Hard Enough - Chapter 252 - Decieving Darkness

The first step in my plan, now that Tide was on the field, was to once more do away with subtlety. 

I once more made sure to vocalise my command. 

After all, I wanted Karen to know, and I wanted her to act on it. 

“Perish Song,” I announced and a hush fell over the crowd. 

People couldn’t believe I was ordering that move.

In the silence that came with people struggling to make the realisation, Tide tilted his neck back and began to sing a song that reminded me of a whale song from my past life. 

Only it was like the whales knew they were doomed, hunted and cornered they gave one final song for the depths that would ring out before falling to the silence of death. I fed Tide a soft stream of Dark energy to help the ‘feel’ of the song, making it hit just that touch harder.

Tide’s performance was magnificent and Karen could only stare in shock.

At a very specific point in the song, I made to ‘subtly’ trigger a timer on my watch, letting it tick down slowly.

The trick with a normal Perish Song was remembering that this was not like the games. There was no handy counter that told you precisely how long it would take for a pokemon to fall. You also couldn’t normally feel the effects of Perish Song.

You had to guess somewhere between thirty seconds to as long as two minutes, if the pokemon using it was much weaker than your own.

I’d done everything I just needed to sell it to her now, and let the dread build within. Don’t question the plan.

Gengar wasn’t laughing any more and it shifted looking from me to Karen to Tide with uncertainty. It was waiting for an order but having Perish Song used on it had caused Karen to almost glitch out it seemed. 

Karen gaped at me. “What the? You can’t do that! That’s…” 

“Your typical gambit? Sucks when it is on the other foot doesn’t it?” I said back smugly. If she thought she was the only one who could steal a play from someone she was wrong. 

Although if this worked I was going to steal two gambits from her…

Karen shook her head and twitched while my smile grew darker and more sinister. 

“You realise I can just swap out my pokemon don’t you?” she said.

I nodded and waved a hand, “Go ahead,” I said tauntingly. “Do it,” I said, glancing at Tide. a pokemon known for being able to deliver the mother of all alpha-strikes.

And that was the premise, if she changed out I had a pokemon on the field that could unleash an alpha strike straight away. 

Gengar couldn’t stay, as it would perish. 

There was also no point in using something as asinine as Destiny Bond. 

Both pokemon were doomed, only mine was willing to make the sacrifice and was glad for it. 

Through my bond, I would have been able to feel the encroaching ‘curse’ building within Tide. 

I’d timed this before with Tide and knew how long it would take down to the second, but… I’d never done it while bonded so closely. I’d have to test it in a controlled setting. 

If Hypnotoad’s feedback had been any indication, I would probably have to withdraw my senses before Perish Song was properly activated. 

“Drag it out,” Karen ordered, sending her pokemon to the side, and then the other side, baiting a response from me and Tide but we simply stood tall and watched. 

And with each passing second, the clock ticked down. 

Karen licked her lips and I raised my Xtransciever to tap on it pointedly. “Tick, tick, tick Karen, you going to do anything or just dance around?” I said, ignoring Gengar to watch Karen sweat.

I sent back soothing mental pictures, of which I made sure to imply how much I was going to talk him up to the other Lapras in the cove near the hotel. That had him perking up. 

I had to stick to the plan.

“FB!” snapped Karen and her Gengar appeared out of the shadows to the side to punch the air and launch a powerful blast of fighting-type energy right at Tide. 

“Protect,” I said languidly and Tide raised a shield around himself causing the attack to do nothing but sell Karen the story. 

Karen glowered and I wagged a finger back and forth like the hands of a clock as Tide pretended everything was fine within his shield. 

We wouldn’t  get another chance at using it later with my plan as it stood. 

“Times running out Karen, you’re about to be four to three and you know your Umbreon can’t face down Bertha~” I teased. 

Karen stared at the Protect before looking up, well aware that she was closing in on the time Gengar would expire “Anyone else… and I’d try and play Torchic with them until they blinked and backed down, but you’re crazy enough and smug enough to go through with it,” she said. 

She raised a hand with a pokeball in it only to use her other hand, more specifically her middle finger to toggle the recall function.

