My team and I were arranged in a circle, sitting around the egg I received from the League as compensation for what happened in Sea Mauville. The egg was within a temperature-controlled glass container with a padded bottom. Its container was mass produced and provided by the Pokémon League, so once the egg hatched I was supposed to return the case to the Pokémon Center so another egg could use it.

Ninetales leaned forward to inspect the egg before sitting back up. Everyone was watching it, intrigued, including Azumarill, which surprised me since she was pretty self-focused. The only exception was Mawile, who didn’t look like she understood what the big deal was.

I had looked over the rules for eggs earlier, to see what I needed to know to take care of one both now and when it hatched. I found out that newly hatched Pokémon quickly adapted to teams and could learn new moves quickly, but would take a while before they could fight in a battle. However, neither an egg nor a freshly hatched Pokémon would count towards my carry limit until the hatched Pokémon competed in its first battle.

However, the egg was unlikely to hatch earlier than a month from now. With only four and a half months left in the season, the Ponyta that would hatch from it would be unlikely to be a part of any battle until the Ever Grande Conference. As much as I would like to use a Galarian Rapidash in battle, I doubted I would have the chance until the next League season.

Since the egg and the Pokémon that hatched from it wouldn’t count against my maximum, I still needed to catch a sixth team member that would be able to fight. A utility move-heavy Pokémon would be nice, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to a sixth this soon.

Pushing my thoughts about the egg aside, I sat up a little straighter to get everyone's attention and started to talk about what comes next.

"As everyone's noticed, we have a new companion coming our way. I'm looking forward to them joining our team, but we’ll have to remember they'll be freshly hatched and unable to battle until they grow. Also, I'm pretty sure they have a basic awareness of their surroundings even within their egg, so make sure to include them in your discussions. Let them learn about us before they hatch."

While I wasn’t entirely sure if eggs actually could understand their surroundings, I remembered that the Larvitar Ash took to Mt. Silver had memories of its time within its egg. I wanted to make sure our new team member didn’t feel left out. My Pokémon weren’t against that idea either, since Ninetales and Florges both perked up when I mentioned talking to the Pokémon within the egg. The only other Pokémon that had a reaction to what I said was Azumarill, who deflated when she heard that the Pokémon within the egg would be unable to battle until they grew.

She probably wanted to spar with them as soon as possible.

While I considered what to say next, Ninetales started to quietly say something to the egg, but Florges lightly smacked her admonishingly so she stopped.

"Outside of the egg, we have a few goals to take care of before our next Gym,” I said, starting to explain. “The first thing we're going to do is catch a new Pokémon for Laura. If you recall, she was complaining that Dewford didn't have any good punching Pokémon to catch one that matched her style, but some of you might remember a specific Pokémon that would be perfect for her. I want to start giving back to my friends, instead of only receiving, so this is a first step.

Florges looked to be a little uncomfortable with that idea, since she was the one who had to evolve to fight the Pokémon I was talking about.

"Next, we're going to meet up with Wally in Mauville. We'll be traveling together until we earn our last three Gym Badges, which I'm looking forward to. No offense, but it'll be nice to talk to a human once in a while."

Azumarill snorted.

"And from there, we're just going to follow whatever path seems best for our respective journeys. Any questions?"

Azumarill raised her hand. Mawile saw this and raised hers as well.

"Do you want to know our training goals?"

Azumarill’s face twisted into a feral grin while Mawile nodded her head silently.

"Alright. Ninetales and Florges, work on learning Moonblast. It's the strongest Fairy Type move available to us, and then afterwards we'll work on expanding your utility moves.

"Azumarill, we're just working on general body training for you. I've been delaying working on this move since it's so dangerous, and because I only have a vague idea of how it works, but you’re going to learn Belly Drum."

Azumarill started to vibrate with excitement.

"Now listen here, you might be excited that it can maximize your attack, but it's incredibly dangerous. Just using it damages you internally, and when you haven't perfected it, it'll straight out knock you unconscious. You wouldn't have been able to learn it as weak as you were as Marill-"

Azumarill crossed her arms, upset, and Mawile somehow looked offended. After all, she did lose to Azumarill when Azumarill was still a Marill.

