Hard Enough - Chapter 244 - Pride on the line

“Ascend!” called Bruce, his hand shooting upwards in a claw as his pokemon beat its wings. It shot into the air like it was being pulled rather than flying. Hmmm, so he wasn’t going to trade out pokemon or try and scorch the earth against my pokemon?

“Rain Dance!” I ordered, and Shrek dutifully began to thump his fists into the ground before hopping left and right as he summoned forth clouds of rain. 

With two beats of Charizard’s wings it was shooting up into the forming clouds. Damn, it was fast. 

“Fly above the clouds!” called Bruce. 

I frowned. That was a relatively good move with this being an open air stadium. Perhaps in a ‘larger’ facility where the roof would cap the height it would be impossible, but here, we wouldn’t be able to see Charizard… but it would also mean that Charizard couldn’t see us. 

I eyed Bruce thoughtfully before signaling to Shrek. “Bulk Up,” I said and he thumped his fists into the ground. 

Above us the clouds rained down, soaking the ground and Shrek in turn. Shrek croaked once but otherwise kept his eyes fixed upwards, searching for any hint that Charizard was attacking.  

I kept Bruce in my peripherals. He had to know this was a bad idea. 

Or was it a sign of confidence?

I had my answer a moment later when the clouds began to shine as though the sun was about to peek through them. 

“Dig!” I barked immediately as my mind connected the dots. 

Charizard was above the clouds, and soaring within sight of the sun. From there all he had to do was catch some sun, and unleash it upon Shrek in the form of a solar Beam.

The beam of grass type energy tore through the clouds as Shrek dove into the ground, only to hammer into the position he’d been moment’s before. 

The ground rumbled at the impact of the blow, but otherwise didn’t break too much. 

Through the hole in the clouds I caught sight of Charizard, wings raised up high like he was praising the sun. 

Did the black skin help with absorbing solar energy? 

I’d watched as many videos of Charizard’s fighting as I could and hadn’t found anything that indicated that was the case. 

More impressive was the fact that Bruce had gotten all of that from Charizard without any verbal commands beyond the order to ascend.

“Clog up the clouds!” he ordered, shifting tactics. 

“Bulk Up,” I said, deciding to not waste the time I spent working out what the next trick was. The clouds slowly began to turn black and I sniffed. They smelt like… smoke?

The rain that began to fall appeared to be more tar-like than it had been, and any rain drops that did come down were sluggish, thick and black. 

So, they were infusing the clouds with Smokescreen, were they?

Damn, this was triggering a memory of reading a book about this. What was it?

There was a method to directly impact clouds through certain moves. Smokescreen just happened to be one of them.  

Where had I read… oh, now I remembered. 

I’d read about this in… Lola’s notes about water type moves. 

That’s why I had forgotten about it. 

Damn woman sadly knew her stuff about water types and their moves.

Still, Smokescreen, eh?

That was a move that even Kaede’s research hadn’t identified Charizard as having, but it wasn’t out of left field. 

Smokescreen and Solar Beam were actually good moves for a Charizard to have for utility and the ability to counter punch against their species’ main weak point.

Sadly Solar Beam was very much something I had to have Shrek dodge, due to how it impacted both of his typings.

I watched the clouds become darker and darker. 

Although hadn’t there also been a method to empower the clouds recorded in the notes? 

Not something I could focus on right now.

This match was not playing out as I’d assumed, showing that all the research I’d done only counted for so much once the moves started to get thrown around. 

Then again, the plan hadn’t lasted that long due to Karen pricking at Bruce’s pride.

Charizard hadn’t been the pokemon Kaede, Sabrina and I had considered for his first pokemon. 

First three pokemon? Certainly. 

First? No. 

I’d been expecting Kingdra, or his Blaziken, according to my research.

Instinct had been the biggest factor in why I’d sent out Shrek, but I had to recognise that against both of those options, or indeed any of the suspected pokemon bar perhaps the off chance he brought out Exeggutor, Shrek was my ‘safest’ bet.