I chuckled as I saw more than a few people cover children’s eyes. Well, I certainly hoped they blurred that on the broadcast. Then I recalled Bertha’s earlier antics.

Ah… I hope they blurred that as well.

Karen then did the smart thing and held off on sending out her next pokemon. I just smiled as Tide let himself droop slowly lower and lower as though he was being weakened. 

Karen glowered. “Cut that out! I know how Perish Song works! It doesn’t sap the pokemon, it is sudden and final! I’m not failing for it!” she snapped. 

I snorted. “You mean like how you fell for recalling your Gengar just now?” I said. Tide straightened and clapped his front flippers together exuberantly. 

Karen stared. 

No, in fact I felt everyone in the stadium stare at me before they shifted to Tide who very much was not passing out due to ‘Perish Song’.

“... you bluffed,” she said. 

I nodded and grinned. “Yeeeeeeeesss,” I said, feeling absolutely evil as I said it and loving every second. It had been a thought that occurred to me while talking with Yolanda.

If I could mount the pressure, what was stopping me from just… faking that I’d used Perish Song?

I’d checked with Tide and he’d been somewhat uncertain, but when I’d had him sing a mournful tune I knew I had hit paydirt with a viable strategy. For at least this match anyway. 

I very much doubted that I’d ever get to pull it off again without seriously risking Tide. 

The situation being what it was though? Well… it was perfect. 

Karen stared at me, her hand twitching. “I should cuss you out ten ways to Sunday! People think I’m a low down sneak and here you are pulling this sort of…” she flapped her hand in my general direction. “Shit!” she snarled. 

The referee shot her a look and she growled. 

Feeling more than a little pleased with myself I decided to channel a famous Captain from my past life to paraphrase him, “Honestly! It's the honest ones you want to look out for. Because you can never predict when we’re going to do something incredibly… stupid,” I said with a smile that indicated I had absolutely no regrets. 

It had worked after all. 

Now, Karen had to pull out a pokemon other than Gengar to face off against Tide who was thrumming with anticipation. 

“Go…Absol!” she said, the words slowly tearing their way out of clenched teeth. 

Her Absol once more took to the field only for Tide to unleash a Blizzard into the arriving pokemon’s face. 

“Detect!” snapped Karen as the Blizzard began to fall. 

Absol stepped to the side, then to the other side, weaving its way through huge icicles that shattered but even the discharge from the blasts was evaded with a twist of the body or a turning of its head. 

It was a wondrous display of grace for a pokemon that was known as the herald of calamity. 

Today I was going to make it the herald of Karen’s defeat.

Instead of allowing it to continue its surefooted advance on Tide I had him perform a sweeping Ice Beam to make the floors impossible to traverse by foot. 

“Thunder Wave!” snapped Karen. Absol whipped its head around causing the horn atop its head to spark up and unleash a wave of electrical energy that swept over Tide. 

I quickly had Tide respond with a Rain Dance to wipe away the status effect, but I had to infuse some energy to help push him through any lingering paralysis. 

Once more rain clouds formed overhead only for a gentle rain to fall down upon us, resulting in the small arcs of electrical energy to fade as they were washed away. 

Karen grinned and snapped her hand forward. “Thunder!” she cried only for me to respond by pointing right back at her.

Absol blazed with lightning only for Tide to open his maw wide once more and unleash yet another full-powered Hyper Beam.

Thunder arced up and swept down right at Tide, there was going to be no evading this strike, but on the other side, Hyper Beam hammered into Absol and carried it right into the back wall.

Tide dropped, his energy spent from two Hyper Beams along with the other moves and Thunder.

And yet he still tried to hold on, clutching at fading energy with a determination that surprised me. I warred with the idea of merely accepting it before I decided to not let him. 

If he wanted to fight I would support him and buoy his spirits. 

I sent waves of positivity through the bond, cheering for him to rise, and slowly, inch by inch, his head rose from its drooped position to back upright. 

He was gutted however and I knew I would only have him for a tiny moment of time.

A glance up showed that Absol had limped back onto the field and was hurting after taking that Hyper Beam to the face, but was also not down for the count. 