"-Not that you were weak back then, but now you have the chance. I want you to be perfectly prepared before learning it to prevent any medical emergencies. It’ll take a while to prepare you, so I’d say we’ll start with the move itself around the time the egg hatches."

Azumarill acquiesced to my suggestions. Considering her training still involved strengthening herself, she didn't have too many complaints.

“Now Swablu, we’re going to work on two different things. First is your hidden ability, Cloud Nine. It’ll let you negate weather around you and we can use that to send you out after Ninetales to stop her hail from damaging the rest of the team. Second off, since you’re getting closer to evolution, I want to teach you a move that’ll be good to enhance an Altaria’s inherent tankiness. It’s called Cotton Guard. From what I could tell, it grows the fluff on your wings to cover your entire body and drastically raise your defenses. Ninetales, when you’re not busy working with Florges, try to use Hail or Snow Warning to create weather for Swablu to train in.”

Ninetales yipped in response and Swablu started to puff up his chest in an attempt to figure out Cotton Guard already.

“And finally, Mawile. You’re the newest member of the team, so you have the least combat experience. I want to start working on making sure your current moves can be performed as quickly, accurately, and powerfully as possible before you learn anything else. Iron Head is decent, but Feint Attack and Sucker Punch are a little too obvious to be used well. We’ll practice to get the start of those moves better so no one can start a move then stop if they recognize your stance.”

Mawile rolled her shoulder, most likely already thinking of ways to do as I said.

“Also, I want to start using your Steel Typing to its fullest extent. You naturally resist a lot of Types, so I want to make sure you’re great at defending yourself in melee. Azumarill is an expert in that, so you’ll work with her when she isn’t training for Belly Drum. This should also help develop two of your abilities: Hyper Cutter and Sheer Force, both of which are important for melee combat.”

My statement was punctuated by an impromptu staring contest between Azumarill and Mawile. While they weren’t the biggest fans of each other, I couldn’t help but to notice Mawile glance at Azumarill occasionally. They clearly had some sort of rivalry, and I hoped that it would help both of them develop even further.

I quietly believed a conspiracy theory that Azumarill purposely manipulated Mawile just to have a rival, but I didn’t verbalize that idea to anyone.

I looked over my team to make sure everyone was ready to start training.

"Now then, you got all of that? Let's start."

"Alex! Hey, I didn't expect you to call anytime soon. Where're you at?"

"I'm currently north of Oldale, a few days out from Rustboro. Heading to Mauville. You?"

"Can't tell you, but I can say that I'm 'weathering' it."

"So the Weather Institute?"

"...you weren't supposed to guess that."

I had called Thomas to ask him a few questions. While my goal was to catch Laura a Pokémon before I met up with Wally, I realized I had no clue where that Pokémon would be. Since Thomas was training to be an Ace Trainer, I expected him to know, or could at least help me find where I could get that information.

"Anyway, Thomas, I’m trying to capture a specific Fighting Type that had been relocated from Route 112. Do you know where it might be?"

Thomas hummed.

"It’d definitely be off-route. I'd say it would’ve been taken to the encampment on the mountain range northwest of Verdanturf. I’ll email you the directions."

I took a deep breath. My Pokémon were strong enough to manage going off-route, but I was hesitant to do so. Off-route Pokémon were stronger and more territorial, so we would need to be extra careful if we were to leave the main path.

Thomas spoke again while I considered my next steps.

"If you're around Oldale, why don't you catch a Ralts or head to Petalburg woods to catch Cottonee instead? They're some of the strongest Fairy Types within the region and easy to catch."

While Thomas was wrong about me catching a Fighting Type for myself, he was right I could catch either of the two Pokémon he mentioned. However, I didn’t want to commit too early to the last Pokémon on my team. Once the egg hatched, I would have had enough time to get Mawile caught up and I would be able to decide if one of those two Pokémon would actually fit as my last team member.

“I appreciate you giving me a heads up about those options, but I’m not catching the Fighting Type for myself," I explained. "I want to help a friend and she's not in a location to catch another team member, so I decided to do something nice for her."