Now, against his starter?

Shrek was my best pokemon to have on the field.

I had honestly expected Bruce to return his pokemon, or to Mega Evolve by now. 

So far Bruce was being much more careful than I’d assumed. He was staying out of range of my pokemon.

He had his Charizard in a safe space, but he wasn’t pulling the hammer like I’d been expecting him to. Instead he was… stalling the match out?

What was he doing? I was practically buffing up my pokemon for free in comparison. 

I watched as another cloud darkened and a thought occurred to me.

Hmmm, Charizard would have to be close to the clouds to get off the Smokescreen, so that did open up some opportunities. “Hydro Pump,” I ordered, aiming at a patch of as yet unblemished cloud. 

Shrek unleashed a blast of water like he was a solo cannon unleashing shell after shell into the air. 

The clouds were punched through and I directed Shrek’s aim through the bond with minor tweaks and points of focus. 

Shrek responded perfectly, firing each blast of water exactly where I directed him to. 

“Defend with Hurricane! Blow away the clouds!” Bruce shouted. 

Again, he was delaying and fading away, instead of committing or pulling his Charizard. 

I lowered my gaze from the clouds as a powerful wind began to billow, blowing away the clouds to reveal Charizard swirling about. 

“Surf!” I ordered. Knowing that I had to get ahead of Bruce’s trick play with a Fire Hurricane by dampening the field even more than it already was. 

Bruce didn’t pull the trigger though, and I frowned. 

I took the time to inspect Bruce as Shrek summoned a tidal wave that he rose up on, his eyes peeled skyward. He had his own gaze locked on his pokemon and he looked to be…straining? His forehead was hidden behind his bandana but I could see how completely his attention was taken up with his pokemon.

He was even… muttering? I couldn’t hear what he was saying to himself, but it merely added to the strangeness of the situation. 

What in Indigo was going on with him?

I turned back to the battle in time to watch as a small tsunami smashed into a hurricane. The two forces of nature bucked as physics were thrown into chaos. 

Water flew everywhere and I made the most of Shrek’s position at the top of his wave to force Bruce’s hand into acting.   

“Double jump,” I said cryptically. 

Shrek croaked loudly and crouched atop his wave, only for it to suddenly geyser upwards as a torrent of water rose in a reverse Waterfall. Shrek gained additional height and everyone’s heads snapped upwards as Shrek took the high ground from a flying pokemon.

Shrek then pulled back both of his fists in a double chambered punch atop his platform of water, only to punch down into the water and fire off twin Hydro Pumps. 

“Aerial Ace evade!” snapped Bruce as Charizard was suddenly caught out of position. 

Charizard lurched to the side and snapped his wings, only for one of the blasts of water to clip it and send it spiralling. It roared in pain but snapped its wings before it could fall too far out of the sky. 

Shrek for his part sadly couldn’t follow up, as the Waterfall spout he’d formed lost its base with the Surf falling out from underneath him. He fell, but instead of worrying he leaned forward, curled up into himself, preparing for impact like we’d trained. 

“Hit it with Fire Spin as it lands!” Bruce roared, going on the offensive for the first time in this battle.

Charizard inhaled, only to snap off a gout of fire that hurled towards where Shrek would land.

Shrek hit the ground and sent a blast of Muddy Water up around himself, denying the Fire Spin from affecting him at all. 

Mud splattered the ground and Shrek shook his head before looking up and locking eyes with Charizard. He rose onto his back legs and croaked in challenge, knowing he had the better of his foe. 

Charizard for his part, growled threateningly. 

“No, enough Charizard, save your energy, I shall bring you out once more,” Bruce said, raising his pokeball to return his starter. 

I clicked my tongue. Damn, I’d been hoping he’d keep him out. Suppose I couldn’t always bet on pride winning out for Bruce.

“Bulk Up,” I said once more, and Shrek punched the ground, letting out another powerful croak as his body reached levels of strength that I rarely got the chance to build him up to.  

With four full buff ups to Shrek’s attack and defence, he was suddenly a veritable tank sitting very pretty for me. 

