There were only three bedrooms in the house offered by the league. It was actually a fair amount and it was easy to request a few more beds for all of them, but it did have a few hurdles.

For one thing the Professor had to use a couch bed as there wasn't really any space in Ash's room and the other rooms were split between themselves and Delia. Their own room was a bit more complicated by the fact that there were rules that meant they couldn't save space with Secret Power or have Iris just sleep on a branch. They either had to share a room or one of them would bunk with Ash's mother.

None of them had jumped to do that and they had to keep to the agreements and compromises that let them share sleeping space without problems.

Iris would probably have slept on the floor instead of a bed for her maximum comfort, but it made her a tripping hazard for her and Anabel so Iris agreed to just sleep on top of the covers of a bed. She and Anabel agreed to an earlier cut off point for night conversations in the bedroom to let Iris sleep better in that different situation for her. It was all the little things they adapted and compromised with that kept the peace and, even in possibly hairy situations, not waste their time in spats.

Speaking of hairy situations…

"By the way, Iris, have you thought of getting yourself a haircut? I learned to do my own by trial and error over the years. "

The three of them were dressed for sleep and sitting on their beds, talking away at a few little things here and there. She was wearing a light blue nightgown that Ash's mom had given her a little while ago as a present which she liked. It was soft, breathed well, and fitted her well.

Anabel was wearing a large purple shirt and Iris....well they locked the door when they all retired for the night. Compromises and all.

The wild girl grabbed a strand of her long mane, the purple mass of strands draping around her like a blanket and said strand a living corner, giving her an odd look at the question. "Why? Does my hair look bad?"

"No, of course not. It's just, you know, having it that long must make it hard to keep it clean and tidy. And sometimes it could get tangled in places too."

She wasn't even saying that to be polite. Iris's hair was remarkably good looking for her lesser amount of care for it. Strong roots perhaps? Could use a touch up in a few places but that was an easy snip or two.

"I do not mind," the dark-skinned girl replied. "Maybe Fraxure does not fit in it like before, but I always liked it this way. I can manage tangles. Besides, you both have been growing your hairs long too."

The redhead exchanged a brief glance with Anabel. Indeed; in the past months, and after Anabel dropped a little hint that Ash had a thing for long-haired girls, both had been growing them long. She had fixed it again in her old side ponytail, which now was long enough to touch her shoulder, while Anabel's reached down about a third of her back.

'Well, yeah, but not as long as yours,' the telepath pointed out. 'You're lucky it doesn't get into curls and waves.'

"No kidding. I used to keep mine short as a child, to stand out from my sisters, but I admit I'm starting to like it this way. And if Ash does too, all the better for me. Though people like having hair like that, Anabel."

Anabel shrugged.

'I don't really like the look. Prefer it straighter.'

To each their own. Given the pictures she had seen of the Kalosian girl that lingered on the edge of their social circle she had the suspicion it didn't matter either way as long as it was long if the goal was to appeal to a certain someone.

Iris flicked her long strand back into the cape of hair behind her. "Come to think of it, Ash once asked me why I had it so long. I wonder, was he trying to tell me he liked it?"

Misty nodded. "Knowing him, he probably was. He often gets tongue-tied when trying to make a compliment. Then again, that's something about him that's rather cute if you ask me."

The three seemed to agree on that. And so, the conversation went from talking about their long hairs, to talking about Ash and what they liked of him, and how he reacted to each of them.

They laughed, they offered the others advice on things, they were friends and supportive of each other.

One topic led to another, until they settled on the events that occupied their free time between battles and when they weren't helping Ash prepare himself for the next round. Those unexpected events that started making the last few days so memorable.

"Can't believe I'm the only one who has a date without a battle of some kind. I almost feel left out."

"No need to worry, Misty, a second date could let you get into some sort of contest or battle."

"I was being sarcastic."

The thing to talk about was the unexpected events that had been making the last few days eventful. That of course being the dates they had with Ash, and she actually was calling it that now.

'Maybe I can see if there are any events to catch. I thought I saw a parade on the schedule in a few days and that could be fun to catch.'

"I would rather do that picnic thing you mentioned to Ash. Would be nice to get away from the crowds for a while."

'I was actually wondering if you'd like to do it.'

"You say that like we cannot do the same thing."

As she had said to Ash a few days ago she had no problem with him having dates with the others. It didn't bother her at all to imagine him having a nice time with either Iris or Anabel.

"You would need to make some food if you want a picnic. None of us belong in a kitchen so unless you want to get his mom involved, a picnic might be a tricky thing to pull off."

"If I can find some berries I do not think it would be that hard. Honestly the problem would be Emolga who would be the best to find berries, and also she would probably eat them all."

"Emol..."

Emolga was one of the Pokémon that they had out and sleeping in their room with them, and like most of them she was asleep against the wall. She raised her head drowsily, grumbling a bit in a way that almost made her sound like she was trying to argue she would not in vain, before returning to dozing off.

In fact, she was so fine with it that she was talking about possible future dates with them with the full awareness that she was not the only one going to have a second one.

"I hadn't thought of that. Might be a bit of a weird season to find berries but if you can do it that might work. Pecha berries are never something I would turn down and if I'd eat it Ash would. You'd like it more than a club, and I'm not even sure I'd like to try one out."

'I guess we get plenty of dancing back at Pallet without the strobe lights.'

"Think we should have a list?"

She hoped Iris wasn't offering to write said list. A list was useless if it was illegible.

"Honestly given how these things keep going it might not be worth it. Planning and dates never seem to go all that well together. If we write a list we'll have five more dates before the league is over and never check one off."

"Then why are we talking about ideas for dates?"

'Because they're fun. My idea literally soured and had a fight to the death and I had a good time. A date with fewer mistakes and without a Moltres attack is something I want and we all want to have more of them.'

Anabel was blushing and Iris was smiling contently. She herself felt like she was doing both.

"We enjoy them, Ash enjoys them, and we'll have five more before Ash wins it all. Top Sixteen, Eight, Four, the finals...."

"No reason they end after the league. We are not going to stop loving Ash no matter if he wins or loses so there will be more dates."

When she had thought of the number to go she was worried about them possibly fighting over who would lose out on a third date. Iris had pointed out the obvious solution she had somehow forgotten about. But that was hardly on her mind when compared to what Iris had said. The big L word right aloud.

"Lo..."

Her face was burning trying to say that word. Iris got off her bed and walked to her, looking into her eyes with an encouraging expression. She was blushing, but it looked like a stove light compared to her inferno of a face.

"That is what we all feel. Do not be ashamed to say the word. We know it is true. You love Ash, I love Ash, Anabel loves Ash, and he loves us. You have nothing to be ashamed of to say the word."

"I lo... I lo..."

Her tongue was tied up and she felt like she had run too far and needed all the air she could stomach. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder: Anabel's hand.

'It's just a word. You can say it and no one will think anything bad of you. We all think it, and that is what you are hearing from me when I say it. I love Ash, and I don't know him as well as you two do. If I love him, then there is no doubt you do. You love him enough to say it aloud.'

"I love him."

The words that came out were so quiet she barely could hear them. It was honestly embarrassing. She couldn't even say it properly.

She was sure they were going to point that out and laugh at her. The one of them who loved to tease Ash the most couldn't do anything more properly.

"Good job."

Iris was not sarcastic in her praise of her. It was sincere. She was smiling at her. Anabel too.

"I love him."

She said it properly this time. Anabel's smile grew wider while Iris got a bit confused.

"You already said you do, Misty."

"I love him."

"You just said that. Twice."

"I love Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! I love his smile I love his infectious joy I love his determination I love his lack of fear of Bugs I love the fact he supports me I love the fact he's handsome and strong I love the fact that made my dreams possible I love the fact he let me meet you guys I love the fact he beat my sisters silly I love the fact he saved my life I love the fact he keeps helping people even if they have Caterpies or death wishes with giant waves..."

She rambled and rambled and rambled every little thing she could think of and even some stuff that was utter silliness. There was no reason to say anything good about that giant rock of death otherwise. The sound of the Pokédex and Monodexes making noise like noise machines was probably the only reason this wasn't being heard by everyone outside this room.

Eventually she left out of breath and she was panting, everything out of her system. They were hugging her tight as it was all out of her now.

It was obvious to everyone, but it was finally said all out.

Iris looked like she was going to say something, but Anabel shook her head and Iris kept her tongue. What they could be talking about was...

No, it could only be one thing. It was Iris, she knew her well enough to know what it was.

'That is enough bravery for tonight.'

...

That broken dam meant she fell asleep with little problem. Her sleep was without dreams, perhaps driven away by her restless mind that got her up first the next day. Her gaze darted to Iris who still lay atop her bed in sleep, and without a serious word the rest of the night she knew what was going to come up.

Iris was going to say that they should share Ash, and it would seem that Anabel was fully on team Iris there. That only left three questions.

Could she agree to it? Would Ash agree to it? And would Ash agree if she did not?

The Next Day, as Misty is off on her own adventure...

When he was paged at leagues, he normally was expecting Professor Oak to be calling him in with interest to talk with him. Usually about Pokémon transfers and often about just wishing him good luck and hoping he'd win. It was not that common that others would call in, and even rarer when such a person was not a friend or family.

So he was a bit confused about why someone from the league had asked to meet with him in a private meeting room the morning of his Otoshi battle.

"Is this about the Fearow? I thought that it had all been cleared up?"