I grit my teeth and fed Tide the plan to ride forth one last time for this fight. 

Tide nodded, and with his last reserve of energy, he called up a wave which swept him up and bore him into the air. 

Tide set himself up right in front of the crest, meaning that Absol could hit him, but once again, doing so was going to cause Absol to be unable to dodge. 

I could see Karen understood what I’d done with Tide’s positioning, now the ball was in her court with what would happen.

She could try to evade with a Detect, but that ran a high risk of failure now that she used it to evade my Blizzard, or she could exchange blows and accept the trade-off.

She clicked her tongue and stabbed her hand right at Tide. 

Absol jumped, horn glowing with psychic energy for Psycho Cut to hammer into Tide.

Tide, rather than wait for the attack to come to him, leapt in a final defiant display that caught even me by surprise. 

Both pokemon slammed into each other in mid-air only for them to then tumble into the wave before being carried to one side of the field. 

When the wave receded, both pokemon were revealed to be unconscious. 

The referee shot both flags up as the crowd roared their approval for the hot-blooded exchange of blows. 

I smirked at Karen, knowing that I had gotten the better of her. Umbreon was on its last legs which left only Gengar to deal with properly. 

I palmed my choice and grinned at Karen wider than a Ninetails that had just tricked its way into a daycare’s nursery. 

“Go Jormungandr!” I shouted right as Karen sent out her Umbreon. 

My Steelix appeared with a mighty roar and now it was my turn to punch the air, my bracer with the Keystone attached glowing with rainbow light in synchronisation. 

Through the glowing lights, I could see Karen shouting for her pokemon to Rest to regain its strength but the words were lost to me in the rush of power that blossomed through me as Jorm Mega evolved. 

The rainbow didn’t stop with the light show as the handful of Pink diamonds I’d added to Jorm’s form when he evolved from Onix to Steelix extended out of him as his jaw widened and rocks began to orbit him like he was the sun in a galaxy diorama. 

Across the field, a lone small black Umbreon stood, eyes shut as though awaiting its fate. 

“Sleep Talk,” growled Karen, undaunted by the appearance of one of my aces but I just had Jorm unleash a powerful blow with his tail to send a trio of gigantic boulders right at the slumbering pokemon.

Umbreon twitched, only to vanish in a blur of speed as it charged across the battlefield to attack Jorm head-on. 

The Stone Edge Jorm unleashed sailed clear over its head, more from luck than Umbreon actually evading the attack. 

I had Jorm twist around on himself and meet the oncoming Umbreon with an Iron Tail to the face. 

Both attacks clashed and Jorm came off the better with Umbreon hammered into the ground. 

As Umbreon staggered to its feet, eyes blinking widely as it regathered itself from its sleep. While it was still stumbling I went for the kill with another Iron Tail, only for Karen to clap her hands over her head. 

Umbreon didn’t hesitate to twist onto its front paws, back legs cocked back before it fired off a powerful Double Kick that blew back Jorm’s attack. 

Karen laughed and I frowned. 

I hadn’t thought that Umbreon as a species knew any fighting-type moves. Was this something introduced through breeding? 

Karen clapped her hands again and from close range, I knew that Jorm might be in trouble, so instead I flipped another switch and went on the attack.

I sent a single thought to Jorm. 

‘Go’.

And he went. 

Instead of being blown back this time, Jorm ploughed through the kick and then kept pushing, his attack turning into a headfirst sprint that saw him slamming into the side of the stadium with Umbreon pinned to the barriers that were glowing red around his head. 

Jorm leaned back and took huge, rasping breaths as he retreated back to the battlefield proper at my urging. 

It was a slow affair but he left Umbreon in his wake with the dark type finally staying down. 

Karen clicked her tongue and shot Jorm a glare. 

She was now caught in a horrible situation. She could allow him to regather his strength and let more of the Mega evolution time out, or she could send out Gengar quickly and go for a fast exchange at the expense of Jorm being able to last longer. 

She recalled her Umbreon and sent her Gengar out, having it land as close as possible to Jorm who’d only just regathered his strength when Karen punched her fist forward and barked out her command.. “FB!” 