“That’s kind of you,” Thomas said. There was a brief moment where someone called out to him in the background of the call, and he yelled something quick to respond. “Sorry, but it seems I can’t talk any longer, I have to return to my patrol. Good luck with the capture and stay safe, Alex.”

I said goodbye and hung up my Pokégear. Thomas’s information was exactly what I needed. With the location provided, it was time to find Hitmonchan.

I decided to go off-route early to reach Verdanturf and go from there. It was faster than following the curving routes that led to Mauville and Route 117, which was important since I was on a timer to catch Hitmonchan before Wally earned his fifth badge. It'd be the first time my team and I had ever gone off-route, so I was a bit worried. I would need to take extra precautions to stay safe.

Unlike camping on patrolled routes, it wasn’t safe to sleep through the night without keeping watch. Some Pokémon liked to hunt at night and might think an unprotected tent contained an easy snack. Pokémon with the ability Insomnia and artificial Pokémon like Porygon were the best options to keep watch all night, but we didn’t have a member like that on our team so we took turns keeping watch instead. Luckily, southwest Hoenn was one of the safer areas when it came to wild Pokémon, as long as we didn’t enter deep Petalburg Woods.

However, while I knew we would be likely to be safe by keeping watch, I made sure to have insurance in the form of Banette. As far as I could tell, it was still living in my shadow and eating the food I passed its way. Since its species was one of the few that has the Insomnia ability, the first night that I took watch, I called it out and negotiated payment for it to be our failsafe at night. Through Pokémon charades we eventually settled on a deal that for every night we were off-route, I would give it a double helping of dinner whenever we were in a city. It was a much better payment than letting it eat my dreams like it asked, which may have revealed knowledge I didn’t want getting out there.

When it came to the actual travel off-route from Oldale to Verdanturf, it was much less exciting than I expected for something hyped up to be so dangerous. Wild Pokémon tended to stay grouped up within their species, and there were a surprising number of evolved Pokémon. We took long paths around obvious claimed territory and roaming groups of Pokémon. More often than not, when a group of Pokémon saw we were leaving them alone, they didn’t bother doing anything. The only moment that was especially nerve-wracking was when Swablu pointed out a pack of Mightyena and Poochyena tracking us from a distance. They never ended up attacking, but it was stressful moving forward and waiting for an attack that never came.

I actually found two small villages along the off-route section I traveled through. Neither of them were that large, but they had Pokémon Centers. They were mostly self-sufficient and lacked a lot of the amenities a town along a major route would have, but the people still lived decently comfortable lives. They were defended by a station of semi-permanent Ace Trainers and Rangers, who made sure local Pokémon didn’t get too close to the town. While I didn’t expect to see any settlements like those two off of the main routes, their existence made sense to me in retrospect. They might have not been big cities like they were shown to be in the anime, but Ash had visited cities that weren’t in the games plenty of times, so clearly most of them did exist in this world.

The distance between Oldale to Verdanturf was roughly the same distance between Slateport and Mauville. There weren’t any solid roads and my Pokémon had to help me get through dense brushes at several points, so it was much slower than the relatively manicured path underneath the Seaside Cycling Road. The entire trip from Petalburg, to Oldale, then to Verdanturf ended up taking us ten days. I still had time to go after Hitmonchan, but considering that Wally earned his fourth badge in Mauville while we were hiking meant that we had to hurry up. At the rate he was going, we would likely only have just over a week to succeed.

I checked my email in the Verdanturf Pokémon Center. The Fighting Type sanctuary was a three day journey north over the mountains, which would be difficult for me physically, but thankfully the Pokémon wouldn't be too much of a threat. I would only need to be wary of Skarmory, but Mawile would be able to defend us against them pretty easily.

We left in the morning to start climbing the hills and rocky terrain that would lead us to the Fighting Type area. Azumarill and Mawile both stayed out of their balls to help us ward off Rock Type threats. Graveler were constantly rolling down the side of the mountain, but it was easy enough to move out of the way before they got close. However, their speed was nearly uncontrollable and sometimes we were forced to knock them away. Azumarill would redirect them with Aqua Tail or Superpower, and Mawile would try to deflect them by treating her jaws like a shield, empowering them with the Steel-Type energy from Iron Head to strengthen her defense. It took me a shamefully long amount of time to realize that in her attempts to compete with Azumarill against the Graveler, Mawile wasn’t using Iron Head, but in fact managed to learn Iron Defense.

