawly pulled out his next pokeball and once more threw it out quickly enough to count as a fastball in a game of baseball.

I instantly noted that he wasn’t aiming to put his pokemon close to mine, but rather was trying to keep it away from Titan.

When the pokeball opened to reveal a Poliwrath, Titan and I knuckled down for yet another hard fight.

“Hydro—” Brawly started to order only for the Stealth Rock I’d gotten off earlier to activate and slam into his pokemon, startling it into twitching and delaying its attack just slightly. Hehe, another thing I’d slipped past Brawly.

I pushed what energy I could through our bond to rouse Titan from his Giga Impact-induced fatigue. I knew it sped up the process somewhat even if it was an energy sink for me.

“Poliwrath use Hydro Pump!” Brawly said, now much more assured that he wasn’t going to be interrupted. Poliwrath answered by spitting a torrent of water at Titan.

We watched it roar towards Titan with his exhaustion from the earlier Giga Impact fading slowly.

Our minds slowed to a crawl as we assessed the oncoming threat and timed things so that Titan could throw himself to the side in time to dodge.

The dodge ended up being more of an ungraceful flop into the mud than an actual hop to the side like we’d planned but it did the job for the most part.

A small sting along Titan’s arm let us know that he hadn’t gotten away with this without damage.

For the second time in this match, despite our best efforts, Titan had taken a hit.

Titan swept himself off the ground, sending waves of mud splattering about as he rose only to have to throw himself to the side as Brawly continued the assault with yet another Hydro Pump.

“Surf!” ordered Brawly and I faced a choice, did I throw Titan into another Dig to evade, or did I try and meet Poliwrath head-on with a surf of our own?

Considering that STAB would be applied this time around our wave was going to be much weaker.

I assessed Brawly’s position and got nothing from him. He was grinning like usual but that could mean anything. His eyes weren’t flickering about to indicate a particular focus point either.

Hmmm, the ball was in my court then.

Titan dove under the ground and we prepared to dip under the wave. I made sure to track Poliwrath for turnabout.

Brawly surprised me by grinning wider. “Waterfall,” he ordered and his pokemon created a geyser of water that shot it up into the air allowing it to take the literal high ground.

I still had a limited window of time for Titan to come out before he was flushed out by the Surf flooding his hole. I had him come out right behind the wave but positioned so that he was facing Poliwrath.

“Leap off! And prepare your hammer!” Brawly shouted, swinging his fist into an uppercut.

Poliwrathe leapt off the geyser with its fist pulled back in preparation to deliver what would no doubt be a very powerful attack only for Brawly to not wait and instead launch his attack while in the air. “Focus Blast!”

I had Titan twist to the side, once more feeling the way the powerful fighting type move whiffed past Titan only for Titan to use his twisting action to raise up yet another Stealth Rock.

“Again!” barked Brawly even as his pokemon continued to fall through the air.

Ah, this was his gambit, change the angle and force and easier shot for his pokemon, wasn’t it?

Rather than listening to Brawly however, his pokemon tucked into a ball like it was going to cannonball the mud.

Brawly’s expression not even twitching out of its typical grin meant this had to be a planned move on their part.

Again must be a command for something different than usual.

I decided not to risk it and had Titan cross his arms and pulse out a Protect right as Poliwrath hit the ground and caused a wave of mud to splatter across the barrier. Mud slicked down it and both pokemon locked eyes from a much closer range than they had been for the entire time Poliwrath had been on the field.

“Titan, Go!” I intoned.

Brawly hissed as he realised how close his pokemon had gotten.

Even before the barrier dropped, he had Poliwrath leaping to the side.

Instead of having Titan commit to a powerful charge that had become synonymous with him, I made him twist his feet so they were anchored past the mud and touching actual ground before he bounded causing an Earthquake right as Poliwrath landed and tried to stand.

Turnabout was fair play, with it being my turn to fake out Brawly on what was about to happen.

Instead of landing with grace, Poliwrath slipped and fell to its side.