I urged Jorm to Dig and he tried to dive only for Gengar to fire off a furious punch that slammed into Jorm before he could escape. 

He went flying back to my side of the field where he collapsed onto the ground. I felt the bond flicker and wane, the powerful fighting-type move followed by Umbreon’s earlier efforts enough to cause Jorm to almost pass out. 

“FB!” snapped Karen, going for the jugular while my pokemon was down.

I met her attack with a raised Protect, allowing Jorm the time to recover his wits before he threw himself into a Dig as his Protect came down.

Karen could only impotently fire off another Focus Blast only to have it miss. 

I shot her a cheeky grin as through the bond I enacted the Dig-Rest-recover plan. 

Gengar obviously didn’t have any moves to shake up the ground, so Jormungandr was more than safe enough to get away with a slow Rest. 

As time ticked away Karen clenched her fists as she realised what I’d done. “Really? You’re that scared I’ll make a comeback?”

“Nah, I’m just not letting you take out my mega evolved pokemon easily,” I said with a smirk.

She huffed. “You cheeky, smug prick!” she said without any real heat. 

I raised my hands out wide and gestured around me. “I’m a cheeky smug prick who’s close to winning.”

Karen didn’t have a response to that one. I was right and we both knew it. I had Bertha, Titan, and Jormungandr still healthy. 

“Oh and Karen?” I said, my smile growing wider as I realised she had made another mistake. 

“What?” she said through gritted teeth.

I pointed at where Gengar was floating. “You forgot,” I said, indicating that she’d forgotten to shift her Gengar back into a corner to give me no chance to ambush her pokemon from a different angle than the one her Gengar was looking at. 

Karen had enough time for her eyes to widen and her mouth to open right as Jorm exploded out of the ground, fangs glowing with Crunch. He sank them into the ghost and Gengar unleashed a ghastly wail that reverberated around the arena. 

I didn’t let Jorm release Gengar though.

Instead, he shook like a growlithe with a new chew toy, sending Gengar shaking back and forth while dark energy coursed through him.

“FOCUS BLAST!” Karen shouted. 

I had to give Gengar his due, despite being shaken about, he still pulled back a fist and launched a close-range Focus Blast at Karen’s order. 

Jorm rocked back and I felt his mind blank for a moment, his jaw beginning to open. 

Through the bond I gnashed my teeth, pushing the impression of chomping down hard through the bond as strongly as I could. 

Jorm responded by snapping his teeth closed on Gengar right as it was wiggling to get free. 

Gengar wailed in pain only to go limp and croon in defeat. 

I shot Karen a look. “Need me to continue?” I demanded, knowing she might still launch another Focus Blast out of spite. 

Jorm was now barely hanging on having taken what I suspected was a critical hit with that last attack. Thankfully he was a sturdy guy and had hung on. 

Karen considered me for a long, drawn-out moment before sighing. “Anyone else,” she said before nodding and raising her hand to indicate she was withdrawing her pokemon.

The referee’s flags shot up and he roared. “Gengar is withdrawn and no longer able to fight! Brock is therefore the victor at three to six! The tournament is over!” 

And like that fireworks exploded and the crowd rose to their feet in celebration. 

I looked to Jorm and felt the other pokemon on my pokebelt begin to thrum with excitement. 

We’d done it, we’d won. 

Jorm raised his head and I tapped on Bertha and Titan’s pokeballs to release them. They all shared a look and then all together they roared their triumph.

The field shook with the combined force and I liked to think that the entire island could hear them due to the noise but that was just a fantasy. 

I stood in the middle of them with a huge grin as the podiums began to lower. 

Jorm’s mega evolution faded and he shuddered, falling in on himself to the point I considered returning him, but Bertha and Titan caught him and held him between them. 

They all shared a smile and I grinned. “You know the nurses aren’t going to let that slide,” I said and they huffed. 

Before any nurses could reach us I stepped in close and put my hands up so that I was touching Bertha and Titan while I looked up at Jorm’s steely visage. 

“We’ve come a long way,” I said.

