Hard enough - Chapter 133 - Brock v Will part 3

“Shrek Dig!” I ordered, eyeing the distance that divided Slowking and him. Trying to sprint across it wouldn’t work, especially with Trick Room in effect. I could also have him do a dogged advance, but that wouldn’t work as well for me.

Instead, I was going to bet on something else happening. “Calm Mind,” said Will merrily, with his pokemon acting quickly under the Trick Room effect. Shrek burrowed down, slower than I’d ever seen him dig.

Will flicked a finger. “Another!” he said, causing his pokemon to repeat the move. He then raised a pokeball. “Change!” he ordered, his pokemon vanishing in a red beam of energy as another pokemon popped forward to where Slowking had been.

“Exeggutor!” said the grass-psychic type.

I frowned, Will had chosen a pokemon once again that was slower than my pokemon, allowing it to make the most of the Trick Room still in play. But that wasn’t what had me worried.

Slowking as a species should not know Baton Pass, and that wasn’t how Ally Switch was supposed to work.

I was certain of that. I had trained with Sabrina enough to know this. If this was a doubles battle, that would work, but it should have been a Baton Pass to get a pokemon out of a pokeball.

Unless… I flicked my eyes around the field at the rectangular space that encompassed the battlefield. Was this a Psychic Terrain interaction?

I had to shrug it off due to not knowing enough about how it worked, and instead focus on what was about to happen.

Shrek emerged to meet an Exeggutor with his maw glowing with Bite. His Bite sank into Exeggutor’s body, and the palm tree pokemon shouted in surprise at the attack. The Trick Room faltered and then collapsed into itself a moment later, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Exeggutor! Use Wood Hammer!” shouted Will, causing his pokemon to lunge forward with a glowing green leg seeking to kick Shrek in the face.

“Dip! Low Kick!” I shouted. Shrek crouched on all fours and had the attack sail over his head. He then lashed out with his own kick at Exeggutor’s other leg, causing the pokemon to buckle and topple like a tree that had been cut but an expert woodsman.

It wasn’t down for long, however, as before it hit the ground, its heads glowed blue, and it levitated itself back up onto its feet. I clicked my tongue. Was this Psychic field coming into play and making it stronger?

“Uppercut IP!” I barked out.

Shrek surged up sending Exeggutor flying with an Ice Punch between the legs. Exeggutor got up with a shivering snarl, and Shrek responded with a loud ribbit that caused his neck to inflate.

He’d just one-two’d Will’s pokemon and obviously thrown down a taunt.

“Control yourself!” Will snapped before chopping down. “Use Leaf Storm!”

“Dig low!” I shouted, causing Shrek to dip into the ground underneath the attack before bobbing up quickly in another position just as Will started to give another order.

“Use Earth—” He cut himself off just in time. “No! Disable!” he shouted.

“Bulk Up!” I ordered quickly.

Shrek started flexing, only for the move to be Disabled.

Will clicked his tongue, and I smirked. He wasn’t getting my pokemon’s mobility move that easily. And even if he did, I had another option.

“Use Leaf Storm!” Will barked frustratedly, only for my pokemon to dip into the ground and then back out.

“Dig mid,” I said, giving a slightly different order from last time.

“Tch! Use Future Sight!” he barked, causing his pokemon’s eyes to all glow as Shrek popped back up.

“Seed Bomb!” Will said as his own eyes glowed slightly, making me know some sort of trick was afoot.

Exeggutor unleashed a barrage of Seed Bombs but its attacks arced up high. They’d be very slow with an arc like that, I thought to myself.

“Ice Beam on him,” I ordered, deciding to punish the slow attack. Shrek unleashed a powerful blast with a large white-blue beam of energy.

“Let the main head drive! Sidestep!!” Will ordered as most of his pokemon’s heads looked up at the now-falling Seed Bombs. The front head, a dopey-looking face, smiled wider and seemed to focus on moving the main body.