Despite traveling towards a Fighting Type area, I didn't see any wild Fighting Type Pokémon. From the travel we had been doing over off-route terrain, we had been seeing groups of Pokémon in mixed evolutionary stages. Here, it seemed that Pokémon were less grouped together and more individually powerful. There were a few Loudred wandering around, a Grumpig or two, and even the rare Lairon.

However, in only three days we safely reached our destination without any fanfare.

The Fighting Type sanctuary was a massive crater covered with berry trees and dotted with caves. Numerous Fighting Types were wailing on each other while others were resting under trees and eating berries. The caves were clearly homes for the wild Pokémon, and in the dead center of the area was a large platform of raised stone that was surrounded by Fighting Types with a pair of Pokémon duking it out on top of it, treating the raised stone like some sort of arena.

Azumarill and Mawile were still out with me when I approached. I was a bit nervous at the idea of entering a wild Pokémon territory, but as long as we demonstrated strength and didn’t make any outward attempts to catch any of them, the Fighting Types would leave us alone. I was hesitant to keep Mawile out since she was small enough that some of them might look down on her, but she refused to be returned if Azumarill was staying out. I expected us to get challenged when we approached, so I made sure both of them understood that they would have to respect challenges. Mawile actually stayed focused enough to keep her stone in her mouth, and didn’t take it out at all.

We walked down a worn path into the crater as a few Fighting Types stopped what they were doing to watch us. We were bombarded with stares of both interest and wariness, while others just looked offended that we were here at all.

As we continued down the path, a small Makuhita approached and stomped its foot down like a sumo wrestler. A few stray Fighting Types stepped forward to surround us.

Mawile rolled her eyes and stepped out in front of me. The little sumo Pokémon smiled, stomped its foot again, then charged forward.

As soon as it got close, Mawile picked it up with Vice Grip, spun it in the air, and slammed it into the ground with Iron Head, instantly fainting it. The Makuhita was clearly still new to fighting, and didn’t expect to face a Pokémon that was as strong as Mawile for her size. The Pokémon around us made some approving sounds before walking away. A few of them stayed behind to look Azumarill over, realized they would be absolutely destroyed, and left as well. Mawile looked a bit upset that the stronger ones had focused on Azumarill instead of her after her victory, but still took pride in how easily she fainted the Makuhita.

After the challenge finished, we received fewer curious looks. Our only task now was to find that Hitmonchan who approached us so long ago and ask if it wanted to train with Laura. Thankfully, the Hitmonchan ended up approaching us itself.

I first saw the Hitmonchan standing on a large mossy boulder looking down on us. I wasn't sure how exactly I could recognize it so easily, but the spikes on its head somehow seemed shorter and flatter so I could tell it was the one we were looking for.

It jumped down and walked towards us. Azumarill practically growled at it, and its hand unconsciously sparked with Thunder Punch, the same move that took Marill out so long ago. Mawile watching the potential conflict with interest.

I wonder if that’d motivate her to learn Thunderfang.

Hitmonchan stopped a few paces away from us. Both sides were technically out of melee distance, but we both knew that combat was a single priority move away. I stepped forward to speak to the Fighting Type.

"Hitmonchan. I wanted to know if you were still looking for a trainer."

It looked me up and down before it turned its head away and scoffed.

"It's not me who would train you,” I said, explaining myself. “I wasn't a good fit back then, and I'm not a good fit now. I have a friend who specializes in Fighting Types and has been training Machoke and Medicham. That might sound like any other Fighting Type trainer, but you should know she managed to teach both of her Pokémon Fire Punch without anyone's help. She really likes punching."

Hitmonchan seemed interested, but he turned his gaze towards the arena in the center of the crater before looking back at me.

"Would you be interested in joining my friend to become stronger together?"

Hitmonchan didn't respond at first, but pointed to the Heal Ball on my belt, then at himself, then the arena in the center.