They all nodded, Jorm looked a little emotional as his eyes darted around, taking in the cheering crowd and broken battlefield. I let him enjoy it for a moment as I patted the other two.

Then I shifted my attention to him and patted him. “Time to get you seen to medically, I think bud,” I said, indicating the team of Nurse Joy and Chansey once more storming towards us. 

Jorm bowed his head and accepted the recall so that I could deposit him and the others. Bertha made to resist but I gave her a firm glare. 

When she held my gaze I decided to use logic. “The faster you get fixed up the faster you get to enjoy your victory lap,” I said. 

That had her practically leaping back into her pokeball.

She and the rest of the team of pokemon that had fought were all laid out on a healing tray as I was checked over.

“Any swimming vision or feelings of pressure across your body?” the Fuchsia Nurse Joy questioned, once more invading my personal space as she did so. 

I shook my head. “No, how is my Poliwrath?” I asked. 

“Fine, she is making a good recovery with a prolonged healing treatment. She will be able to move around but I wouldn’t use her for any fights for a week!” replied the Cerulean Nurse Joy who was supervising the healing bed with my pokemon on it. 

“More than doable,” I said. 

The Nurse nodded. “Good, and I hope you realise how reckless it was to resist an attack like you did,” she said sternly. 

Her disapproval washed over me only for me to level a bemused look right back at her. “It was a fight, and one that she almost won due to that reckless action,” I said firmly. I wasn’t about to be cowed by a Nurse’s disapproval for taking a risk.

Pokemon battles weren’t devoid of risk no matter how you played things out. 

The nurse grumbled at this but didn’t voice any more protests as I took the pokeball back and released Hypnotoad. She appeared with a sway and blinking, dull eyes. 

Ah, she was still dazed. 

“We won,” I said to Hypnotoad and her eyes widened slowly.

I made sure to grin at her. “You really tipped the scales,” I said, and it was the truth. Hypnotoad’s desire to fight on had sparked something in me, a drive to do my best which made the path to victory all too clear.

Hypnotoad pumped her fist and I chuckled. After a moment’s thought I released the other pokemon on my pokebelt.

Sanchez appeared with a shake of his head alongside Gawain, Knight and Empress; they all glanced around and were rather surprised by the cheering crowd.

Sanchez was quick to begin waving his hand and making kissing gestures at various people. Empress snorted while Knight and Gawain merely took it all in.

I felt a little bad that the others couldn’t join in. Don would have felt it was his due, and Link had contributed greatly. 

Selene was going to need some attention but she’d understand that I was limited to ten pokemon for the final appearance at the award ceremony. It wasn’t like the hotel reserve where I could have as many of my Elite team as I wanted present. 

Other pokemon like Shin… well having him here would just be rubbing in that he hadn’t fought. Which wasn’t wrong, but it also wasn’t the be all end all of the situation. 

He might not have contributed during any fights, but that wasn’t to say he wasn’t part of the team.

He worked hard and made the others fight more than they normally would have. I would try and find some fights for him, but I also had the niggling thought that I might need to ‘evolve’ his movepool to make him more relevant. 

He was mostly set up for singular Gym matches against challengers that tried their hand with the Elite Challenge and for all that it was a hard fight when he got picked, it wasn’t the same thing as having him in an Ace match. 

I’d need to sit down and think about that perhaps some more. There had to be a way to make him more than just viable, but outright excel on his own. 

Hmmm, which now that I spent some time thinking about it, couldn’t Kabutops learn moves like superpower? Or even x-scissor? Aquajet was already a good move but we could supplement things with other moves. 

Like Stealth Rock, Psycho Cut, or even Cross poison.

Yeah, that sounded like a great idea now that I thought about it. I don't need to force things for Shin, I just needed to work with him to improve his adaptability.

If this tournament had shown me anything it was that I needed to be setting myself up to change more regularly. Not just letting myself stagnate and grow content with the moves and pokemon that I had. I had a lot of young pokemon waiting in the wings. 

I needed to spend some time on them while working with the pokemon I had. 

As the rest of my pokemon were healed up and returned to me, I let them loose to wander the field, waving and calling out to various members of the crowd. In the meantime I marched across to Karen to shake her hand. 