That was the only reason he could think of why a League rep would be interested in meeting with him. Said rep shook his head.

"That's been all squared out. This is about something different, and a topic we're interested in getting a wide sample size on across all leagues this year. I'd appreciate your cooperation in our sampling."

He glanced over to Pikachu: he'd be fine with a few questions but his buddy might have something else to do. After said mouse gave him an affirmative squeak that he did not have anything pressing he turned back to the official.

"Sure. What are you sampling anyway?"

The official smiled before pushing out what looked to Ash almost like an official looking sketch. A piece of concept art, though not of any character designs or anything of the sort. It was more for a concept or something like that: of a pyramid with four layers. Each layer was matched with a type of Pokéball, with a Master Ball on the smallest and highest part and a regular ball on the bottom. Each pyramid segment had a set of numbers, which looked to be estimates of some sort. The top had four, eight, sixteen, and thirty-two, while the layer right under had a range of numbers that was anywhere from five to five-hundred and twelve.

Around the pyramid were a series of other sketches, numbers, and jotted down words: listings of such things as 'online, at Pokémon Centers, W/WO qualification assessment', 'Rotom Drone', 'battle ruling 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3, etc based on party size? Location of battle? Pre-requested battle parameters?' and 'use of downloadable app for ease'.

"The Pokémon League is interested in exploring new models of competition and fostering international interaction. As such a new initiative is currently being explored between leagues around the world. It is known as the Pokémon World Championships right now, though other names are also pending such as the World Coronation Series and the International League. The basics of the idea are simple: battles are arranged by an app that helps identify participants and rank the trainer's based on their performance and victory versus loss ratios. The tournament is set in four tiers for the fairest opponent selection possible with the intent of having those in the highest tier meet up for an international tournament hosted annually alongside existing leagues."

A new Pokémon league without badges spread out all over the world?

"That sounds like a lot of fun, but I hope you aren't asking just me. I couldn't tell you about computer design, and I didn't bring the guy who is computer design with me."

The official chuckled, perhaps imagining he was talking about someone like Clemont and not the Pokédex.

"You aren't the only person being sampled. We only ask that you give us the feedback that only you can offer."

Only him, huh?

"So there will not be any region locking or anything? If this starts up in the near future I'm probably not going to be in Kanto. Me being in Sinnoh or something won't make it a problem will it?"

The official once again chuckled.

"Hardly. This is done with the intent of getting people to interact with those outside their home regions more. It would be a very poor means of doing that if there was some sort of issue with one traveling. Now it will very likely not do you any good in Fiore or Almia, but if you are there then there are more pressing problems than your placement. Any other questions?"

He leaned back in his seat, if slowly enough for Pikachu to keep his footing as he thought a bit.

"Well I do have one: would I still be able to collect badges or is it just one or the other?"

The man beamed.

"The challenge is intended to be mutually inclusive! In fact, we are hoping to even have Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and even Champions involved, though we are still considering how battle there will impact their statuses."

...

"What's stopping someone from abusing the system with wins they didn't really earn?"

His question seemed to give the young lady asking him the question pause, even more so than the fact he had come in with the full gear that he would carry on him as if he was on a hike. Perhaps she had been surprised at how much he took his 'Hiker' title seriously.

She was even more surprised on this specific question.

"Are you asking about cheating, but I'm guessing that is not what you are actually asking. In regards to cheating our judging system is intended to be run by an incorruptible Rotom machine, but that is for hacking and threats."

Which neither were his intended question.

"I'm traveling with a younger friend who I am far more skilled at battling than. I would never consider it, but it is possible that someone might artificially raise their winning rates by forcing a new trainer to register and constantly defeating them easily. A 'Charizard crushing a Caterpie' if you will, again and again. If the rankings are based on winning and how you win, even that would add up if you did it day in and day out."

The young lady asking him had a startled look as if she was already imagining such a scenario, but she was quick in getting a response out.

"We had already been planning on preventing back to back challenges on the same person for unrelated reasons, but such an abuse of the system will be something I will ensure is put into the design considerations. We are hoping to not place extensive limitations in the qualifications of who can enter this new competition, though talk I've heard of potential removal from the competition ladder for either infrequent battling or significant loss ratios both goes against the idea of avoiding extensive limitations yet also would be a solution to the potential you listed for abuse. Ideally no one would think of using another like that."

He nodded. Ideally no one would be that cruel.

...

"I'm glad you are asking me for my opinion. After I lost last round I thought that would be it for me this year at Indigo before I got that email about the Whirl Cup Qualifier. But my own thoughts..."

He paused for a moment to consider them, and his interviewer shook his head.

"Take all of the time you need, Fergus. The league appreciates long-time participants no matter their exact placements."

He snapped his fingers as he realized the perfect question for him to ask.

"Yeah I've got a question. So I specialize a lot in Pokémon that really don't do city parks that well. What's preventing someone from waiting for me to be out of my best and challenging me then and there?"

"Are you asking about deliberate ambushing to give an unfair advantage?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, and I guess I could do that too. I mean I think that concept stuff you printed said something about challenge invites. What's stopping me from just sending someone a challenge and waiting for them on top of my Gyarados in the middle of a lagoon or something and going 'fight me here!' other than common decency?"

It might have just been him, but it almost looked like his interviewer was imagining that very scenario himself and being rather horrified about it. He also muttered something about 'his poor Onix'.

...

"Can I say no to battles, or turn them off for a bit?"

Sparky was eating all of the apples his questioner had offered as said interviewer was looking at him like he was talking in tongues.

"There is no running from a trainer battle."

The phrase came out like it was an unspoken truth, like that of gravity and the circles of life.

"I mean I get that, but sometimes I'd just like to have breakfast with my mom and not get interrupted by a random battle. Seems a bit rude."

His interviewer was still looking at him like he was questioning the rule of gravity, but he did scribble something down. Hopefully it was about 'decency' and not 'subject is delusional' or something rude like that.

…

It was on his way back when he noticed a familiar head of spiky brown hair at a restaurant, deep in thought.

He naturally sent a message ahead that he’d be a bit back home and took the opposite seat to the contemplative Gary. This jolted the fellow Pallet town trainer out of his thoughts who looked at him in a shock.

“Ash?!”

He nodded.

“Hey Gary. Been a minute, how ya been?”

The grandson of the Professor had the tiniest bit of a cheeky smile come over his face.

“I hope you aren’t trying to get me to pay for your breakfast. My wallet is still upset the last time I did that for you, and you owe me for that one still.”

He ate already so that wasn’t what he’d even want, but he was a bit peckish and could eat a stack of pancakes. Still rude though.

“I’ll have you know I remember that you happen to still owe me and that was just you partially paying me back. You still have a tab back home you owe me.”

“No, I owe your mom, not you. It’s entirely its own thing.”

“No, you owe me, not the restaurant.”

“You do remember how much I had to cover for you, right?”

“I remember what was said afterwards, unlike you.”

“Pikapi.” ‘Ash, you guys don’t even have to pay for food here; you are literally arguing over nothing.’

Oh yeah.

Pikachu got the attention of a waitress with a squeak, and he ordered a stack of pancakes as a Top Sixteen and a side of berries for Pikachu. With that done the conversation changed gears a bit.

“So you and I got this far, huh Ash? Top Sixteen, us out of a thousand and a bunch.”

“We always said we’d be that awesome.”

“And everyone would laugh at you because you were you, and said they couldn’t expect anything else from me.”

“That’s a bit harsh, Gary. Only a few guys laughed at me, and most of them were jerks.”

Gary shook his head in amusement and he took a sip of his juice.

“Well, what am I supposed to say? It all sounds cooler that you proved the entire town wrong after they laughed at you, then to say you proved a couple of school grumps wrong. Never got why they’d laugh at a guy who is involved in the only restaurant in town. Seemed like a good way to get your food spat into, if you ask me.”

He looked aghast at Gary.

“That’s disgusting! I’d never do that! Not even to Joshua, or Zacharias if we are talking about people actually from Pallet who’re real jerks.”

Zacharias had been a kid a year older than the two of them who had been… well, a grouch. He had always laughed at him whenever he declared he was going to do great things, or when he messed up on something. He hadn’t seen him since he went off from Pallet with his own Pokémon: a Mankey if he remembered correctly.

It had been a bit hard to avoid the guy as he was as good at throwing balls as he was back in school, and when they had inter-year competitions like baseball or something the two of them were always on opposite teams. Their last year of such contests had tied the two up after Zacharias had led by virtue of being older and more experienced the previous few years.

“It’s something that does happen when you insult the restaurant staff. I mean heck if you weren’t going to it I could see your mom lacing his stuff in hot sauce or something. She’s mischievous like that. Wonder what ever happened to Zacharias, didn’t see any sign of him here this year or last?”

He hadn’t a clue, not that he had really been looking.

His pancakes arrived and thoughts of the lost school-age foe of his vanished, as he enjoyed just a bit more food.

Gary shook his head as he chowed down.

“Ash, I don’t know how you avoid getting fat. I don’t know what you do to burn calories and I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Pretty sure he just turns it all into pure beef. Hey Gary.”

Aideen, alongside Elwood as was often with the two siblings, had also come by. The two were friendly, but they both were looking down. Given who was and wasn’t listed as going on to the next round it was pretty obvious who.

“You want to eat something, I can call the waitress over. I’ll cover it.” He asked the two.

“We still have some free food time left. We can cover it ourselves.”