"You want to fight Florges to decide?"

"Chan. Hitmonchan."

It shook its head to say I was wrong.

Hitmonchan hit its glove-hands together then pointed to the arena again. I had to take a moment to figure out what it meant.

"You want to work with Florges to beat someone else? Then you'll come with us to be trained by my friend?"

The Fighting Type smirked and nodded.

I grabbed the Heal Ball at my side and sent out Florges. She blinked then turned around to take in the new area. She was a bit nervous to see so many unfamiliar wild Pokémon around, but when she saw Hitmonchan, she froze and started to create leaves in the air to attack.

"Wait! We're working together!” I shouted.

Florges calmed down and the leaves fell back down to the ground. She continued to eye Hitmonchan warily.

“If you're okay with it, I need you to help Hitmonchan beat someone in the arena so he can be caught by us and sent to Laura."

Florges took a while to consider what I was asking, then turned to face me and forced a small smile. She wasn't happy about working with Hitmonchan, but she was still willing to go through with it.

“I know you’re uncomfortable, but I’ll buy extra Pecha berries for you next time we’re in town, okay?”

Florges was clearly aware that it was a bribe, but decided to accept my offer anyway.

With that settled, I turned back to Hitmonchan.

"So should we work on group strategy first?"

Florges, Hitmonchan, Azumarill, Mawile, and I walked towards the arena in the center of the crater. The sun was starting to set, but faint bits of bioluminescent moss were growing along the road and the arena grounds to help see. My guess was that some of the local Breloom set that up, since they were also Grass Types.

We approached the arena and the large crowd of Fighting Types opened a way up for us as we passed through. Hitmonchan was in the lead, and the crowd somehow recognized that he would soon issue a challenge. We approached a small stone staircase on the edge of the arena, and started to walk up it. Hitmonchan and Florges went first, and when it came time for Azumarill, Mawile, and me to walk up, Hitmonchan stopped us. Only he and Florges were allowed up there.

The arena wasn’t anything special. It was an elevated platform of stone that caused whatever Fighting Types that stepped on it to stand above the audience. It was harder to see than an arena carved into the ground, but most of the Fighting Types around me were shorter so I was still able to easily watch.

Hitmonchan boldly strode into the center of the arena while Florges floated next to him and looked around nervously. She wasn't a fan of large crowds, and the massive amount of Pokémon around her wasn't helping her nerves. Hitmonchan yelled out its own name and all of the Pokémon went silent. I looked around, searching for whoever he challenged, and saw the crowd part on the other side.

Coming through the mass of Pokémon and standing at least a head taller than all the others was a scarred and weathered, four-armed Machamp. Rather than take the stairs, a single one of its arms grabbed the edge of the stage and it lifted itself up. In the light of the dusk I could see that its body was covered in calluses and battle scars. Every movement it took caused its muscles to ripple.

Hitmonchan stood bravely, unblinking in the might of the Machamp, while Florges just shrunk back after seeing its absolute strength. Personally, I was scared for her because I didn’t think anyone on my team had a chance against that Machamp.

The stand-off between the two Fighting Types continued for a few moments longer before Machamp's face broke out into a huge smile and it lifted up its arms and shouted at the crowd.

"Maaaaachamp! Ma machamp! Chaaamp!"

It spoke in the same tone as an announcer and the entire crowd erupted into a deafening cheer. Azumarill stood at my side impassively and Mawile kept trying to jump up to see the stage. I eventually had to pick her up in my arms, which wasn’t that bad since she didn’t weigh that much for a Steel Type. Her massive jaws made the position unwieldy, but she appreciated the higher seat. A Hitmontop next to me casually hit me in the arm in a friendly gesture of excitement, clearly looking forward to the upcoming match.

Machamp continued to speak excitedly and made wild gestures towards both Hitmonchan and Florges. It was doing introductions, which meant I was missing out due to lack of translation. After it was done with our side, it spun its two left arms then pointed to the other side of the field. On the staircase, two Pokémon stepped up.

The first was like Hitmonchan, but its species had an emphasis on kicking instead of punching. It had a smooth brown body with weak arms and I easily identified it as a Hitmonlee. Next to it, the sight of its partner Pokémon almost made my jaw drop.