“Arc the beam to the side!” I ordered Shrek, who did as commanded.

Wil grasped a hand up at the falling Seed Bombs. “Use Psychic and hurl those at your foe!”

“Break off!” I said to Shrek, causing him to stop chasing the furiously sprinting Exeggutor and instead focus upwards. I considered blasting them out of the air for a moment before discarding that idea. “Protect!” I shouted, causing Shrek to hunker down as Seed Bombs dropped right on him.

Or rather, around him. I blinked in surprise and shot a look at Will who was grinning.

“Boom!” he said theatrically as all the Seed Bombs detonated as one. Shrek’s Protective shell was rocked back and forth, and I wasn’t surprised when the smoke cleared to see him slightly dirty from being shaken about.

While the attack didn’t get through, it did rattle the cage.

I opened my mouth to give an order, only for a final Seed bomb that Will must have been keeping in reserve to slam into Shrek and detonate.

Shrek croaked in pain but stood strong, his gaze focused on the now smirking Exeggutor.

I clicked my tongue; had that been his Future Sight coming into effect? “Surf!” I said much to the confusion of the crowd. I could hear more than a few people point out that water-type moves were not very good against grass-types.

Will merely narrowed his eyes. “Use Seed Bomb again!”

Shrek didn’t hesitate, however, and instead leapt backwards onto a rapidly forming wave.

He hunkered down as the wave built up. “Slide like Suzie and use Ice Beam!” I said cryptically.

Shrek understood the reference and nodded. When the wave rose up high, he let himself slide back first over the wave, like Suzie would do at the playground, before firing off his Ice Beam directly into the wave. It froze, only for Will to hurl Seed Bombs at it.

“Ice Punch!” I said. Shrek slammed his fist into the now-frozen wave as it exploded across multiple points. The punch blasted a wave of ice blocks forward. Ice rained down and began to fall onto Exeggutor.

“Psychic!” Will ordered. His pokemon glared up at the threatening ice wave and grasped it telekinetically to catch it in the air. Then he shifted it to the sides. When it was out of danger, it let the ice blocks smash into the ground.

When he did so, the field that had been glowing to signify Psychic Field flickered and collapsed.

I couldn’t help but frown. Damn, that move had hung around for a long time.

I did not want to let Slowking set that up again.

I considered ordering Shrek to repeat the Surf and Ice Beam combination but decided against it after a moment. He’d been working through a variety of moves and was now looking rather tired. I knew I could push on with him, but I wasn’t sure that was the best move right now.

I had a rather good option for Exeggutor on my team, however.

“Shrek return! You’ve done great! Rest for now!” I pulled him out quickly and mentally noted that I’d used three returns so far to Will’s two, with his … Baton Pass?

“Move side to side with one head! The rest of you! Use Sunny Day!” His pokemon began darting back and forth as a small orb of fire rose up and shone harshly down. The mud that had built up started to steam and dry up, forming odd pockets of restricted vision.

“Go Gawain!” I shouted, sending out my Kleavor once again. He buzzed angrily and shifted from foot to foot before locking eyes with Exeggutor.

“Solar Beam!” shouted Will

“Agility!” I barked, causing my pokemon to leap into action.

“Teeter around!” ordered Will, making his pokemon stand on one leg and pirouette.

“Dart into the steam clouds!” I shouted. Gawain dropped out of sight even more as he sprinted into the steam and then around the teetering tree. I eyed Exeggutor for a moment before punching forward. “Now! X-Scissor!”

“Use Hypnosis! All heads!” Will ordered to counter. From all the heads, a small series of waves radiated out and caught Gawain as he sprinted in with his axes upraised.

I grimaced. Will had really taken the multiple heads and stretched them for all it was worth, hadn’t he?

How had he done that with so many pokemon? That was a Jynx, a Slowking, and now an Exeggutor with specialised skills. That was insane. Part of me wanted to deny it; he must have gotten the pokemon from a backer with deep pockets. The only other option was that… he was a damn good trainer with the skills to train pokemon like that?