As the two went after their own chairs Pikachu took a moment to let off his own berry snacking.

“Pikapi.” ‘That’s the second time in like ten minutes you managed to forget that.’

The truth of that statement was left to the dust of time as the twins took their own ends of the table and got a waitress to bring their own pancakes. He also asked for some waffles.

“Are you trying to see if you can carry a Pokémon on each shoulder or something?”

Aideen’s joke aside, they did have more serious things to say.

“Well, with the two of us out that leaves you and Gary to carry the Summer Camp flag. Make sense I guess; you guys did earn it a bit more than the two of us.”

“Don’t say it like that. You got eight badges and earned your spot here fair and square. It’s never how you start as much as how you keep going. There’s always going to be another chance or another goal to work towards.”

“Ash’s right. If it was all about how you started I’d be indisputably the best of us here. You made it five rounds, that's something to celebrate.”

Gary’s declaration of his higher performance at the final test aside, his choice of words did make Elwood curious.

“Five rounds? Why not just say Top Thirty-Two?”

“Because in some tournaments that is just the second round. Specific rounds are a more accurate display of your achievement if you ask me.”

“Good points. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Nor had he, though did that mean that him getting to the fifth battle at Lily of the Valley (the semi-final round against Tobias) was the same level of achievement as getting to the top sixteen the first time around?

Or was measuring how you performed in different tournament formats a possibly meaningless discussion that ignored factors like the type of battles, the opponents battled, and other such things?

“The two of us are thinking about going to Johto next, but we’re still not sure. Might be better to go a bit farther away than that, and a lot of people go between Indigo and Silver. It's pretty samey. So if we don’t want to have people with a playbook about how we think and fight around we can just go somewhere else. Not the only ones who are trying something new, that girl with that super Scizor and her boyfriend are apparently going to Galar of all places.”

Gary had a bit of an odd look on his face when that came up. He had caught a bit of that battle and knew it was Jeanette Fisher against Paul. Gary almost looked nervous, though it was also an odd sort of nervousness that could have some other emotion in it somewhere.

“All the way out there? Well to each their own, personally I think their gyms all look too samey. Honestly before I make a call I want to see what the Silver conference looks like because if it is just as big as this one I’d have to wonder if I want to fight through that many rounds again. Five rounds into this was a lot of work and still had a giant wall we couldn’t get past, while if there is some place that had a lot less rounds…honestly I’d be curious to see if we got this far because we were that good or because there was a lot of people who were just worse than us.”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? It doesn’t matter if they just squeezed in or made it in with plenty of time to spare; getting to a league is still getting to a league. I mean, ask me what happens after I come home to Pallet with a victory trophy, but I’d probably end up in Johto at some point because Misty is at the Whirl Cup Qualifier tournament right now, and I want to compete too regardless of what happens there. What about you Gary, you got a plan for after you win if I don’t?”

“Ask me this afternoon.”

Gary’s voice was quiet.

“Is this a ‘if I win now or if I just get to the Top Sixteen’ sort of thing?”

At Elwood’s question Gary stood from his table, palms flat on the surface.

“Because, if I had to be honest, I’ll walk out of this place happy even if I just win this next battle. If I manage to win this round, I’ll be happy even if I lose to Ash the very next round in a rout. If I won and, I don’t know, Ash or you guys or even that fat freak that Ash clobbered in the second round beat Paul, it honestly wouldn’t feel right. It’s petty but that guy… I hate him. I want to beat that smug look off Paul’s face with all the world to see. I’ve been training to do that, and I couldn’t imagine how I’d take missing him because of the brackets. I don’t even want to think of what hole I’ll be in if I don’t win this battle. No matter what happens after, I just want to beat him. That’ll make this entire tournament worth it, and I can think about what I do next.”

He had gotten the idea that Gary and Paul had not gotten along at the tag tournament, but just how badly did that go for him?

He could understand the entire view though: his achievements in Johto and Sinnoh felt more complete, and possibly only felt complete, because he had taken Gary and Paul down. They had one big final battle and he had come out on top.

If he had gotten to Harrison and Tobias and the two had been taken out by, say, Macey and Nando, it wouldn’t have been the same.

The shuffling of canvas preceded the slamming of an item on the table between the stacks of pancakes. How Elwood managed to place an entire Assault Vest on the table without disturbing a pancake he wasn’t sure, but the blonde had it out and was looking dead on at Gary.

“Count me in. If you want to win you need to be the best you can be. I’m never going to really use this properly, so why don’t you give it a try? Most Pokémon don’t use item holders so I’m sure you have someone who can use it.”

Gary was stunned at the gift.

“Yeah I do, but you don’t have to. I can win on my own.”

“There isn’t anything worse than losing because you decided to not do something specifically. It won’t hurt so use it and win! In fact, don’t just take my brother’s thing. Take mine too!”

Her thing she was offering, which she had pulled out as she was speaking, was a clear blue gem. One he recognized from Misty’s own possession: a Mystic Water.

“I want to see the two of you going at each other in the final four. Neither of you can lose before then, and that Paul guy seems to be tougher than that wannabe Samurai or Ronin or whatever they were called. Kick his ass!”

No one was looking at him but for some reason he felt like all eyes were on him. To match what the twins offered Gary to make sure he beat Paul. However, when it came to stuff on his person he didn’t have a whole lot. His Z-ring was on his dresser, Pikachu had his own item and didn’t seem moving to offer it up, and in his backpack he probably had only one thing that Gary could possibly use.

If Gary had a Sceptile or a Gengar.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a Gengar would you?”

“No.”

Well, he had nothing unless Gary asked to borrow Pikachu, which he wasn’t entirely sure was square.

“Actually Ash, if you have some time to spare, there is one thing you can do for me. Well, Pikachu could actually do it, but you’d be needed for it.”

“You want to borrow him to beat Paul?”

“Kaa.” ‘In his dreams. I am not just borrowed by anyone.’’

You had to be a companion to borrow Pikachu for a day, or a lonely old lady in Sinnoh. Gary was neither of the two.

“Actually, I want some help to get my Porygon master a new electric attack before the battle.”

“Pika.” ‘That I’m up for. Let’s go!’

“Sure no problem.”

…

Training turned out much easier than Ash thought it'd be. It helped that Porygon already had Charge Beam, thus not being a stranger to Electric attacks, but Gary felt they'd be better off having an attack that was stronger from the get-go, rather than fire it constantly and hope the effect would activate.

Pikachu's Thunderbolts did the trick, as all Porygon had to do was stock up electricity in its internal batteries, and then unleash it in a single blast. Less than two hours in, the electronic bird was finally unleashing lightning bolts on some boulders for target practice.

"One more, Porygon! Thunderbolt!"

The electronic bird gave off some sparks, before unleashing all his electricity on the hugest boulder. The power was evident, as it broke in half leaving a huge scorch mark on the ground.

"Wow, that was awesome," Ash commented.

"Pikachu." 'Almost as good as mine.' Pikachu nodded approvingly.

It was weird to be helping someone who'd be supposed to be a rival, but after everything they'd gone through in the tournament, that was just another way to keep the competition spirit alive. After all, they both wanted to face each other, and by helping Gary beat Paul, they'd be a step closer to meet in the semifinals.

Even if the price for that was not getting to face Paul personally, but at the time, the drive to root for his fellow Pallet resident was overriding the rest.

"That's looking good, Porygon. We're all set now," Gary said, as he gave Porygon a few congratulating pats on the head. The latter did a few digitized noises that Ash figured may mean a "Thank you", before Gary recalled it into its Pokéball. They shouldn't overwork themselves if they planned to battle Paul, after all. No use in wasting your energy on last-minute training if that meant to be too tired to battle properly later.

"Never thought I'd say this, but... thanks, Ash. For giving me a hand with this."

"It was nothing," Ash replied. "I'm just making sure you'll be at your best when we face each other."

"Hey, don't forget, we still need to win two more rounds before we meet in the semifinals. And don't go crying after I beat you then."

"I wouldn't dream about it. And hey, in the case you'd lose, you can be sure we'll avenge you."

"Hah! Like hell that's gonna happen!"

Both trainers, now as friends and childhood rivals, bumped their fists together, as they did many times back when they formed a battery in the baseball team. Ash trusted Gary would be able to beat Paul, but he figured he could give him additional motivation with that reminder. After all, he'd always get a boost with a challenge whenever they played together.

Also, this Gary was able to beat Melissa, the same opponent who knocked him out back in the old timeline, and he was a lot more focused. His confidence no longer seemed tinged by arrogance, or at least not as much as before. Whatever training Gary had been doing in the past few months, it clearly paid off, in many ways.

"I may borrow a few tricks from you again. You don't mind, do you?" Gary asked, in a serious tone.

"Of course not. Give him a few for me."

Admittedly, he was surprised, albeit flattered when he saw Gary's Arcanine use Dig in a similar way he did with Raichu. And it never occurred to him it could defend from Stealth Rock that way; he could take note of that too.

The moment was approaching, and all he could do was hope for the best.

“Welcome to the very first battle of this year’s Indigo Top 16!”

The crowd cheered wildly, a loud and happy chorus eager in anticipation and thrilled at the battle they were soon to witness.

“It’s been a little longer than usual to get to this point, but we’re going to see how worth it was to get there today folks! Each and every single trainer you see today’s battled through a harder playing field than perhaps any other trainer in history has to reach this point, and we’ll see how worth it was to get there today!”