Bruce toyed with his pokebelt and I waited in anticipation. What had he brought? His best bet right now was a grass type. 

Exeggutor, Breloom, Tropius or Roselia all came to mind. 

“Go! Kingdra!” Bruce shouted and I blinked. 

Now that, that was a very interesting decision, and rather telling. 

Had he not brought a grass type to this fight? He must have bet on that I had several options of ice type moves ready to use against his pokemon. 

Well, he was right in that regard. 

“Bliz—” I started to say, only for Bruce to chop his hand out. 

“Disable!” he bellowed. Kingdra flashed once and Shrek’s attempt to drop the dragon on its first turn failed. 

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Alright, if he wanted to play things that way I would have to switch out my pokemon. “Return,” I barked, annoyed that I was going to lose all the benefits I’d built up for Shrek with this move. 

Still, I didn’t want to wear him out too much. He was my ace for when Charizard came back out and if Bruce had decided to go with his Blaziken.

“Dance,” commanded Bruce as he made good on the break as I grabbed my next pokeball. 

Kingdra began to bounce about in the mud, skidding and sliding with ease. Hmmm, that was something I’d have to pay attention to later as well. For now I needed to retake the initiative that I’d had since the start with the pokemon selection. 

“Go Link!” I called, sending out my heroic minded Clefable. 

Clefable appeared with a light skip, and his little wings fluttered slightly as he grinned joyously. 

Bruce bared his teeth at me but I just grinned back, showing just as many teeth. Bruce swept a hand over his brow and I frowned. Had he gotten splashed from the Surf and other moves earlier? He was acting like he had gotten wet. 

That, or he was tired? 

I put that little observation away, my instincts warning that it was significant in some way. It wasn’t something I could act on right now, though. I knew I didn’t have enough puzzle pieces to lay out to foresee what exactly was going on with Bruce, but I made sure to keep the small clues I’d gathered close at hand. 

“Iron Head!” roared Bruce. 

I would have been impressed at how quickly he went for the throat if it wasn’t my pokemon he was trying to do it against. 

Sadly for Bruce, I had worked out a few little tricks for my fairy pokemon. “Ground Pound!” I barked. 

Link kicked off with his legs and tail, launching his body upwards while his little wings fluttered, allowing him to twist and keep track of his opponent like we’d practised.

Clefable were quite light. At least on a Pokemon scale, which meant they were very easy to launch into the air, as Anita’s Slaking had once demonstrated. 

Here and now it made all the difference, as Link basically hopped over the super effective move with an easy move. 

“Tch! Blast it with Hydro Pump!” growled Bruce, seemingly growing more agitated with my fairy type. 

Kingdra unleashed a potent cannon blast of water that exploded out of its mouth tip. 

Link, having kept his eyes on his foe, saw the blast of water incoming and he, like me, didn’t panic. “CC,” I said easily and Link grinned as he raised his hands and twitched them back and forth with a little wiggle.

Then he spat out a Hydro Pump of his own, resulting in him being launched back while his watery bullet detonated the oncoming attack. 

Link landed with a heroic skid, his eyes still locked on his foe, a determined smirk on his lips. Heh, damn but I should really get him a little green hat. 

“Gravity,” I said, making the most of the gap to work things into my favour. 

“Iron Head! Lay him out!” Bruce ordered again. Kingdra reacted well, charging with its head lowered, but as it crossed the last few metres a wave of force pushed it down, causing it to lower further. 

Instead of lining up a hit on Link’s chest and potentially earning a critical hit, it instead smashed into his hip and sent Link spinning like a top. 

He cried out in shock and pain but was quick to right himself. “MB!” I called, trying to make the most of the Gravity. 

“Agility! Get clear!” shouted Bruce, noticing the threat as Link charged up a pink ball of energy. 

Kingdra shot away, causing mud and water to splash up from its sprint through the mud. I tried to use the bond I had with Link to lead the shot, but Kingdra was too agile thanks to the buff. 