It was a Combusken, the evolved form of Torchic, one of Hoenn's regional starters.

Seeing a starter Pokémon in the wild was extremely rare. Most caught starters were raised in captivity and they were generally only given to young trainers that tested high enough to be worthy of them. To see one here meant that it either grew up in the wild and was therefore extremely brutal, or some clueless person had released their starter. Either way, I never expected to see one in the wild. I was tempted to ask it if it wanted to join Laura, but the way it walked clearly showed it was comfortable here, and I didn’t want to enrage one of the wild Fighting Types around me by trying to catch a fellow member of the sanctuary.

The audience cheered for the newcomers on stage while Machamp continued to ramble. Hitmonlee and Combusken were clearly crowd favorites, so I was worried if Hitmonchan and Florges would be able to succeed if their opponents were so experienced.

The intro lasted a few more seconds before Machamp took a few steps back. It glanced at both sides, said a few quiet words, then clapped all four of its hands.

All competing Pokémon sprung into action.

Hitmonchan launched itself forward with the weight of a Mach Punch while Florges created a near-instantaneous Grassy Terrain. Hitmonlee brought up its knee to defend itself from Hitmonchan’s Mach Punch and tried to follow up with Low Kick to trip Hitmonchan, but Hitmonchan had already jumped back. Combusken, meanwhile, lowered its arms, palms down, in front of its chest and breathed out, using Focus Energy.

Florges took advantage of Hitmonchan drawing attention to trip Hitmonlee with Grass Knot.

Hitmonlee fell to ground from that attack and started to push itself up, but Hitmonchan was already in there ready to use a Fire Punch. However, Combusken launched itself forward, beak first, almost flying through the air with its speed and hit Hitmonchan back with an Aerial Ace right in its chest.

The crowd of Fighting Types winced at that impact. They all knew how painful Flying Type moves were for them. The Machamp made some commentary and mock noises of pain, but again, I had no clue what the announcer was saying.

Florges went ahead and prayed to create a healing star with Wish. In battle, it was extremely difficult to heal your allies with Wish without a supporting move like Ally Switch, but it seemed like Florges was willing to try.

Hitmonchan stood back up and stood in front of Florges to ready itself for Hitmonlee and Combusken’s counter attack. The prone Hitmonlee pushed itself to its feet and took a stance next to Combusken.

Both opposing Pokémon lifted a leg that immediately caught fire. They stood back to back in a dramatic pose while the crowd went wild. The Machamp started to yell rapidly, excited for what seemed to be a popular combination move.

The Wish finished being created and both Hitmonlee and Combusken jumped forward to hit Hitmonchan with their Blaze Kick combo. Florges sent out a powdery Fairy Wind that crackled against their skin and thankfully the sudden super effective damage caused Hitmonlee to falter for a moment.

Hitmonchan took advantage of this and sidestepped to let the positioning of Combusken block Hitmonlee’s attack. However, he didn’t make any obvious movements to defend himself. Combusken’s burning leg hit him in the chest but he grabbed the extended leg as his body glowed red and threw Combusken away with Counter. He had returned the damage he took back to Combusken twofold, but had taken the full damage from Blaze Kick and was now seriously injured. Thankfully, the restoration from Grassy Terrain helped him recover from the flaming kick.

Hitmonlee, unable to hit Hitmonchan, went after Florges instead. She tried to float back to keep her distance, but the Fighting Type proved to be much faster. Thankfully, Florges had sparred long enough with Azumarill to know how to defend herself from a simple kick. She spun and floated to the side as the Blaze Kick barely missed her and used Petal Dance to assault Hitmonlee with a blizzard of petals.

However, that only caused issues for Hitmonchan. The healing star was moving towards Florges’s body and if Hitmonchan wanted to win, he needed to get in the way of it before it reached its target. Combusken was still far away after being thrown with Counter, but the two other Pokémon on the field were actively fighting. Hitmonchan would have to get through that entire melee while Florges was unable to help.