More cheering ensued, and he took a nervous swallow.

“In today’s match we begin with two amazing rookie trainers, which I am sure we all know is par for the course but it is never unexciting! First in the red corner, all the way from the Sinnoh Region! You may remember his brother Reggie, it is Paul from Veilstone City!”

The crowd went wild as the purple haired, stern-eyed trainer didn’t acknowledge the enthusiasm around him.

“Wait, Reggie had a brother!? Got to admit, he’s not as cute as Reggie was….”

He also ignored the negative comments with just as much diligence.

“In the green corner is a hometown favorite all the way from rustic Pallet Town! His family has many famous names, and the latest scion hopes to make his own known far and wide. And with that word calendar word I didn’t get to use the other day out of the way, give it up for Gary Oak!”

He nervously waved as the crowd cheered for him louder than they had Paul.

“Kanto for the win!”

“This battle will be a full six-on-six battle with a full range of substitutions and no time limits! The battle will start on an ice battlefield but will change once one trainer loses three Pokémon! Gary will go first!” The announcer declared as the field was raised to reveal a slippery ice world.

“Ice huh…? Well, let's avoid that if I can. Pidgeot, I choose you!”

He started the battle with a Pokémon he shared with Ash, the large bird not landing as he flew over the field with no contact with the ice.

“Murkrow, stand by for battle!” Paul sent out his own Pokémon, a much smaller dark-colored bird. It too avoided the ice, beginning the battle in an aerial standoff.

“Murkrow, the Darkness Pokémon. A Dark and Flying Type who is said to bring bad luck, though those who treat it well are often given shiny things the Murkrow finds,” his Pokédex explained, though he didn’t really need it. He knew what a Murkrow was.

“Begin!”

“Sky Attack!” He began the battle with an immediate power attack. Murkrow could be very tricky, and he had no way to know if that thing wasn’t evolved because Paul was doing an Ash or couldn’t find the stone to evolve it or if it was one of those Murkrow that had Prankster. Pidgeot glistened with the built up power, ready to slam into the smaller bird before any mischief could be had.

“Haze!” Paul countered as Murkrow spewed the dark clouds from its mouth, obscuring vision for all but Murkrow.

“Paul begins the battle with a defensive counter to the most powerful Flying-type attack that can be taught I currently know about! However, a Haze defense only works so long as the Pokémon avoids being hit…”

“And my Pidgeot has Keen Eye, go!” Gary finished for the announcer as Pidgeot sped right into the cloud, tearing it apart with sheer power before hitting something with an audible SLAM. Pidgeot flew out of the torn up cloud, followed shortly afterwards by a somewhat battered looking Murkrow.

And first blood, sort of speak, went to them!

“Air Cutter!” Paul followed up on their hit with the sharp wind attack, which flew up at Pidgeot.

“Dodge them!”

Pidgeot took evasive maneuvers, avoiding the attacks with various dives, turns, and swoops. The majority of them hit nothing but the blank air, but a few of them did it. But Air Cutter was a weak move, so Pidgeot would take them easily and they’d still be in the lead after Sky…

“Got!” Pidgeot cried out as the couple hit, his larger bird losing control and falling down to the earth below. He could see his Pokémon getting control back and avoiding hitting the ice, but he was still confused.

How had those Air Cutters done so much damage?

…

He was all on his own for this one.

Ash was preparing for his own battle with last minute preparations while Delia was helping prepare for a picnic date that Ash’s friends wanted to have with him after his battle. Of the boy’s lady friends one was off at a Whirl Cup event and the others were helping Delia….

“Oh, so sorry I’m late, Grandpa!”

He waved as Daisy Oak darted in, looking a bit haggled for clearly running all the way here and having to avoid crowds and cotton candy sellers all the way up here.

“No rush, no rush, you haven’t missed much…”

His granddaughter took a seat next to him, and she looked more confused than Gary was at the current predicament.

“How did that Murkrow land so much damage on Gary’s Pidgeot?”

He nodded, a knowing nod that he gave frequently as a wise old man as many would call him.

“Well, that’s pretty simple actually, and I do believe Gary will realize it shortly. You see, while I suspect he was worried about the rarer abilities a Murkrow could have, in truth the two more common ones are what he should be looking at. Less the resistance Murkrow can have to the move Sleep Powder and more….”

…

“Super Luck.” He realized as the two birds continued to circle each other. Air Cutter was already a move with enhanced chance of a critical hit, but Super Luck boosted that even further. All those Air Cutters were critical hits, and he was lucky it didn’t break Pidgeot’s wings.

“Show that little bird your own Air Cutter!”

“Fire back!”

“Go under when you are done and use Aerial Ace!”

Each of the birds let loose the same move, the air attacks clashing mid-air and neutralizing each other. However, as Pidgeot finished he had taken to going under Murkrow, building up speed before rapidly flying upwards, ready to strike the smaller bird from below.

“Double Team!” Paul ordered as Murkrow split under many duplicates, one taking Aerial Ace for the real Murkrow, which was now among the muder of Murkrows that filled the entire battlefield. A few were even roosting on ice rocks.

‘Don’t panic, remember what you have and ask yourself if you can use it to handle the situation’. Casey Snagem had told him among many other bits of advice. He had Air Cutter…

“Pidgeot, use Air Cutter in a scattershot to hit as much of the field as possible!”

“Geot!” Pidgeot spun in the air in a small stabilizing circle, shooting the sharp blue winds of Air Cutter off in all directions.

“Use Air Cutter as well!” Paul countered with countless dupe Air Cutters and a true Air Cutter, all of which flew around. Many of his own Air Cutters went through the fake Air Cutters from Paul like nothing and took out the fake Murkrow they came from. However, a few real ones did hit Pidgeot, and he winced as they clearly hit home.

Pidgeot was falling, and Paul smirked.

“Now.”

Now? Now what? It was only then he realized that one Murkrow, one on the ice rocks, had been charging its own Sky Attack and was now ready to fly, and flew right into his falling Pidgeot.

The attack hit right home on Pidgeot, and Murkrow kept on flying right past while his Pidgeot dropped to the ice with a hard thump.

“Pidgeot!”

“Pidgeot is unable to battle!” the ref declared as the stadium roared in applause.

“The small vanquished the big! Paul begins this battle with a victory built on guile and a bit of cheese!”

Cheese? Like ‘cheesing it?’ No, he had to disagree. It was a bit luck based sure, but Super Luck and moves like Air Cutter and Sky Attack was a legitimate strategy. As was what he was about to do next.

“Sorry about that, Pidgeot, I wasn’t expecting that strategy. I won’t make the same mistake again. Porygon, I choose you!”

His second Pokémon, which he noted made Paul raise an eyebrow. Did he think he was using the same team to beat him as had lost the last time?

Sure, it had a few similar ones, but it was not a one for one copy. Though he’d let Paul think that.

“Double Team!” Paul ordered again as the stadium was once more filled with Murkrow. He smirked.

“Lock-on!”

Paul flinched as a red flash lit the stadium leaving a red mark right on one single Murkrow flying in the air.

“Now Thunderbolt!”

Porygon’s newest attack flashed brightly in the stadium as the electric attack flew right on target, taking out only what dupes were between it and the real Murkrow. The attack Ash had helped him perfect before this battle hit Murkrow perfectly, shocking the bird before it too dropped to the ground like a lead weight.

“Murkrow is unable to battle!”

…

“I heard from the grapevine that Ash helped Gary with that move, and by grapevine I mean he mentioned it to Delia and she told me,” he explained to his oldest grandchild, who smiled.

“Those two working together? That’s nice to see again.”

The eldest Oak agreed. He still recalled the days when Gary and Ash attended Pallet Town's elementary school, and before they got full time into being trainers, the two formed a battery in their baseball team. They made quite an effective pair, though shortly after Ash confessed to have a crush on Daisy, their friendship started deteriorating.

They seemed to be mending it now, while the old professor suspected there was something else at play.

"I believe there's also the drive of facing each other between them. Both need to win this and the next round in order to battle one another."

"That's right. My little brother always needs to stay ahead of everyone. Which reminds me… don't know if Gary told you this, but a few months back he called me."

"Really?"

Oak remembered how, in the months prior to the Indigo League, Gary sent him a message saying he was going to disappear for a while. The scientist suspected he'd probably gone off to train somewhere (which he confirmed later when they met again), but still remained largely unaware of what else he did during that time.

"He seemed to be having a bad streak at the time," Daisy explained. "He felt at a loss, and told me his rivals were leaving him behind. And not just Ash; apparently this guy he's fighting now was the worst of all. Gave him a beating and humiliated him in the worst imaginable way, or so he told me."

"Is that so?" The scientist raised an eyebrow. "Then that means today's battle has something very personal at stake for him."

Daisy nodded. "I bet that's why he's so focused today. He knows he can't afford to lose."

Again, the Professor agreed with his granddaughter. Truth be told, Gary had been quite serious during the tournament, never dropping his guard with his opponents, and if he stopped to boast a little, he'd do so only after winning. And even then, it wasn't as much as before.

Today however, he looked even more serious. If there was that backstory between Gary and Paul, obviously the former was all into getting his revenge, and the battle promised to be intense.

…

“Jynx, standby for battle!”

The ice-type that Paul had used in their last battle returned, landing on the field and looking as happy and joyful as ever. That was to say it looked like it wanted to tear him apart.

“And Paul’s second Pokémon is Jynx!”