It juked forward, only to decelerate and change directions as soon as we committed to unleashing the attack.

The pink orb launched straight through open air and suddenly Kingdra was coming on again with a lowered Iron Head.

“BP,” I said to flip the script. Link winked at the charging Kingdra only to vanish in red light as his pokeball activated, and the other pokeball that I held up disgorged Shrek once more.

Shrek whirled about on the charging pokemon, only to take a steel-empowered head to his stomach. “Catch it!” I called desperately. 

Shrek curled around the hit and was launched back, but not without completing his task. Kingdra slowed to a stop due to connecting with the attack, only for Shrek’s much larger hands to close around its body.

I grinned in savage victory, Shrek knew exactly what I wanted him to do and so he raised a single hand off Kingdra while the other held it fast. 

“Pulse!” shouted Bruce in desperation. 

Ice Punch hammered into Kingdra right as the water-dragon pokemon erupted with a dark blue energy that rocked Shrek’s head back at the sudden Dragon Pulse. 

Then Shrek lowered his head and glowered as he raised his fist again at my urging to hammer Kingdra once more. This time he nailed Kingdra right in the head in what had to be a critical hit.

Kingdra crumpled in the face of a second powerful attack. 

“Kingdra is unable to battle!” shouted the referee, and just like that the floodgates erupted as the crowd unleashed their cheers. 

It had been a tense one-two interchange, but pulling a quick recall with Link proved the clincher. With Kingdra committed I was able to get Shrek into a position where he could impact the fight with his Ice Punch. 

The trick had always been locking down Kingdra, a pokemon that thanks to the earlier Rain Dance, Surf and various water moves, had run the field far more than it otherwise should have. 

It struck me as very interesting that Bruce had chosen Kingdra in his team despite its limited mobility on a dry field. The only plausible setup for it was that he was hoping to get off some water moves himself, which would also hinder Bertha and her One Hit K.O moves.

I huffed out a breath and rubbed my forehead. Huh, I’d gotten away without saying a single thing to Shrek during that entire sequence of events. I’d merely projected what should happen and he’d done it. 

Was this another effect of my match against Kaede?

My control with my aura seemed so much more robust and I felt like I had more of a handle on it.

Without saying anything I had Shrek trot back to the halfway point so that Bruce couldn’t dump one of his pokemon on top of him. There was still a possibility that he had a Breloom to use against me. 

It was like… it was more a part of me than it had been?

Did that mean it was a usage issue? That I had to push my use of it to reach this height? Was more possible? What would the next stage even be if it was possible? 

Bruce wasn’t going to let me ponder this shift within myself any longer as he returned his pokemon and whipped out his next without skipping a beat. “Go! Snorlax!” he shouted and I held in a groan that cut off into a grimace when he released it right in front of his podium.

Precisely the furthest distance he could get between Shrek and his pokemon, meaning Shrek wouldn’t be able to get off his Hammer Arm. Not that he knew the move any more due to trading it for Ice Punch.

So I needed someone else. 

Of all the pokemon he had, this was the pokemon I was looking forward to facing the least. Kaede had been explicit that this pokemon was Bruce’s tank. It was built specifically to endure and wear opponents down. 

Meaning that one of the best pokemon I could use in this instance was actually Bertha. 

“Belly Drum!” announced Bruce as I raised Shrek’s pokeball and triggered his recall. 

Bruce perked up at this and I held back a grimace.

 If he’d been sloppy and released his pokemon closer I might have tried my hand. 

“Go Bertha!” I ordered, unleashing her on the field with a toss. She emerged and hit the mud with a roar that turned into a delighted shrill.

I tried to convey my absolute annoyance with her antics but she was too excited at getting to fight in the mud to care. I huffed and sent her at her foe. 

Bertha charged, the mud slowing her down only slightly as her horns whirred to life and she carved her way through the mud with Drill Run. 

“Meet it with Hammer Arm!” barked Bruce, and instead of going defensive, he sent his pokemon on the offensive. 