It was much more palatable that he had a deep-pocketed backer. With the tactics he’d used so far, I felt like I’d spit blood if I were to ever acknowledge Will’s abilities as a trainer.

I was stunned at what happened next.

Gawain, who’d run face-first into the Hynopsis thanks to my poor orders and Will’s trap, leapt instead of allowing himself to fall asleep. His axes were held in front of him, with Bug energy crawling over them. He slammed into Exeggutor and sent the larger pokemon soaring back.

“Yes! Nicely done, Gawain!” I shouted. That had been entirely due to his good instincts and the weapons training he’d practised. He’d kept his axes up, and that had made all the difference to allow him one move before he fell asleep.

“Synthesis! Now!” shrieked Will in surprise as his pokemon struggled.

I could see a few heads of the Exeggutor shutting their eyes only for one to flinch slightly and glow green. I grimaced as, under the Sunny Day effect, Exeggutor regained a serious part of his health.

Gawain staggered and snored, his eyes falling shut as his Axes fell to the ground. “Damn it! WAKE UP BUDDY!” I shouted feeling a small hope for him to die.

Gawain shook himself then and opened his eyes, stunning me. He raised his Axes and brandished them.

“Klea! Vor!!” he shouted.

“Yes!” I shouted in glee and I thought I heard a good number of younger voices also take up the cry with me. I could imagine a swarm of Bug Catchers trainers had joined in shouting for Gawain to wake up.

Will clicked his tongue and eyed the now ready-to-fight Kleavor before him. “Exeggutor! Return!” shouted Will, not willing to back himself.

“Swords Dance!” I ordered for Gawain, making the most of the pause for my pokemon to buff himself up. He nodded and flicked his axes about in readiness for his next opponent as I assessed him. He was still a bit tired, but he seemed nothing but determined right now. Three returns to three now

I nodded, deciding to keep him out and fighting.

“Go Jynx!” Will called as he released a pokemon I was looking forward to putting in the ground.

“Future Sight,” was the first move he called for. I knew that would take a while to work, so I punched forward.

“Finish her with X-Scissor!” Kleavor leapt to the side, only for Jynx’s eyes to glow and for her to perform a fast hop to the side.

“Ha! Nice try Brock! My pokemon is forewarned of your pokemon’s strongest moves!” Will crowed.

I held back the urge to point out how cliche it was for a villain to spout lines like that. Will was obviously feeling pretty strong in himself with how his pokemon had evaded my attack.

I tilted my head. “In that case, Stone Axe. Get close and hit her in her—” I was going to say mouth but Kleavor accelerated forward and slammed an axe into her throat.

If Jynx was weaker, I expect there would have been another emergency call out for Chansey with a critical case. Instead, it lifted Jynx off the ground and threw her backwards.

She landed and rose up gasping and wheezing with her hand clutching her throat.

“Yeah! Right in her throat!” cheered what I suspected was Flannery once again. “Hit her again!” she cried before the crowd could overwhelm her voice with their own noise.

“Finish he—” I cried out only for Will to make a gesture and for Jynx to vanish. And another pokemon to take her place.

Jynx once again escaped her fate, clinging on as she vanished in a flash of red with another pokemon that Will had the pokeball raised up for. must have used…  I tilted my head and scowled.

How the hell had he done that? It wasn’t like I could call him out on a move that shouldn’t work because it obviously had worked.

Something fishy was going down here.

I huffed in annoyance; this trend of Will just barely hanging on with his pokemon was getting frustrating.

I was whittling down at Will’s pokemon but he was just clinging in there to stop me from getting that knockout blow. I’d been able to surprise him more than a few times, but apart from Starmie, he hadn’t allowed me that same solid hit on any of his pokemon.

Some of the blows my pokemon had dished out should have landed or hit a bit harder, I felt, but it might again be a sign of how good the pokemon I was facing actually were.