“Shadow Ball!” He was quick to act, firing the ball of spectral energy towards the tricky Ice-type.

“Dodge and use Focus Blast!”

Jynx sprinted to the side, side stepping the attack as it formed its own sphere and flung it at Porygon, who too avoided the attack.

“Mean Look!”

He got what Paul was aiming for. He wanted to keep Porygon in and use Focus Blast to take it down. However, he had his own counter to that, just as Ash had against the crusher.

“Teleport!”

Teleport could do a few things. While most used it to move around the field to be as obnoxious as possible, you could also use it to teleport your mon back into its Pokéball. Porygon shimmered red for a second before vanishing from the field. He took out a third Pokémon, and he was happy to keep Paul thinking he knew his game plan for the time being.

“Arcanine, go!”

Arcanine landed on the ice, looking quite ready to start melting Jynx.

“Water Pulse!” Jynx formed a water sphere and flung it at Arcanine, same as the Focus Blast.

“Dragon Rage!”

Arcanine reared his head back to spew the draconic energy blast, blasting it into the Water Pulse and cancelling the attack out and leaving a obscuring cloud of smoke between their two sides.

“Extreme Speed!”

He followed up the attack to take advantage of the distracting smoke, letting Arcanine speed right through and slam Jynx straight on. He didn’t see it, but he heard a satisfying sounding thump and the motion of a large object being flung away. The smoke cleared to reveal Arcanine, slightly slipping on his paws to remain in balance, and a Jynx pushing herself back up.

“Psywave!”

“Extreme Speed again!”

Jynx formed the psychic energy attack, just as Arcanine slammed into her again and forced her into the wall with a crackening thud. Arcanine bounced away from the wall, sliding on his paws again, as Jynx fell face first to the ice in defeat.

“Jynx is unable to battle!” the ref called out as the crowds cheered.

“Great job, Arcanine!”

“Woof.”

Paul returned Jynx and held the ball up to his face for a minute, before shaking his head and putting it away.

“...Really?” he asked his opponent. When Paul had returned Murkrow, the guy had at least not looked disappointed.

Paul disregarded his question and had his third Pokémon ready in a Dive Ball.

“Cloyster, standby for battle!”

The armored shellfish appeared on the field without a crash or crack of ice, and the massive fortress of hyper-calcified defense was facing him and Arcanine down.

“Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon. This Water and Ice Type’s spikes and fragments of their shells were used by ancient humans as weapons of war. Ancient human tribes on the coastlines Cloyster dwelled did not need to develop metallurgy as rapidly as those who did not have Cloyster living near them.”

“Arcanine, a Pokémon of speed and power, faces off against one of the most resilient defenses in all the world! Fire and Water, Fire and Ice, clash today folks. Who will triumph!?” The announcer hammed it up for a crowd that remained quite enthused.

“.....With that thing being both Water and Ice types it isn’t too bad of a mashup, and I want to see what it is doing. You want to give it a go, Arcanine?”

Arcanine nodded in agreement. How did Paul plan to go on the offense with this thing? Or did he just want to suck up some hits?

“Dragon Rage!”

Arcanine began the probing of the Cloyster with a barrage of draconic energy right into the shell. The impact was something he felt, moving his hair like a hard gust of wind, but when the attack cleared Cloyster had not moved and didn’t look to have taken much damage.

“Icicle Spear!” Paul commanded as the front spike of the still closed Cloyster glowed pale blue.

“Flame Wheel to defend!” he countered as Arcanine slammed his feet into the ice and formed a spinning fire attack to melt the ice on contact.

Five rounds of the spears flew in, and five rounds melted. Arcanine bounded away from the now melted spot of the battlefield and growled at the still armored-up mon.

“...You can attack without opening up that shell?!”

How much training did that take?!

“Icicle Spear!”

Again, five more rounds of ice shot at Arcanine without the shell opening at, though Arcanine didn’t avoid the attack with Flame Wheel this time. Instead he slipped, letting the barrage fly over and past him as he slipped across the field and bumped into a rock to stop at the end of the attack. Arcanine was more annoyed at the scant laughter from the stands than the manner of avoiding the attack. It annoyed him too that they were being laughed at, but a dodge was a dodge.

Though two full barrages of Icicle Spear in a row? That Cloyster had to have Skill Link.

“....Let’s try and ply that shell open. Arcanine, take five.”

Arcanine glared at Cloyster and Paul as he was returned and he sent out his fourth Pokémon for the day.

“Exeggutor, go!!”

Paul didn’t express anything to seeing a confirmation he was not using the exact same team as last time.

“Let’s open him wide up. Use Psychic, and lean the thing up so it can’t fire Icicle Spear!”

Each head on Exeggutor gained glowing eyes as the shell of Cloyster was mentally plied open, slowly but surely, even as the shell was tipped over.

He could just see the dark core of Cloyster, ready for an Energy Ball and a quick finish. It was a clear and solid win condition, so why was Paul smiling?

“Now, use Shell Smash!”

Shell Smash!?!

The shell that made up the bulk of Cloyster’s form glowed red as the faintly visible core of Cloyster grinned at him wickedly.

…

“That’s the move that doubles the strength and speed of a Pokémon at the cost of defense, right?” Daisy asked him nervously, to which he nodded.

“It is, and I do fear that Gary may be in a bit of trouble. I fear he’ll soon be finding the mid-battle intermission to be a blessing. I hope he won’t, but I am not optimistic.”

…

“Sleep Powder!”

“Frost Breath!”

Cloyster had been let loose from the telekinetic grip, allowing Exeggutor to spew a green powder at the now very dangerous shellfish. However, the moment it could Cloyster spewed a cold wind into the powder, blowing the powder, now frozen, right into Exeggutor and knocking his Pokémon over. Exeggutor slid across the field and crashed into an ice rock, shattering it.

“Tor….”

“Exeggutor is unable to battle!”

The crowd cheered Paul on his evening of the score.

“Sorry, Exeggutor, I didn’t see that Shell Smash coming,” he apologized as he returned Exeggutor, belting the ball. If he sent Arcanine out, it would be more or less just him trying to end the round quickly to get rid of Shell Smash, and he didn’t want to do that for a lot of reasons. It was callous for one, and he’d like Arcanine to fight Torterra if it was lurking in Paul’s team. He’d also want to keep Blastoise for the second half too, which left two other options.

And only one of them had any hope of dealing with Cloyster now.

“Porygon, come back out!”

And his Porygon was back on the field, staring down the hyper-boosted shellfish.

“Use Teleport and Shadow Ball to attack from everywhere!”

“Deflect them all with Razor Shell!”

Porygon appeared and disappeared all over the field, at the blink of an eye the digital Pokémon was seemingly everywhere and firing Shadow Balls from every possible angle. Cloyster, whose front spike was glowing an extended watery-blue, moved at a seemingly impossible speed to slash each and every Shadow Ball apart before any could land and do damage to the weakened defenses.

“In the high speed battle Porygon can attack from everywhere but the attacks are getting nowhere! What can Gary do to break the impossible finesse of Paul’s Cloyster in high gear!?”

“Lock On!”

Still teleporting to keep the powered-up Cloyster at bay, Porygon flooded the area with red light and a red mark appeared in Cloyster’s core. Paul frowned as he made the call.

“Alright Porygon, let’s end this now. Thunderbolt!”

Thunderbolt flew from Porygon, who had stayed on the peak of an ice rock to fire the attack off. It wasn’t quite a spammable attack like Shadow Ball, but a solid bolt of electricity moved unnaturally towards the targeted Cloyster, targeting the marked core. Heck, would even Cloyster’s stalwart armor be able to stop the attack from hitting its mark?

He didn’t know, and was eager to find out.

“Move!” Paul ordered as Cloyster propelled himself forward like a rocket, the Thunderbolt sharply turning to pursue Cloyster who sped towards Porygon. What, did Paul want to hit Porygon with its own Thunderbolt?

“Teleport!”

Porygon vanished to reappear behind Cloyster, who continued to move towards the rock where Porygon had originally been.

“Thunderbolt!”

Why not throw a second one out? So he did, and a second Thunderbolt flew at Cloyster. Who had just reached the ice rock, and flew right up it and into the air, flying up like a master skateboarder. The first Thunderbolt was right on its tail and the second angled sharply upwards to strike the thing. It was a cool dodge, but he couldn’t see how Paul thought this would possibly….

“Hydro Pump!” Paul pointed and Cloyster fired a fast water blast right at the rock, avoiding the electricity of Thunderbolt and propelling Cloyster forward. The second Thunderbolt turned hard to keep up as Cloyster flew…. right at Porygon.

“Use Te…”

He only got that far before Cloyster slammed Porygon in the head with the bottom of its rocket-boosted shell, knocking Porygon over with a hard hit before the shellfish landed behind Porygon as the Thunderbolts flew right at it.

“Do it,” Paul simply said as Cloyster used the bottom of its shell to bump Porygon up and in front of its core, just as the Thunderbolts hit.

He could only stare in utter shock as his own Thunderbolts fried Porygon, Cloyster using his own Pokémon as a shield. Porygon slumped to the ground in a steaming heap as the announcer made the call.

“Porygon is unable to battle!”

…

“...That was brutal.” Professor Oak simply said. She felt a feeling of despair as Porygon was returned.

“That was Ash and Gary’s friendship…” It sounded so saccharine to say, but she wasn’t wrong.