The cheering picked up and Machamp screamed commentary excitedly. Florges fought back against a series of Double Kicks and Low Kicks from Hitmonlee by floating away and assaulting it with Petal Dance. She could only do so much to defend herself since she was deliberately moving away from the star to delay it as much as possible. She ended up taking a decent chunk of damage, but her anatomy as a Fairy Type meant that Fighting Type moves were less effective against her. Hitmonchan, meanwhile, rotated around and eyed the following healing star carefully. Florges’s efforts meant it was still around but the petals from Petal Dance were obscuring his path towards it.

In a brief lull where Hitmonlee had just failed to trip the floating Florges with Low Kick, Hitmonchan drew back his arm and shot forward with Mach Punch. He sailed through the air using his fist not unlike Thor’s hammer to move himself past Hitmonlee, and into the petals of Petal Dance.

The Grass Type move tore into Hitmonchan and he almost fell into unconsciousness right there. However, he calculated his trajectory just right and the healing star of Wish entered his body. He slammed into the ground outside of Petal Dance and skidded against the stone. The damage from Petal Dance and the crash into the ground meant Hitmonchan did not receive the full healing from Wish, but managed to get just enough to be able to properly fight once again.

Florges, no longer needing to focus on delaying Wish, focused instead on using the last vestiges of Petal Dance to finish off Hitmonlee. The kick-focused Fighting Type was unable to last against the full-power Petal Dance and fainted.

From Hitmonchan’s position, he looked up and saw he had landed near Combusken. The Fire Chicken waited for him to stand up, holding its hand-wings in a fighting pose as it motioned to settle this one-on-one. It was an interesting choice since it meant Combusken wouldn’t need to deal with two Pokémon at once, but also meant Florges that could safely get over the confusion from Petal Dance while staying back, and she could even refresh Grassy Terrain. It was a risky choice on Combusken’s part, since both sides of the battle would benefit.

Hitmonchan, with a Fighting Type’s honor, stood up and accepted Combusken’s request. Florges, meanwhile, tried to stop spinning in confusion and prayed for a Wish to heal herself while waiting.

The two Fighting Types stood facing each other, waiting to go at the smallest of movements. Florges managed to refresh Grassy Terrain in her confusion, and with that pulse of green, both Pokémon launched towards the other to fight in their duel.

Combusken started by zipping forward in a white light with Quick Attack, but Hitmonchan’s arms shot up and blocked the attack with Quick Guard, taking no damage. He followed his defense up with a Thunder Punch, but Combusken pulled up its arms and white feathers puffed out as it used Feather Dance to defend itself. A puff of feathers blocked Hitmonchan’s vision and stuck to his body as he missed his attack. He tried to shake his arm to get them off, but they acted like they were glued to him and sapped his strength.

Combusken jumped high into the air, using its wings to help it ascend and started to fall down in a Bounce attack. Hitmonchan looked up and saw Combusken falling down at him, and hunkered down into a stance for Revenge. He managed to grab Combusken’s leg as it landed on his body, then swung it into the ground. However, a cheeky Low Kick tripped Hitmonchan and Combusken managed to faint him with a head-first lunge and a Peck.

The crowd cheered at that fast-paced exchange as Combusken climbed off of Hitmonchan’s unconscious body and lifted its arms up in victory. Florges shook her head in response to the louder noise and was finally able to get rid of her confusion. Combusken was incredibly injured after taking out Hitmonchan, but despite being at full health, Florges reflexively shrank back from the attention of the crowd.

“Florges!” I screamed at her, trying to get her to hear me over the roar of the Fighting Type audience, “You can do it! You’ve come too far to lose! I believe in you!”

The Fighting Type Pokémon around me increased in volume excitedly when they heard my declaration, but they were quickly quieted down when Azumarill shot them a glare.

Florges, still on the field, glanced my way and smiled, calming down as the audience continued to shout around her. Combusken sauntered up across from her, seeing her as an easy opponent since she wasn’t a Fighting Type.

Florges may have tried to hide behind Hitmonchan earlier, but that wasn’t because she was weak. The Combusken should have known not to underestimate a Fairy.