I was honestly surprised that Gawain hadn’t finished Jynx. Still, I shook it off. Now was not the time to focus on that.

In Jynx’s place, Medicham appeared and had to throw itself out of the way of Gawain’s axes, only to then take a barrage of Stealth Rocks.

As it flinched, I pushed for more, smelling blood. “X-scissor!” I barked, causing Gawain to shoot forward and slam both axes into Medicham.

Medicham was thrown back, only to bounce back into the fight. My eyes narrowed as I noticed that its left arm was hanging limply.

That last hit had done some serious damage but Will was not going to recall his pokemon?

“Again X-scissor!” Gawain blurred into action again. By now, all the puddles had dried up, and the field was looking arid as the Sunny Day started to flicker and die.

“Hold for it!” ordered Will, his hand upraised. Medicham didn’t bounce so much as sway drunkenly from foot to foot, its eyes darting about as it waited for Gawain to close.

“Close i—” I started to order, only for Gawain to cry out as he stumbled and had to catch himself.

I scowled. Was that Jynx’s earlier Future Sight coming into play or something else?

“Recover!” Will said gleefully, making the most of the flinch from Gawain to see his pokemon back to better health.

“Close again!” I ordered.

Gawain leapt forward and repeated the start of the match with himself and Medicham trading attacks; both weaved and dodged but it was slower now, both pokemon were tired.

A Stone Axe slammed into Medicham and I leaned forward, knowing the moment was close.

“Take Down!” Will barked, making his pokemon throw itself into a reckless charge, slamming itself forward into Gawain.

Gawain was thrown back but it wasn’t that effective. Gawain heaved in air and glared standing straight as his opponent stumbled.

Gawain started to step forward, anticipating the finish of this extended exchange.

“Force Palm!” screamed Will.

“Protect!” I shouted to Gawain, only for him to struggle to raise his axes. He took the Force Palm head-on and was tossed back, resulting in my third pokemon going down.

I exhaled in annoyance. That, had been damn close.

Will exhaled shakily in relief. He knew it as well; if Gawain’s Protect hadn’t failed… I’d have been able to take that match. Instead, I was raising Gawain’s pokeball and recalling him.

“That was damn well fought, Gawain. I think you won a lot of fans today,” I said as I returned him to his pokeball.

I checked the field, considered it for a moment, and replayed how this exchange had gone the last time I’d replaced a pokemon against Medicham. He’d had to back down against Knight.

I smirked and selected my next big metal pokemon.

____________________________

Gary chewed his lip as, next to him, Mia bounced in her seat.

“I’m not liking this, Gary!” she said. She then shot to her feet. “Come on BROCK!” she shouted along with over half the stadium.

All around the stands, people were cheering Brock and Gawain on. Gary watched, taking it all in. He was amazed at how strong these pokemon were, what’s more, they were so precise in their movements. That first thirty seconds of the fight alone had been incredible!

He’d never seen a technical fight that had him on the edge of his seat like that!

“He’s gonna be fine!” Gary said coolly, arms crossed and not at all twitching as he resisted he urge to join Mia in standing and cheering. He instead flicked his gaze over the others he found himself sitting with. Mia had pulled some strings by being a sponsored trainer, and walked up to the front desk only to get ushered through by some old woman while others watched on enviously.

They had no tickets, and yet they found themselves sitting in the trainer box with the true VIPs.

“Well said Gary,” Gym Leader Erika said from her seat along the row.

“It’s not fine!” wailed Mia. “Why couldn’t Jackson, or Missy, or Rocko or anyone else but Dennis be the ref! They wouldn’t have allowed the baloney that Will is pulling off!”

“Dennis made the right call,” Gym Leader Sabrina said from next to Erika. “It is a technical gap in the rules that has never been documented before. I suspect the League will be closing that gap. This is the first time a high profile match has ever exhibited it. It has very negative connotations if you need to use it… but it does nothing for us here and now, sadly.”