“...Friendship is more than just a combination attack. Gary’s not out of the woods yet, and he knows what he has to do. It is, however, not going to be easy. But Gary worked hard to get here, and that wasn’t easy either.”

…

Months ago, when he battled Paul for the first time, the match began relatively even, so Gary wasn't too worried when he lost two Pokémon, as he at least managed to get his opponent to lose his as well. But that was just the beginning, and soon enough everything started to go downhill for him, like he just let him win so he'd get cocky, and make the defeat all the more painful in the end.

This time around was different, though, and thanks to the mid-battle break he had some time to think about it and draw the parallels between both fights. That time, the gap in strength between him and Paul was considerable, but now it was much smaller (if still present), so it wouldn't be as much of a determining factor, and Paul had realized that.

In fact, that last maneuver, using Porygon as a living shield for a seemingly unavoidable attack, looked like a desperate move pulled in the heat of the moment.

"Looks like I'm not the only one Ash has rubbed off on, huh?"

No kidding; that was a death-or-glory move. Had the double Thunderbolt hit its mark, Cloyster would no longer be standing, and that was probably the only choice Paul saw to avoid losing his apparent advantage. He was lucky and it worked, but what if that hadn't been the case?

It was just a brief moment, but he saw it in his eyes: Paul was worried about the lighting striking Cloyster.

"Don't worry, Porygon," he said, glancing at the electronic bird's ball. "You may have lost, but thanks to you I saw something very important."

Paul was a strong trainer alright, and he'd always capitalize on that to overpower his opponents. But as he'd learned from the Snagems, nobody was invincible, and the Sinnohan was no exception.

If the Veilstone trainer gained strength by increasing his advantage, they just needed to stop their momentum, and from there on out, to slowly turn the tide while he was thrown off. They had to be careful, as they were still down in the scoreboard, but they hadn't lost yet.

He couldn't afford to lose today, but somehow, acknowledging the possibility of a defeat mitigated that fear. Last time, he tried to cover it up with bravado and overconfidence, but now, he felt much more at ease and controlled, and he could see his goal much clearer. Besides, he may have used up Ash's help, but he still had the twins' contributions in wait, and he wouldn't let them go to waste.

"With some luck, maybe even the battlefield will get on our side," he said, trying to give himself some extra confidence. He'd have to pray for that, but if it helped, he'd be really grateful.

…

“And we’re back, folks! Let’s recap where we are for those who are just tuning into our first battle of the day. Veilstone City’s own son, Paul, has lost two Pokémon and revealed his Cloyster with three unknown Pokémon remaining! Meanwhile the latest scion of the Oak family, Gary Oak of Pallet Town, has lost three Pokémon and revealed his Arcanine, with two unknown Pokémon remaining! Our battle resumes on a brand new battlefield, the water battlefield!”

As the water and island filled field rose up, Gary felt uneasy. While this would work well for Blastoise he couldn’t say it would do that well for Arcanine. This was not the best field they could possibly have decided on.

The one good thing is that Paul looked similarly unpleased. He supposed that Torterra was not really meant to hop across cement islands or swim, if Torterra was in reserve.

They’d find out if that was the case soon.

“Begin!”

“Go!/Standby for battle!”

And the battle was on again, and Paul had sent Cloyster back out. He grimaced, but he felt an idea come along for dealing with it. All thanks to the field. It was something that Ash or Casey would have thought with, but it would probably work out.

“Arcanine, get right near Cloyster!” He ordered as Arcanine bounded from island to island towards Cloyster.

“Use Hydro Pump!” Paul ordered, Cloyster blasting the water stream right at the oncoming Arcanine. His Fire-type avoided the water attack twice before reaching the island that Cloyster was situated on.

“And Arcanine is now right on top of the invulnerable shell of Cloyster! What could he possibly be thinking?”

“Throw it in the water!”

Arcanine grabbed the central spike of Cloyster’s shell on the right firmly in his jaws and tossed the shellfish right into the water, who fell in with a loud ‘SPLOOSH’ and sank.

“....Okay?” The announcer didn’t seem to get what he was going for, and much of the audience was similarly confused. Paul was wary rather than confused. He returned Arcanine and sent out his fifth Pokémon.

“Nido!”

“And Gary’s fifth Pokémon is Nidoqueen spiffing a rather nifty Assault Vest! Does that mean that there was a reason he had Cloyster thrown in the water like that?!”

“Flamethrower on the water!”

Nidoqueen, who had a ranged fire attack unlike Arcanine, promptly bellowed the flames into the water, which started to slowly but surely steam.

…

“Is Gary trying to cook Cloyster?” Daisy asked as he nodded.

“That seems to be the idea. And you know, I think I see what Gary’s up to. Cloyster are more common in cooler waters than warmer ones. The ones you find in places like Alola are actually a sub-species with more heat resistance than normal, though far from a true Alolan Cloyster. One caught in Kanto is certainly not going to be as resistant to the heat. It’s a very Ash-like plan I must admit.”

…

Paul was growling as the water started to lightly steam, and shortly after began to bubble. Cloyster burst out of the water shortly after, flailing in panic like a disturbed Magikarp.

“Hyper Beam!” He gave the order as Nidoqueen changed her attack and aimed for the breaching Cloyster, blasting it right on target. Cloyster was blasted all the way to the other side of the field, where it lay unmoving and on its side on a distant island.

“Cloyster is unable to battle!” the ref declared as he returned Nidoqueen in the same moment as Paul returned Cloyster.

“Gary makes quick use of a tricky field to stop Cloyster from repeating its earlier rampage! Paul’s in a tied game now, and with Gary also returning his Nidoqueen the next bout is going to be fresh!”

“Magmar stand by for battle/Arcanine go!”

And it was a battle of the Fire-types now.

“Magmar, the Spitfire Pokémon. Magmar that live near areas of active volcanism are stronger than those that live in other areas,” his Pokédex offered. Not really helpful, but he was battling the thing and not taking a test on it.

“Dragon Rage!”

“Fire Spin!”

The two Fire-types fired their range attacks right across the battlefield, the spinning fire encapsulating the Dragon Rage before both attacks detonated into a cloud of black smoke that obscured his sight.

“Can’t see Magmar….” he muttered as Arcanine smelled the air for a moment before tensing.

“Well, good thing you can smell it: use Body Slam!”

Arcanine bounded across the islands in great leaps and vanished from sight. Paul ordered a Thunder Punch, and the clash of the two attacks cleared the smoke cloud to reveal a mutual tie. Arcanine’s front paw clashing with a sparking fist from Magmar.

“...Damn, the two attacks are still equal.”

“...Magmar’s one of my newer Pokémon and you are struggling with this mutt against it? This is the same one from Fuchsia, right? What have you been doing?” Paul questioned aloud as he glared at the jerk.

“Plenty! Fire Fang!”

Growling Arcanine lunged at Magmar with a mouth sizzling with as much fire as Magmar’s own body.

“Scorching Sands!”

Scorching what?

Magmar’s pointed beak spewed out a burning sand that flew right into Arcanine’s jaw. His Fire-type choked on the hot sand, the flames of Fire Fang extinguished.

…

“Scorching Sands?” Daisy asked as he nodded.

“It’s a newer attack that was recently created under the instruction of a master trainer. Surprising that someone managed to master it on their own so quickly.”

…

“While it does seem, and often is, cheap, you should be ready for your opponent using tactics to throw you off your game. There are those who value victory over such concepts as sportsmanship and politeness, and it is a valid strategy. You won’t see anyone teach it, but words can damage as harshly as commands in battle”

Gabriela Snagem, wife of Casey Snagem, had shared her own share of experienced wisdom with him while training for this, and that advice returned to the forefront as Arcanine choked on the sand attack.

“Return!” He had fallen for that one and Paul got a hit off on him for it. Returning Arcanine had actually avoided a Thunder Punch, the attack going through the vanishing form of Arcanine as Paul looked at him blankly, especially after he sent out Nidoqueen.

“You want to fight my Magmar with a Poison-type, after I just used a Ground-type attack that actually works on this field?”

“You're not the one who should talk about type advantage all day long. Why don’t you just stick to the trash talk?”

“The only ‘trash talk’ is talking without purpose…”

“...The trainers philosophize before battle begins again. This is why I don’t cover Alder fights folks…” the announcer snarked, interrupting Paul.

Yeah, yeah, he was sure Paul had a lot of plans in mind for this battle. He brought strategies that abused luck, turned Cloyster into a weapon of mass destruction, and had his mind game at hand and who knew what else. But he didn’t exactly lack any plans of his own.

“Stone Edge!”

Nidoqueen summoned an orbit of stones around herself that were quickly fired at Magmar.

“Dodge and get in close!” Magmar darted out of the way of the stone barrage and was moving right at Nidoqueen.

“Ice Beam on the water right in front of it!”

Nidoqueen struck the water between Magmar and it, a single gap. The ice quickly rose up into a solid wall that Magmar ran right into. The ice quickly began to hiss as the ice melted, but it would be enough.

“Hyp…”

“Overheat!”

A bright flame melted the ice wall for a few seconds, before a massive burst of intense, pure white heat struck Nidoqueen.

“And Nidoqueen takes an Overheat directly! That’s one of the most powerful Fire-type attacks there is folks!”

Magmar panted from the attack, and the Fire-type looked a bit bothered when Nidoqueen was still standing, and only a bit burned up, after the attack hit.

Thank you, Elwood.