“Good fight,” I said once she’d broken out of the gaggle of Nurses. 

“Not good enough it would seem,” she said with a huff, tugging a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. She shot me a look. “Feeling like I need some lessons on how to get stronger?” she said snidely. 

I chuckled. “Kind of hard to do, you’re a pretty great trainer, “ I began to tick off my points on my fingers. “You have some great pokemon, that if anything have grown stronger since I saw them last, and you also have some great tactics that work pretty well for you.” I considered her and noted that her eyes were narrowing.

“You have any advice for me?” I asked, deciding to avoid feeding her annoyance and instead feed Karen’s pride after giving it a good stroking. 

It worked as she perked up and shot me a grin. “Heh, you need to get a better entourage if you have to keep drawing in the people I beat,” she said, indicating where Walker and Falkner were both sitting 

I shot them a look. “They’re not so bad, they’re good people,” I said. “But… that’s not a bad point. I am just using people that are trainers in my gym as I’m using it more as a teaching experience than their actual job,” I said thoughtfully. 

Karen nodded, pleased that I’d taken her advice. Around us people began to mill while barking orders at various Machoke as they set about creating a large platform for what could only be the final ceremony. 

I watched it all with a slight surreal experience. I hadn’t really thought about it before the match, but now that it had come true I had to rub my chin in thought. 

Damn, I’d won the mid-season tournament and in doing so, probably cemented myself the top spot of Ace going into the later half of the year.

I cocked my head to the side. The Ace and the Journey trainers tournaments were typically offset but I had this niggling thought that wouldn’t leave me alone.

“When’s the Ace end of year tournament?” I asked. 

Karen glanced at me. “Middle of winter for the final match,” she said. “It’s always then cause they let everyone have a month and a half of rest before the restart happens.” 

I nodded slowly. “So right in the middle of the journey off season and therefore the break for Gyms,” I said to myself as I realised why those dates stood out to me. “Huh, shame I’ll have to miss that.”

Karen’s head whipped around at me. “Why?” she said with an incredulous tone.

I smiled and waved at my family. “We have holiday plans,” I said. 

Karen stared at me then looked at my family. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. You’re one of the strongest trainers and if it weren’t for your family you’d probably be the strongest,” she said. 

I just shook my head and shrugged. “Eh, I don’t know about that. They help motivate me and assist in more ways than most realise,” I said thinking of how my talk with Yolanda had given me more information that I’d had along with the idea of the plan with Tide.

Karen perked up. “Heh, that means I’ll have a straight shot at the final and my chance to elevate to Elite Four,” she said with a smirk.

I chuckled and glanced over to where Kaede, Walker, and Falkner were all watching on. I could see others in the crowd like Bruce, Scarlet, Boss Doug, and Arthur. 

I doubted it was going to be as easy as she expected it to be but it certainly should be exciting. 

Karen giggled. “You do realise you’re going to have to tell the reporters that as well alright?” she said with a leer. 

I sighed. “Don’t ruin my moment,” I said. I considered marching off and leaving her, knowing that she was about to needle me but instead I gave her a serious look. “Thanks by the way, for not mentioning her,” I said. 

Karen paused. “Ah… yeah,” she said looking away. Huh, was she embarrassed. “I… had it pointed out that it wouldn’t be the best idea. Agatha mentioned that you’re part dark type and… I sort of forgot that detail during our match,” she said while glancing at Tide. 

I chuckle. “Indeed, I’m glad I don’t have to use my response,” I said before marching off. 

That had Karen spinning around to gape at me. “Wait what? What were you going to say if I mentioned her?” she called at my back. 

I just waved, deciding to keep it to myself and my entourage. It wouldn’t have been as good as what we had. 

Calling her out on chasing her grandmother’s skirts after she’d offended me with Lola’s link to me wasn’t the best play I had. 

I was honestly happy I hadn’t had to do it. Still, she didn’t need to know that. 

She could stew on it for a while. 

Sometimes the best tortures we endured were those we created for ourselves after all. 

I left her to overthink it as instead I marched towards my pokemon, intent on celebrating our victory.  

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A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!

Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!