Florges was the first to act, trying to trip Combusken with Grass Knot. Combusken jumped into the air with another Bounce, avoiding the attack. Seeing her opponent above her, Florges lifted up an arm and pointed forward, sending out an array of Magical Leaves to pester it in the air.

Combusken shot downwards with the full force of gravity as the Magical Leaves sailed at it. Florges had fought against Swablu enough to know how to position her attack to still hit Combusken as it fell, but the Grass Type move did too little damage against the Fire Type Combusken to faint it.

The chicken landed on Florges’s chest and she was knocked to the ground, Combusken sat on her triumphantly, clearly thinking a single move would knock her out. It stood up to celebrate its victory but looked down at the still conscious Florges and immediately got a face full of Fairy Wind, causing it to stumble backwards.

Florges floated back up to be upright and stared at Combusken. She closed her eyes and focused, starting to hum as the arena darkened, dusk turning into night. The glowing bioluminescent moss around her gave her an otherworldly appearance and she drew on the energies around her. The crowd fell silent as Florges prepared her final attack.

Combusken jumped forward and brought forward a fist to use in a Sky Uppercut to stop whatever Florges was doing, but that’s when the light of the moon hit Combusken’s eyes. Its attack whiffed as Florges floated up into the air, her eyes still closed and channeling energy. A large, phantasmal image of the moon appeared behind Florges, illuminating her as the sole light in the sky and a brilliant pink orb shot down at Combusken.

It tried to get away with Quick Attack, but the orb changed directions with a flick of Florges’s wrist and impacted Combusken’s chest.

The Moonblast was a massive overkill for the already injured Combusken, and the impact of the powerful Fairy Type move easily knocked it out.

Florges floated back to the ground, happy about her victory. She had to fight off both Hitmonlee's assault and Combusken’s attempt for a quick knockout, but she proved that the training she had gone through made her more than strong enough to win.

Machamp strode over to where Florges was floating and looked down at her. She peeked up at the easily twice her height Fighting Type and tried her best to not look afraid. I don’t think she liked being reminded how small she used to be. One of Machamp’s muscled arms shot down and grabbed Florges by the wrist and lifted her arm up in a sign of victory. The entire crowd cheered.

Machamp let go once the cheering died down, and Florges went over to treat Hitmonchan with Wish. She would have tried to treat her opponents too, but several other Fighting Types were already bringing them away. After a few moments, the healing star entered Hitmonchan’s chest and it came back to consciousness. It looked around, disappointed, but then noticed that only it, Florges, and the Machamp were on the stage and smiled. It jumped to its feet to raise its glove-fists and the crowd cheered once more.

Machamp raised two of its hands and the crowd went silent. It walked to the center of the stage and punched straight through the rock. Its fist pulled out a clump of what looked to be black ribbons, pulled one off, then placed them back into the hole before sealing it with new rocks created by Stone Edge.

Machamp, carrying what I now realized was a belt, walked over to where Florges and Hitmonchan were standing. Hitmonchan puffed up its chest in pride, but Machamp pushed the Fighting Type aside and presented the belt to Florges. She was a little shocked, but took it gracefully and smiled at the hulking Pokémon. Hitmonchan huffed, a little embarrassed and a little upset that it thought it was receiving it, but accepted Machamp’s decision. Machamp waved at the two Pokémon to dismiss them off the stage, before jumping back down into the crowd and disappearing into the darkness of the night.

My Pokémon and Hitmonchan walked down the stone stairs and I ran forward to hug Florges. Ever since she had grown in size, she’d developed a love for physical affection and hugged me back.

“Congratulations. Your battle was incredible. After so long, you managed to master Moonblast, too!”

Florges smiled and handed me the item she received. I looked down on it to see if I could identify it, and realized that she had received an Expert Belt rather than a Black Belt. An Expert Belt was a held item, like Ninetales’s Never-Melt Ice, that increased the power of super-effective moves. People claimed it helped focus the user when worn, but I honestly just thought it was a placebo, no matter what they said.

Florges didn’t seem interested in wearing it, so I put it in my backpack. After her incredible victory, we passed through the crowd to where Hitmonchan had set up its home in a cave, ready to camp tonight and head out as a group tomorrow.