A flicker of my will had Bertha diving into the ground to evade the Hammer Arm that would have devastated Bertha thanks to the six times empowered attack power from Belly Drum.

The attack swished through the air only to send a wave of mud flying as its fist hit the soaked ground, sending it blasting off. It reminded me of playing in the pool with my siblings where we’d create waves with our arms, only this was more like a small tidal wave instead of a playful splash. 

Bertha emerged from the ground off to the side of Snorlax, cautiously shifting from side to side as Snorlax whirled about, arm already cocked back for another potential Hammer Arm.

Both Bertha and Snorlax glared at each other, holding their positions. Both of them were two heavy-weight pokemon. 

Now it came down to execution. With Bertha on the field and this close Bruce couldn’t play for his typical Rest tactic to absorb all the damage. 

I could outdo him in that regard. 

Still, with Snorlax empowered I didn’t want to let it get a hit on Bertha. That could spell disaster. 

A silence crept up on us as we both weighed our options, moves were considered and discarded at lightning speeds only for Bruce to blink first. 

“Return!” he barked.   

I twitched, only to have Bertha lift and thump her maul of a tail into the mud and through it into the ground, where it spiked into the actual ground. To everyone around us it looked like she had merely flexed her tail in frustration at her foe’s departure. 

In truth, she had just implemented a hidden Stealth Rock. 

Bruce palmed Snorlax’s pokeball with annoyance, eying Bertha as she stomped her feet and thumped her tail.

He palmed another ball with a smirk, only to stiffen as his eyes darted about the field. His hand shifted off his first selection and to another pokeball quickly. 

I repressed the urge to frown. I couldn’t help the feeling that I had just lost my chance at an easy one-two. 

Bertha matched my disappointment, only to perk up as instead of a flying type, another avian appeared before Bertha. 

“Blaz!” cried the Blaziken as it shifted into a fighting pose, only to start kicking and twitching as Stealth Rock slammed into it. It twirled out of the rocks to glower at Bertha before she could so much as twitch to unleash a Stone Edge follow up attack.

Bruce’s face flashed with vindication and his eyes flickered to Blaziken assessingly. Then he clenched at his forearm and I felt my heart drop. 

Had he gotten Blazikenite instead of the Charizardite I’d assumed from Steven Stone?

No, Steven only revealed that he had such items for sale a month or so ago. There wouldn’t have been anywhere near enough time to develop the bond that you would need between a pokemon not your starter and…

Realisation swept through me as I had an epiphany. That was why he’d been dragging the fight out with Charizard. He was putting himself and his starter in a high-stress situation to force their bond. 

He couldn’t Mega Evolve his pokemon yet. 

But he was trying to force it. 

Damn! That actually had a chance of working for him. 

If my growth with aura and my pokemon’s bond was any indication, then fighting a tough opponent was great for self improvement in more ways than one. 

“Low Kick!” ordered Bruce and his pokemon began to move only for Bertha to get off her own move with Surf. 

“Tch!” he said as I piled on the pressure by having Bertha perform Surf. 

She leapt back onto the forming wave and grinned down at Blaziken. 

“Flame Charge to the other side of the field now!” Bruce shouted, stabbing his hand in one direction, and Blaziken didn’t question him, it merely turned on a pokedime and sprinted away, leaving small hissing pools of mud behind it. 

When it reached the far edge of the field it turned around, only to find Bertha atop a wave giving chase with a huge grin. 

I narrowed my eyes, knowing something else was coming next. I fed Bertha the order to dismount from her wave, not wanting to let Blaziken get close to Bertha. 

She did so, making sure to hop back with a jaunty wiggle of her giant fingers. She adopted a ballerina pose through the air and when she hit the ground she sank into it a little, causing a huge torrent of mud to splash up around her. 

I could feel her glee at this. She sadly couldn’t wallow in the mud while she waited for her foe. She knew better, and my own anticipation leaked through the bond.

She knew enough about the type of pokemon she was facing however that I couldn’t fault her if she grabbed a handful of mud to throw. So she leaned down as the wave crashed, scooping up a pile. 