“Urgh! Sabrina You’re supposed to be more angry!” Mia said with a whine.

Sabrina glanced at them, and Gary shivered at the intensity of her gaze. “I am quite furious, I assure you.”

Mia hastily nodded and cuddled up to Silly Mouse, who had rolled onto his back, his feet in the air, in a clear sign of supplication to Sabrina.

Sabrina shut her eyes and exhaled before opening her eyes, her expression softened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intimidate you.”

“N-no worries,” said Mia quickly. Gary nodded along before tilting his head as he replayed the match so far in his head.

“Go Jormungandr!” shouted Brock on the field as he released his fourth pokemon.

Gary chewed his lip. “Does it seem like Will still has a plan for that Jynx, Slowking, and Exeggutor? He pulled them out pretty fast when they get threatened…”

Erika frowned. “He obviously doesn’t want to lose them; they’re strong pokemon with good type advantages. Especially Exeggutor with his grass-typing. He did well to stall out Brock’s Swampert.”

The battlefield rumbled as Brock and Will’s pokemon exchanged blows.

Sabrina shook her head. “If anything, Brock stalled out Exeggutor. He was wearing it down and forcing it to use a lot of its moves. It will be very tired when it returns to the field.”

Erika nodded. “I suppose. Exeggutor is a strong pokemon. Those Seed Bombs with Psychic are rather devastating.” She tapped her fingers together. “I hadn’t considered using them together like that.”

Mia scoffed, annoyed that they were praising Will.

Gary kept his ears open though, if Gym leaders were praising the combination, it had to be good. Exeggutor was proving to be a pokemon he was suddenly much more interested in looking into. He’d need to plan a trip to the Safari Zone soon if he wanted it ready for the end of the circuit.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes and gestured at the field “The choice of using his… penalty move,” oh, and how she spat that word, “on Psychic Terrain itself is an interesting tactic. If he hadn’t been allowed a free move, I believe that Slowking would have to be sacrificed to achieve the same effect,” murmured Sabrina.

She stared down. “He has also used moves such as Ally Switch in a manner that is not how it traditionally works…”

Greta perked up. “That was Ally Switch? I thought it was Baton Pass?”

Sabrina shook her head. “That was not Baton Pass. It was very similar, but also wrong with how it felt to my senses… but it still worked. Sabrina narrowed her eyes at the match. “Which is extremely vexing as I can’t put my finger on why it is working.” Sabrina shook her head. “Regardless, Baton Pass isn’t something those pokemon can learn…”

“So…” Flannery said. “He’s cheating?”

Sabrina twitched. “I can’t find anything that indicates that he is. His moves are working despite themselves which isn’t cheating. His pokemon’s moves simply raise questions. Lots of questions.”

“Like that Mean Look,” Roxanne said.

“Indeed,” Sabrina said, her head bobbing up and down. “Mean Look typically stops impacting pokemon once they are passed out. Their energy paths become placid, and Mean Look shouldn’t impact a pokeball’s return. Will must have trained his pokemon to cause that effect.”

“The pokeball company isn’t going to like Will,” Erika said.

Gary blinked and turned his head toward the Celadon Gym Leader. He wasn’t alone in his confusion.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Roxanne.

Erika indicated the field. “Brock’s pokeballs look faulty. Something that usually never occurs on live television unless they are poorly maintained. Lots of people got a very good look at Brock’s pokeballs and they were well-maintained without any scuffs. It will look like an error that they have in their pokeballs which Will is exploiting, resulting in Brock losing those pokemon like he did.”

That caused a stir among the listening trainers. Gary swallowed. “Is it that big a deal that he trained his Jynx specifically to cause that?”

Erika bobbed her head up and down. “Oh certainly, people are already talking about it on the pokenet,” Erika said, raising up her transceiver and showing what looked like a pokenet forum discussing the match so far.