Allowing me to launch a powerful Stone Edge right at it, unleashing two large boulders straight at the downed pokemon..

Brawly responded with a Hydro Pump to the twin rocks, blowing them out of the air only for Titan to be shown stalking up to Poliwrath.

If Brawly wanted to play keep away with his pokemon I could apply some pressure quite easily.

In response, Brawly bared his teeth and had Poliwrath dig in.

Stone Edge met Hydro Pump as both pokemon performed rapid-fire attacks.

Titan had to bob and weave with each attack but I interspersed every few steps he took with yet another Earthquake to keep Brawly honest and to also hit Poliwrath with a little bit of damage.

I’d turned this into a battle of attrition and Brawly knew he was coming up short.

The thing about pressure is that sometimes it can force a mistake out of your opponent that they otherwise wouldn’t have made. There was every chance that Titan might have slipped in a prolonged exchange.

Brawly had also forgotten that a longer exchange suited him better, as Titan tiring himself out like this worked in his favour for later pokemon.

Then again, instinctively, he was perhaps subconsciously considering which pokemon would be coming out next.

Regardless, he ordered “Waterfall!” to once again change the angle of attack only to regret it when I had Titan Dig to avoid any engagement.

With Titan hidden beneath the mud, he suddenly had his pokemon exposed to me.

“Urgh! Poliwrath, when you land, prepare a Protect!” he ordered.

That was a good plan and would have served as a band-aid for his mistake against perhaps any number of other trainers.

Poliwrath never made it off the geyser of water as the second it began to lower with Poliwrath still atop it, I had Titan assume a position at Poliwrath’s back.

A moment before it reached Titan’s strike range, I had him explode out of the ground, fangs bared, so that he could tackle Poliwrath off the Waterfall.

Poliwrath twisted spinning with a fist to knock Titan out of the air only for Titan to vanish as Aerial Ace activated and Titan appeared at Poliwrath’s exposed flank.

Brawly and Poliwrath were both forced to watch on as Titan delivered yet another super-effective attack to one of his pokemon.

Poliwrath was slammed into the ground, and Titan landed atop his foe where he lingered to growl at his downed foe.

Titan observed Poliwrath critically only to nod a moment later when Poliwrath didn’t so much as twitch.

When Titan stepped away, yet another of Brawly’s pokemon was down.

The crowd roared their approval as Titan slowly stalked back to our side of the field. His breathing was much heavier; the prolonged fight was truly starting to take its toll on him.

Thankfully, I had the option of Aerial Ace rather than forcing another close-range Giga Impact like I’d had to against Hariyama.

Titan took a moment to glance over to the referee’s podium before straightening up and flicking some mud off his scales in a cool manner.

I smirked, he needn’t have bothered.

He’d taken down three, almost four, of Brawly’s pokemon, all of whom were on paper his worst match-up.

If that didn’t make him cool in his sister’s eyes, nothing was going to work for him. Terra was all but gushing with pride as Yolanda raised her flags and gave the announcement that Poliwrath was no longer able to fight.

We were on the home stretch now.

Which was in some ways the most deadly part of a fight.

I sharpened my mind and focused as much as I could, knowing that Brawly wasn’t done.

Machamp still had to come out and there were a number of pokemon that Brawly could still have that could destroy Titan.

The arm and spikes where the two attacks had grazed him still throbbed.

Brawly groaned in annoyance but was once more quick to return his pokemon and send out his next pokemon.

“Go Medicham!” he shouted.

“Sunny Day!” Brawly ordered even as his pokemon was still forming up on the field, only for the hidden Stealth Rocks I’d gotten off earlier to shoot up into Medicham.

Titan took the time to slap his tail and send out another Stealth Rock as an orb of fiery energy rose and began to dry the field out.

In a way, a dry field worked better for me. I could no unleash a full-strength Earthquake, and would have an easier time getting Titan into position such that he could use Aerial Ace.

Brawly would have to know that, so that meant he’d have to have weighed up the cost and decided that it was worth it.