“Charge through the wave with Detect for follow up!” barked Bruce.

I could only blink with surprise as instead of evading the attack, his pokemon punched through. Blaziken rocketed out the back of the wave at full force, a cascade of water exploding around it as its body sizzled.

It landed and skidded straight into Bertha, who flicked her wrist and sent the mud soaring for Blaziken’s eyes. 

Sadly this seemed to be anticipated as Blaziken kept its arms raised. Mud splattered over its forearms and Blaziken sagged into a slide. 

I tensed, visions of Titan and Empress both taking huge amounts of damage from a much smaller, less specialised pokemon flooding to the front of my mind. 

Bertha realised the threat she was facing and took my warning to throw her whole body into a jump. She leapt, tailing flicking with her to propel her into the air.

She really couldn’t jump that high. She was heavy, and slow.

But it was enough to make all the difference as Blaziken slid underneath her with the Reversal or Low Kick that Bruce had tried to follow up with. 

Either would have been bad enough. 

Blaziken twisted up onto its feet, body steaming and feathers matted with mud. 

I licked my lips and Bertha readied herself.  

“Disengage and perform Sunny Day,” Bruce ordered. 

Blaziken dutifully hopped back rather than seeking to close. The firebird then cupped its hands in what looked almost like a Kamehameha pose before a red orb formed and was shot into the air. 

Bertha merely grinned and thumped her tail into the ground before waggling her finger in a denial.

The orb that represented the sun for Sunny Day found itself encountering grey, stormy clouds that devoured it, stopping any empowered fire attacks or a fast charge Solar Beam that Bruce could certainly do wonders with.

Bertha stopped wagging her finger and shaking her hips at Blaziken. She’d done what she needed to do to get Rain Dance to block Sunny Day, and instead she summoned another Surf at my bidding. 

I grinned. This fight was going much more differently than against Kaede. 

I really would have to thank her somehow for all the help she’d given me. Both directly with her review, and through our battle. 

Thanks to her I felt like I’d reached another level as a trainer.

Bruce clicked his tongue and raised another pokeball. “Baton Pass,” he said calmly. 

Blaziken broke up into a trickle of red light that soon reformed into another pokemon. 

This pokemon quickly revealed itself to be Dragonite. 

The Stealth Rock once more activated and slammed into Dragonite, only for it to ignore it and instead shoot up into the air. 

I snapped my hand up and Bertha nodded, throwing her own hands skyward as a bolt of lightning formed up before being unleashed into the sky. 

“Protect!” roared Bruce as he realised the trap that I’d been laying out all along with the Rain Dances I’d had my pokemon performing since practically the start of the match. 

Lightning rippled through the sky and honed in on the flying Dragonite, only for it to tuck itself into a ball and use Protect to safeguard it from damage. 

Bruce and I traded looks for a moment. Him with wide eyed surprise while I merely smirked. 

This was extremely different than how I’d fought with some of my pokemon in the past, but still entirely in my wheelhouse. 

I made a mental note to thank Karen when I fought her tomorrow, for triggering Bruce’s pride with her own showing. 

He’d misstepped right at the worst possible place against me. I’d taken control of the fight and I was going to squeeze Bruce out of it. 

I’d traded some of my pokemon’s moves yesterday for things like Ice Punch and Thunder, forcing them to lose other moves such as Hammer Arm, which both Shrek and Bertha had known prior to this morning, but that only made them harder to fight. 

In racing terms, I’d hit the ground running after yesterday’s fight, while it felt like Bruce had tried to get a standing start acceleration into a nos boost only to stall. 

Dragonite’s Protect faded and the symbolic gen one dragon shot above the clouds much like Charizard had done earlier. 

I licked my lips and settled in. 

I might have control of the match for now, but I couldn’t get lazy. 

I’d hurt quite a few of Bruce’s pokemon now, and in some cases, that would only make them all the more deadly. 

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

It also goes to Twmmy for Proofreading this chapter