Sabrina smiled at Erika and opened her mouth to speak, only to stiffen. She stood, her head snapping back and forth around the area. Her expression caused Gary the most concern so far. She looked worried. It made him wonder, what could make a Gym Leader worried?

Erika glanced back at her. “Sabrina?” When Sabrina didn’t answer, she shot Jackson and the others a worried look.

Sabrina’s eyes glowed, and she began to slowly look around. “Something is wrong… I…” She looked worried. “I’m not sure now.”

Jackson hummed and stood. “I’ll do a sweep with some others.” He tapped two other Gym trainers and nodded. “Check the crowd for any Psychic or Ghost pokemon that are out of their pokeballs,” he ordered to the trainers.

Brawly stood and said, “Can I help out? I might specialise in Fighting types, but I have some tricks for Ghost and Psychic pokemon.”

Jackson nodded. “Walk with me; two sets of eyes are better than one.”

Mia jostled Gary, and he shot her a surprised look as she stood up. “We’ll help as well!”

Jackson nodded. “Stay here and keep an eye from this angle. Missy, you’ve got a radio. If Sabrina detects anything else, radio us.”

The purple-haired older girl nodded thoughtfully, her eyes sweeping the arena.

Gary watched them go with a frown. They were taking Sabrina’s comment awfully seriously. Scarily, seriously. He glanced at the Saffron Gym Leader. She seemed like a no-nonsense type. She was known as one of the best Psychic trainers around. For both training pokemon, and personal prowess.

Gary had checked the pokenet forum about her, and it was littered with people debating her skills. Trainers that worked at her Gym raved about her insight and skills at leading them with even the smallest gesture or being an extremely powerful psychic.

Rumour had it that she could lift a Snorlax with her mind!

So, perhaps a small comment from her was actually a huge deal?

Gary swept his eyes over the crowd before snapping back to the battlefield as another pokemon hit the ground, causing Mia and everyone in the arena to shoot to their feet and shout.

Gary inspected both of the trainers on the field. They no longer smiled. Both of them bore serious expressions that merely showed how close this match had become.

________________________________

Johnny of Chapter House Six lit a candle.

He and the rest of the boys that made up Chapter House Six of the Bug Catcher Club clapped their hands in thanks.

Brock might be a Rockie, one of the natural enemies of Johnny’s kind, but with his newest pokemon, he’d shown the world the strength of Bug Types to everyone.

No longer would other kids mock them in school! Their parents would stop badgering them to look into proper pokemon.

Girls might even… Johnny coughed.

Yeah, that was a bit of a stretch. Most of the girls hated bugs. Or at least the ones he talked to about it did.

They always had a look on their faces when he talked about the cool pinchers and beady eyes that bugs had.

“All those in favour of inviting Gym Leader Brock to our Chapter house?” he said to the other members of Chapter House Six.

“Aye!” the other five club members said.

One boy raised his hand. Johnny drew himself up and nodded seriously. “Yes, visiting member Bugsy?” he said, making sure to emphasise that the boy wasn’t part of their clubhouse.

Johnny wouldn’t deny him entry to the clubhouse; he was a sworn-in member of the International Bug Catcher Club. He was also whispered about as a possible Gym Trainer of Azalea Town! Johnny didn’t believe that!

It sort of sounded like Wallace’s claim of having a girlfriend who liked bugs but lived in Cerulean. If that wasn’t a lie, Johnny was Mankey’s uncle!

Bugsy coughed into his fist. “Ah! Chapter Leader Johnny! Can we not… just go up to talk to Brock?”

Johnny shook his head and adopted his ‘kind boss’ pose number six as he crossed his legs and raised his Caterpie up to scratch behind its antennae as she liked. “Ah, one does not simply walk into the Pewter Gym!” he said.

Bugsy tilted his head. “But… I did that last week to book a match?” he said.

Johnny blanched but recovered quickly “For non-gym purposes! You can’t just walk up to him about his Elite pokemon!”