“Sludge Bomb!”

Nidoqueen followed up the opening from the intensity of an Overheat to blast a sludge blob right into Magmar, who stumbled back and nearly fell in the water, though Magmar kept its balance before it took a dive.

“Sludge Bomb!”

“Block it with Thunder Punch!”

Magmar blocked a second sludge blast before it could hit, though in the effort to do so Magmar wasn’t ready to take the next attack.

“Hyper Beam!”

The blasting attack blew Magmar into the water, the Fire-type sinking into the water below.

…

“Sometimes a battle can be won or lost by the field,” Professor Oak mused as Magmar was recovered by Paul’s ball and declared unable to battle after a quick check.

“So that’s why contests don’t usually have themed fields outside of water fields for fully aquatic Pokémon.” She had never thought of that before.

“And why some leagues do not use specialized fields.”

…

“Gary Oak made excellent use of the new field to take the lead from Paul! Paul only has two Pokémon remaining, but both have taken no damage! Meanwhile Gary’s two known Pokémon of his remaining three have each taken damage! It’s still anyone’s game, but the ball is in Gary’s court right now!”

“Machamp stand by for battle!”

And so Paul followed up the use of a Fire-type on a water field with a bulky Fighting-type that was not really known for swimming… he thought.

Were Machamp excellent swimmers with their four arms, or did that make it harder?

“Seeing as you are still recovering from Hyper Beam, take a break.” He returned Nidoqueen again and sent back out Arcanine, who looked not too bad for a mon that had taken a pretty hard hit earlier.

“Rrr.”

“Two to go Arcanine, we can do this. Use Dragon Rage!”

“Focus Blast!”

Both sets of arms each formed their own orange glowing light before throwing the attacks, one after the other, at the Dragon Rage. The first of them shattered the Dragon Rage and the second flew at Arcanine.

“Dodge it!”

Arcanine hopped to another island, with the Focus Blast blasting a hole into the island his Fire-type had originally been standing on.

“Use Extreme Speed, just like we did in that practice battle with Casey’s Liligant!”

Fortunately, Arcanine caught what he was really going for, charging at the prepared Fighting-type whose arms were all ready to grab and immobilize Arcanine before he could land the attack. Because Arcanine knew what he was going for though, just before they got in range of those arms Arcanine opened his mouth wide and used Flame Wheel.

The result was something of an ultra-speedy fiery tackle that hit Machamp hard and knocked the fighting-type down.

“Great! Now use Body Slam!”

Arcanine landed right onto of Machamp, bouncing off after delivering the blow and leaving a staggered, but still standing, Machamp to glower at Arcanine, who snorted back at the Fighting-type.

“Use Extreme Speed again!”

“Counter with Rock Blast!”

Rock Blast?! How…

Each of Machamp’s arms glowed white and the Fighting-type punched the arm, sending a scattershot of four glowing white fists at Arcanine. They hit Arcanine as he sped at them, knocking his Fire-type out of the Extreme Speed. Then came a second set of the glowing fists, and then a third.

The fourth knocked Arcanine into the water.

“No, Arcanine!”

His Fire-type, just like Paul's in the last round, floated up in defeat a few seconds later.

“Arcanine is unable to battle!”

“And Paul ties the game back up with the surprise reveal of an attack I honestly didn’t know Machamp could use, but that wasn’t Rock Tomb or Stone Edge folks!”

“Return, Arcanine. You did great.” He thanked his Fire-type for his job well done as he put his ball away. He was not going to let it all go to waste.

“Nidoqueen, let’s finish this!”

For the third time in a row he sent out Nidoqueen to finish off one of Paul’s Pokémon.

“Aren’t we getting a little repetitive? Why don’t you show me Blastoise instead?” Paul questioned as he tried to avoid letting him know that he could in fact do so but wasn’t going to. However, it would seem his poker face wasn’t quite what he wanted it to be, and Paul smirked in knowing that he indeed had Blastoise for last.

Okay Paul, you know that. But that doesn’t mean he can’t guess back.

“Show me Torterra instead.”

Paul’s face was unmoved. Jerk had a poker face like a Mudsdale.

“Ice Beam!”

“Fire Punch!”

The first attack he made with Nidoqueen was blocked by a single fiery fist melting the attack before it could fully land. Some ice did crawl over Machamp’s arm, but it quickly melted away.

“Stone Edge!”

“Deflect them!”

The same thing happened with the next attack, in theory. Machamp battered each and every blow away with all four of its arms, and no Stone Edge stone hit Machamp for any real damage.

This was getting him nowhere…

“Rock Blast!”

Machamp’s arms glowed white and fired the barrage attack once more.

“Dodge!”

Nidoqueen avoided the first two of three Rock Blast fist sets, the third got her and knocked her back a bit, though she avoided hitting the water. She shook the blast off and tensed, ready to attack Machamp back.

He could try Hyper Beam, but if that didn’t knock out Machamp in one blow it would be it for Nidoqueen, and getting in close was a no go at all. Maybe Flamethrower or Sludge Bomb…

“Sludge Bomb!”

Nidoqueen spat out of the sludge attack that then flew right at Machamp.

“Use Dynamic Punch!”

Machamp punched the air in front of the oncoming sludge attack, releasing a massive shockwave of energy and air that tore the sludge apart and stopped it. That would probably have stopped Flamethrower too….

But both of them….

“Sludge Bomb again!”

“Dynamic Punch again!”

“Fire your fastest Flamethrower you can and hit that Sludge Bomb!”

The Sludge Bomb wasn’t blown away by Machamp’s Dynamic Punch before the Flamethrower, thinner and smaller than usual, reached the poison and detonated it, creating an explosion that broke Machamp’s guard and gave him an opening.

“Now Sludge Bomb!”

A third Sludge Bomb struck Machamp in the chest, knocking Machamp down. Machamp wasn’t down though, as the Fighting-type started to push himself up.

“Ice Beam!”

He could probably have used Hyper Beam and been sure of it, but he wanted to be ready for Torterra, not at its mercy. The icy blast struck Machamp, knocking it back down and out.

“Machamp is unable to battle!”

Nidoqueen roared in triumph as the crowd cheered.

Paul returned Machamp wordlessly, and he couldn’t help but grin at the stoic jerk.

Paul glared right back.

“Torterra, stand by for battle!”

Torterra landed in a hard crash, shaking the entire pool as waves lashed the edge of each intact island.

“And Paul’s final Pokémon is Torterra! This powerhouse might be powerful, but it isn’t a swimmer, folks!”

It wasn’t agile either, though that hardly mattered. That thing was brutal even when it didn’t move an inch.

“Alright Nidoqueen, let’s start this off with Ice Beam!”

He couldn’t imagine Paul would just let that attack hit, and hitting a Pokémon with a move it was doubly weak to was never a bad bet.

“Stone Edge!”

Paul ordered with a finger snap, and the stone appeared around Torterra in a spinning storm and flew into the Ice Beam. The rocks shattered the ice, and a few flew further at Nidoqueen. She dodged the two icy stones that made it her way, and the pressure had to stay on.

“Alright, try a Flamethrower!”

Flamethrower wasn’t something you could just statter with a bunch of rocks!

“Stone Edge!” Paul ordered with an odd finger snap. It was a deliberate sort of finger snap, but what sort of idea needed a weird finger snap instead of a normal one.

Torterra formed the spinning stones again, but didn’t fire them. Torterra instead used them to form a wall of stone in front of itself to soak up the flames and keep them from hitting.

“Wha….”

…

“That almost looks like something from a contest.”

This Paul guy didn’t look like a contest person. He lacked a certain… well, he didn’t smile enough. But a barrier of that level of control and stability….it was something you’d see in a Grand Festival.

“Controlling Stone Edge to that level requires extensive training, and from a rookie at that. You know it really is a golden age of rookie trainers these last few years,” her grandfather commented.

…

The now flaming Stone Edge barrier flew at Nidoqueen, who tried to dodge a few of them but fell into the water. Fortunately, this did help him a bit: she was a bit harder to aim at now and the rocks were no longer on fire.

His Nidoqueen didn’t exactly like a swim, but when she crawled back onto an island a bit farther away from Torterra she didn’t look as bad as a Fire-type who took a forced swim.

“Seed Bomb!”

Torterra lobbed a glowing seed right into Nidoqueen, who took it in the stomach like a full-speed ball kicked right into you. She bent over, but she got back up and glared at the untouched Torterra.

“Sludge Bomb!”

“Stone Edge!”

Again Paul did a distinct snap, and again a stone barrier formed.

“Flamethrower then Sludge Bomb again!”

But he wanted to see about how he might break it.

The Flamethrower hit the first Sludge Bomb just as it got near the barrier, exploding into a nice disruptive barrier that let the second Sludge Bomb fly through and hit Torterra. The crowd cheered at the successful breach, and he grinned.

They just had to get more hits on Torterra, and it would fall. They’d win!

“Stone Edge!”

He only noticed then that the stones that had been part of the breached barrier the combo hadn’t scattered were now around Nidoqueen, and they all slammed into her at once.

Nidoqueen was not knocked out by the blow, but she was knocked down. She was pushing herself back up when Paul sent a Seed Bomb at her, flipping her over in the resulting explosion and actually getting the final blow.

“Nidoqueen is unable to battle!”

And with that it was the final round. The moment of truth.

“Thanks a lot, Nidoqueen, you were great.” He congratulated his Poison-type. He took his last ball out.