I hummed in thought. Was that it? With his Poliwrath down, he only had Machamp, Medicham and one other pokemon. If I inferred more information from that, then he had to have a light-footed pokemon that wouldn’t handle a muddy field very well.

Something that relied on good footwork.

Like a Hitmonchan, I concluded.

I had Titan launch a powerful Stone Edge that saw a large chunk of rock hurled at Medicham only for Medicham to skip to the side and back so that even as Titan advanced in from behind his boulder we still couldn’t close.

I decided to force the issue by having Titan throw himself into a headlong sprint at Medicham.

Brawly responded not with an attack but instead, “Hold your ground! Like we practised!” he commanded.

I narrowed my eyes, knowing that Brawly, more than anyone else I knew, could use a pokemon’s power against it.

I fed Titan a change to the plan and he merely grunted mentally as he closed.

With the firmer ground, Titan came up on Medicham within an instant only to lunge and blurr out a moment later as another Aerial Ace went off.

This time however Medicham, unlike the other pokemon bent like a willow in a storm and contorted its body around the attack.

From Titan’s eyes, I got a glimpse of glowing eyes from the Medicham.

Detect, Brawly had used Detect to evade my attack.

Titan’s speed with Aerial Ace saw him skid past Medicham and he would have to twist quickly to keep his eyes on his foe.

I didn’t bother trying to turn Titan, instead, I committed him into a leap straight forward as we’d planned.

Brawly met my expectations by punching the air as Titan’s back was turned and ordering, “Aura Sphere!”

Medicham cupped its hands before firing them forward like it was unleashing a beam only for a huge ball of energy to form and rocket straight at Titan.

I screamed a warning through the bond rather redundantly as Titan completed his dive into the ground.

I breathed a sigh of relief even as my heart thundered in my ears. The field shook as the Aura Sphere, one of the few moves with a near-perfect accuracy regardless of effects, slammed into the ground where Titan was.

Damn, this changed things. I couldn’t call up another Sandstorm and rely on it winning me the match if Medicham had Aura sphere in its back pocket.

Still, it was a bullet dodged.

Thank goodness I knew Brawly well enough to expect such a tactic from him.

The Aura Sphere exploded harmlessly, albeit while still tearing a gouge in the field like some giant had taken a scoop to my field.

“You’ve been working with Flannery, I see,” I said. The temptation to look into the crowd for the crimson red hair was tempting but I couldn’t look away from the fight right now.

Brawly smirked. “No way I wasn’t learning that move from her!” he proclaimed proudly.

I nodded. “Just so,” I replied. If I was a fighting type trainer I too would have sought out Aura Sphere, its power couldn’t be understated and neither could its versatility. There was, to my understanding, a certain prestige associated with having pokemon that knew how to perform it.

This was due to Lucario, who, while not a Legendary or Mythic pokemon, did have a strong mythos around its species as powerful heroes who saved numerous people in desperate times.

I had Titan leap out of the ground and perform an Earthquake with his landing to shake up Medicham only for Brawly to surprise me.

“Endure it and use Recover!” he barked. Medicham glittered and stood taller a moment later, raising up its hands before flicking one in a ‘come’ gesture.

Titan growled as I ordered yet another Earthquake. Titan’s anger, and mine as well fed his attack to be slightly stronger than normal causing the earth to crack and buckle in places.

Medicham was tossed slightly only to land and hiss in pain as it was shaken up.

Brawly smiled at me and whistled. “Recover~” he ordered with a teasing lilt. Damn, he’d worked out that a prolonged match worked better for him.

I clicked my tongue. Alright, Karen was right, right after this match I was instituting my plan to introduce Taunt to my pokemon in the Gym so I could get a handle on this.

Right now, I needed to end this deadlock. I licked my lips and allowed myself a smile.

This, right now was exactly why I’d created the Elite Challenge. It forced me to evolve and I was going to be faced with a lot more people looking to put my best to the test.

I took a breath and took in the field and what I knew along with what I suspected of Brawly’s pokemon team.

Alright, this was winnable. The goal was visible, it was time to make it a reality.