Bugsy nodded slowly, understanding Johnny’s true brilliance. “Right! I’ll ask him after our match!” he said, clenching his fists. Bugsy then levelled a megawatt smile at the rest of the group. “Want to come to watch my match? Then we can see it together if he says yes!”

This caused a stir, and Johnny had to force down a scowl. Damn trainers from Johto! Coming around and stealing his cool points!

He accepted as leader of the group, and then directed their attention back to the match. Maybe Will might use something like a Venomoth. They were cool bug pokemon that had strong Psychic powers.

It was a shame that Brock didn’t have another bug-rock pokemon that would be cool. But there were no chances of that. Nope! Zero!

Johnny was about to suggest that Venomoth might be one of Will’s pokemon but before he could, the door to the Clubhouse opened.

“Hello boys! Enjoying the match?” said his mother with a cheery smile.

Johnny slumped. “Muuuuuuuuuuum! We’re having a Clubhouse meeting; you can’t just come in!”

“Oh,” said his mother, obviously stumped at being called out on entering the baseme—Clubhouse! The other boys nodded firmly at this, while Bugsy smiled sheepishly and waved at his mother.

His mother shifted. “Does that mean you don’t want any snacks?” She proffered a tray of snacks that had been arranged into a Beedrill arrangement.

Oh wow, it smelled amazing, and were those chocolate chip cookies? His mother beamed as the other members betrayed their leader and invited her in.

She happily trotted in and sat with them, with Caterpie leaping out of his hands to cuddle with his mother. The traitor!

Johnny sighed and bit into his snack, his eyes turning back to watch the next exchange of blows.

___________________________________

“Go Jormungandr!” I shouted as I released my Steelix. Jorm came out with a roar, and he swept his gaze around to lock it onto his foe. When he spotted the Medicham, he snarled from deep within his throat, causing the ground to rumble.

Will leaned back to assess the new threat. “You can take him Medicham,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Rock Slide,” I said Jorm responded by whipping his tail about, dragging it through the ground, and hurling the broken rocks like a rolling avalanche towards Medicham.

“Dance over it!” was the reply, with Medicham sprinting towards the attack.

Then it jumped, dancing with light feet over the top of the Rock Slide like it was merely a wobble on the floor rather than an actual threat.

“Crunch straight forward,” I said, making sure to enunciate the command clearly. Jormungandr heard me and leapt forward with fangs glowing with darkness, just like we’d practised.

“Force Palm!” ordered Will as his pokemon closed. Just as it was about to land, a hand cocked back to fire off, only for Jorm to not shoot straight at him but rather right in front of the Medicham.

The earth cratered at the impact as Jorm dug his head straight into the ground, anchoring himself. Then he shook like a Growlithe that was wet, causing the earth to tremble underneath him and shake. It wasn’t a true earthquake, but it was enough to make Medicham stumble instead of landing cleanly.

The third part of the attack sequence then came into effect. With Jorm’s head stuck in the ground, his tail could become a whip. He swept it around in a tightly controlled arc, glowing with silvery steel energy.

“Jump!” barked Will, only for his pokemon to not be able to leap as high as he normally would. In most scenarios, a fighting type closing with a Steelix would see them taking the advantage, but I’d seen how Medciham reacted when he didn’t have good footing. It might have even been why Will didn’t bring Medicham out while the ground was slick with mud.

With that weakness revealed, it became all too clear what I needed to do with Will’s pokemon.

With its leap not as strong as usual, Jormungandr’s tail whipped around and swatted Medicham out of the air. Medicham tumbled when he landed and struggled to rise up.

“Recover now!” Will ordered quickly.

Jorm raised his head and, in doing so, broke off a large chunk of rock from the battlefield, causing craters to form from where he’d gouged with his head. With the rock blocking his field of view, he couldn’t tell where Medicham was. Thankfully, this was where I came in.