“Alright Blastoise, it is all up to you!”

His first Pokémon, his last Pokémon.

Blastoise landed on an island on the other end of the field from Torterra, a brand new Mystic Water pendant dangling from his neck.

“Hope you all like a bit of turtle power, because the final battle is between two titans in shells! Torterra’s Grass typing may give it something of an edge at first, but Blastoise is no slouch in this terrain! Typing or mobility, what moves they all have, it all comes down to the wire! Who is going to be our first Top Eight finalist folks!?”

“Me! Blastoise, into the water!”

Blastoise jumped, a few stray droplets from the cannonball splashing his face and that of Torterra. Torterra watched the water for any sign of Blastoise as Paul stared at the water before his eyes widened just slightly.

“So that’s it.”

The island started shaking and the water rippled as the first Power-up Punch hit the island’s foundation. It was matched with a second punch, then a third, then a fourth, each one making the island shake more and more.

“Gary’s using the environment to attack Torterra! Torterra will lose most of its ability to battle once it sinks like a stone!”

“Fish it out with Giga Drain!”:

Green energy tendrils shot from Torterra’s back tree and went underwater, seconds later hoisting Blastoise out and slamming it down on an island somewhat close to where Torterra was standing. Standing completely still though, as the island had been greatly destabilized.

“Seed Bomb!”

“Dodge!”

Blastoise rolled out of the way before the seed could hit him, vanishing into the water once more. Torterra levitated up a large swath of Stone Edge shards from the depths, ready to form a shield to block any attack that came its way.

It was an annoying defense, and one that seemed best countered by fast and nimble fighters like a suped up Scizor. Blastoise was not a suped up Scizor, and could not become a suped up Blastoise that was that fast.

“Scald!”

Only the top of Blastoise’s shell and his cannons emerged from the water, blasting at Torterra with a pressure force boosted by the Mystic Water. Torterra formed the stone barrier and it only barely held. Jets of boiling stream got through, hitting Torterra with several shots of sheer irritation, and the barrier buckled at several points. Blastoise sunk down back under the water and while Torterra didn’t seem too irritated by the steam Paul was looking quite miffed.

“Torterra’s incredible defense holds, but Blastoise’s power is near enough that it did so by a single thread and a prayer!”

“Light Screen and Curse!”

Torterra shimmered first in a golden light that surrounded the heavy Pokémon like armor, then a purple light that hazed just beneath the protective coating.

“Scald!”

The Stone Edge barrier again took the attack, the stones still taking a lot of force but the barrier wasn’t as close to falling as before.

Blastoise submerged back into the water that had mostly cooled from the heating attack and he was left figuring out how to get past that defense. Blastoise didn’t know any moves that made him fast enough to get around it, and attacking the island wasn’t going to quite work. Scald and Ice Beam wouldn’t be effective and Power-up Punch was too close to Giga Drain.

“Earthquake!”

He couldn’t see where Blastoise was, but he knew what was happening. Blastoise was going to the floor of the field and shaking it, which would send Torterra’s island tumbling down. Paul only got to ‘Ear’ before he stopped and growled.

He seemed to have just remembered that his Blastoise had been using Power-up Punch, and Paul didn’t seem up for gambling just which of their Earthquakes would be stronger. He couldn’t cancel it out without risking just adding a second destabilizing shaking attack to the unsteady island.

“Drain the field!” Paul ordered instead. Drain the field!?

Torterra’s eyes flashed blue as a new round of Stone Edges appeared around him, and hundreds of stones rose from the depths. The stones gathered in several large groups all around the field, before firing down all at once.

This happened as the island shook and started to crumble from the underwater Earthquake, but the water madness was joined by several new swirling vortexes like in a draining sink or bath.

Torterra did fall into the water as the island fell apart, but the water was rapidly draining. In less than a minute it was all gone, exposing a concrete battle field with a damaged island and several large holes in it.

“And Paul solves the problem of the water field with extensive damage! I really hope the next two trainers don’t bring any fully aquatic Pokémon with them or they may be in some trouble… seriously, our field repair guys for water fields are busy today…”

The last part was said under the announcer’s breath as Paul looked quite pleased with himself.

“Well, nowhere to hide now. Giga Drain!”

Blastoise barely managed to avoid being ensnared by the green tendrils, ducking behind a now dry island. Torterra stomped down with an Earthquake next, knocking Blastoise down onto his shell and into plain view from Torterra before said Torterra sending a new Giga Drain tendrils swinging towards his starting tortoise.

“Skull Bash!”

The attack took a few seconds to charge up the energy for firing, though being on his stomach already Blastoise moved a bit faster. The tendrils only just snared around him before Blastoise shot himself like a rocket, crashing into Torterra. Torterra only moved a slight bit, though the attack looked like it really did sting.

“Ice Beam!”

“Seed Bomb!”

Both fired their attacks at each other from close range. Blastoise was hit in the chest by a single large seed while the two Ice Beams from Blastoise’s cannons intersected to form a stronger one that struck Torterra’s tree, which hurt a lot more despite the flashing Light Screen.

Blastoise was blasted back but landed on his feet, while Torterra briefly fell to a knee, ice growing around the tree but otherwise not immobilizing it.

“Both combatants take super effective attacks head on! Curse and Light Screen, quadruply effective and doubly effective! Who’s feeling it more!?”

“Stone Edge!”

Torterra called all the stray rocks around the field again, forming a solid ring around Blastoise with no escape. It was a complete encirclement.

“Skull Bash!”

Blastoise withdrew into his shell, gathering the force just as the stones began to hit. He couldn’t see what was happening for a few seconds, though soon a shell rocket broke through the swarm of stones and flew right at Torterra, dented by moving at full throttle.

“Giga Drain!” Paul commanded, ready to try to grab the shell before it hit apparently. But an odd thing happened as the Giga Drain came out, it was moving a bit slower than usual. The ice that Torterra had around the tree was forcing the Giga Drain energy to go a bit farther along to get out.

It was just about free from the ice when Blastoise slammed into Torterra, sending the Grass-type sliding down the field and sending so much force into the Pokémon via the blow that the ice shattered. The force of the blow also pushed Blastoise back, giving him the space to counter-attack as the Giga Drain got in close for a counter-blow, even as it got brighter from what looked like an Overgrow boost.

Blastoise also shimmered blue for a moment as Torrent kicked in.

“Scald!”

One steaming blast of water from each cannon slammed into each green energy tendril. Both of these attacks were boosted from the end of the ropes power boosting ability of their respective starters, but his had something extra.

The Mystic Water from Aideen. As saccharin as it sounded, as his sister or grandfather would probably call it, his attack was boosted by friendship. And his friendships were overpowering Paul’s solo power.

The green tendrils of Giga Drain cracked, then shattered, as the two boiling Scald jets flew right at Torterra. He could see Torterra’s eyes widen slightly as the two hit, as well as the sound of shattering Light Screen.

The two water blasts flipped Torterra over, and the next few seconds felt like an eternity. Blastoise panted, dusting some Stone Edge dust off him, Paul grit his teeth, and he swallowed a throat that felt as dry as a desert.

“Torterra is unable to battle! The winner is Gary Oak from Pallet Town!”

The referee finally said as the crowd cheered, exploding as did the announcer.

“And that is the end of our first full battle of this action packed league! It was back and forth, crazy tactics of all sorts, and even deliberate property damage, but in the end it was the youngest Oak in the land who triumphed! He came back and used the field to its full advantage, and that brought him the win after a rough first half! Give it up for Gary Oak everyone, our first member of the Indigo League Top Eight!”

He barely heard what the guy was saying about him, about how he was awesome and moving on to the next round and all. He just saw his name as Winner, and knew who he had beat. He felt almost weightless, yet not in a way that was going to make him fall.

It was a feeling of true elation. He felt like he could fly. It had been months of him dealing with two people constantly beating him and berating him, and seeing Ash get past him. But now he had beaten one of them. In the most important place.

It would be great if he could also beat Ash and Red… but even without that... he. Beat. This. Jerk.

Blastoise, looking quite tired from the battle that had just happened, turned to him and nodded before posing: his arm raised to the sky in victory. He matched it, not caring how dorky it looked. He earned it.

The crowd cheered even louder for their dual pose, so they didn’t care how dorky it looked.

….

He lost.

Part of him, a logical part, knew that was possible. Very likely even. He strove to be the best, and did more than anyone at this league in his first year to be the best, but it was still the first year.

And yet, he really didn't expect Gary Oak to be the one to end his run.

He shook his head as the lesser Pallet trainer posed in a way he’d expect Ash Ketchum to do.

While some of their performances were below expectations, the Oak had improved himself. He didn’t lose to the same one he had crushed with Seviper months ago, and a lot of what went wrong went with the field change. It affected both of them, but it affected him more so than Gary.

But field changes were random, and even something he partially occurred because he brought Cloyster. Reggie said that the water fields only showed up when people brought aquatic Pokémon into battle, and having more of them increased the odds of the field showing up. Battles were often turned by the field; it was a thing that decided more than a few major matches. It infuriated him to know that he lost because of that, but it was just how it went.

He lost because of bad luck amplified by some work on Gary Oak’s end. That was it, and he could improve to counteract both of them. Without one the other would not have been enough to cut his run short.

He turned and walked off to the Pokémon Center. His first league was done… but there was always the next league and he would be stronger for it.

From Kanto there was only one place to go.