“Stone Edge, two o’clock!” I said. Jorm reacted instantly, his rock energy grasping the easiest rock and launching it straight at Medicham, who was still sinking into a meditative pose. Its eyes widened as the boulder slammed into it.

When the dust settled, it revealed Medicham slumped against the back wall as the barriers that protected the crowd flickered and strained.

Dennis raised a flag. “Medicham is unable to battle!”

I nodded. Two down. That left Jynx, Slowking, Exeggutor, and one other to play.

The first three pokemon were all worn down as well. I eyed Jormungandr and noticed how he rippled and flexed his segments. Of my pokemon Titan and Jormungandr were still fresh, while Shrek was winded but by no means fatigued.

I nodded. I could do this. I had setbacks, but now I had the chance to claw this back.

Will returned his pokemon and drummed his fingers on his pokebelt. Then he clasped a pokeball at the front and nodded at me.

“Go Alakazam!” he shouted.

I leaned forward, knowing he’d just sent out his ace.

I once again relaxed when I noted the lack of jewellery about the Alakazam’s body.  With this pokemon sent out, Will had revealed his last pokemon.

Now things were locked in, and we were in the endgame.

The few Stealth Rocks I had around once again lashed out and peppered Alakazam’s form, only for it to shake its head in annoyance.

“Stone Edge!” I said, giving the order and trying to make the most of the momentary lapse that came with every new pokemon Will sent out.

“Psychic!” Will barked. His pokemon raised its spoons and grabbed the Stone Edge before it could cross half the distance. It then rocketed back at Jorm, only for him to bend his body out of danger. The Stone Edge slammed into a barrier, making it glow orange for a moment, highlighting just how powerful that attack had been.

I clicked my tongue. Alright, I needed something more. That Alakazam was no joke.

I raised Jormungandr’s ball as I detached Titan’s. I wasn’t going to play games or try to have him hold out against what I knew would be a very powerful pokemon.

So instead, I returned him and whipped out Titan. I didn’t announce it or make a big show of it.

I needed my strongest to come out and fight now.

Will chopped his hand forward, and Alakazam clashed his spoons together, unleashing a cube that expanded from the spoons. The move had barely started to expand as Titan landed on the field in the central position.

I could see that despite Will’s hurried usage of yet another Psychic Terrain, it seemed to have a larger impact as small rocks rose upwards, like gravity was being reversed enough to cause them to rise.

A stacking effect from the earlier Psychic terrain? Another oddity.

Titan hit the ground and snarled as his eyes locked on his foe, just as the Psychic terrain engulfed him. The crowd rose and roared in approval of Titan taking to the field.

I once more channelled my reserves of aura into the latest pokemon on the field, causing Titan to shift as he felt his own energy levels rise.

Will swiped his hand and left the Psychic field half-formed. It wavered horribly, and I knew it wouldn’t last anywhere near as long as the previous Psychic Field. Will smirked and waved his hand forward.

Alakazam vanished into a Teleport. I had to blink in surprise when he teleported right into Titan’s grasp.

“DP!” I shouted, knowing that this either had to be a trap or a mistake on his part.

Will didn’t say anything as his Alakazam suddenly faded into an all too familiar red energy, only to be swapped out with a much larger form.

Exeggutor formed up and took the blast of Dark Pulse face first, causing it to stagger backwards.

It even started to topple.

The various heads slumped with one coconut-like head hanging on as it glared at Titan. I could see Stealth Rocks coming in even as Exeggutor’s single head tried to raise its body.

If Will thought he could get away with—

“Self Destruct!” shouted Will, his smirk firmly in place.

Oh fuck this asshole, I thought to myself as the battlefield erupted.

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A.N. I promise the next chapter is the finale of this fight!

Be prepared, Brock v Will - Part 4 - The Finale is next! - https://www.patreon.com/posts/hard-enough-134-85566689

Thank you to my supporters and Patreons!

This chapter is unbeta’d so I apologise for any errors that seem obvious!