“Go Shin!” I hurled my pokeball with accuracy born from long hours of experience. It didn’t seem like a large aspect of a pokemon match but you could set quite a lot up depending on where on your side of the field you deployed your pokemon. There was also the bounce-back feature that you needed to work in. It was actually possible to throw your pokeball and have it shoot back to a position nowhere near you. My Kabutops took to the field with a quick one two-step before flourishing his scythes.

The commentators instantly jumped on my choice. “OH! A POKEMON FROM ANCIENT TIMES! A KABUTOPS! THIS IS CERTAINLY A RARE SHOWING FROM THE PEWTER CITY GYM LEADER!”

Shin was raring to go. Across the field, Charizard grunted and blew out a flame before flapping its wings. The referee checked with us both before raising his flags and dropping them.

“Rock polish!” “Ascend!” Lance and I ordered over the top of each other. Lance clicked his tongue at the missed opportunity.

“Fire blast!” he tried to change things up.

“Hydropump!” I said to Shin. The two attacks impact and instantly I can see a potential trap with how the mist blocks sight of his Charizard. Lance doesn’t react but I still decide to call out my next order “Dodge!”

This time Lance smirked, informing me I’d made a mistake with that call. “Fire spin!” is his answer.

“Rock polish again!” I call out even as a ring of fire drops from within the mist, grimacing as I do. Shin dodged the flame well but it only took a small tongue of fire to touch and for the burn to impact Shin.

I hadn’t been able to find an accurate list of potential moves available to Lance’s Charizard. I’m sure someone in the future would like to know about it having Fire spin. For now, it was going to bite me. “Shin! Zig-zag firing patterns!”

With the mist starting to dissipate, I’d have more of a chance. I didn’t have many good options with Lance knowing he’d be able to counter with fireblast for a while. That was a crutch though. It was only for a while. Also, the mist would weaken his Charizard gradually the longer he remained within it. I felt myself relax as my mind began to unravel the potential paths forward available to me.

Shin began to streak across the field, pause, fire off a hydro pump before changing locations. This forced Charizard to begin weaving in and out. Lance tried to have him shoot off some Fire Blast back but this made the air more sodden with water. It began to make both my pokemon and the Charizard difficult to target.

“Switch targets! Get the last of the floating rocks Charizard!” This order caused his pokemon to pause and I almost felt myself become psychic as I knew what would happen next. Shin stopped on a dime and from his mouth a dense ball of water built before launching out at highly pressurised speed.

Charizard tucked on a wing and dove low making the attack whiff. I inhaled and felt everything come together as it finally came within range. “Aqua jet!”

Lance’s hand began to raise as water built around my pokemon. “No! Charizard gain alt—” Shin didn’t blur so much as glitch across the space to slam straight into Charizard’s side to launch it into the side of the arena.

It had taken a three-stage Stealth Rock, an Explosion, Mist weakening, and finally a two-stage empowered Kabutops hitting it like a truck with Aqua— “Chhhaaaaar!!!!” roared the pokemon as it staggered back to its feet . The flame on its tail pulsed from extreme to pitifully weak almost like a heartbeat. The Dragon in all but typing had its eyes narrowed as it stared straight at Shin. It raised trembling hands towards my pokemon. It was obvious it couldn’t fight to anyone watching.

That didn’t mean it was going to just stop fighting though.

I blinked in surprise before nodding in respect. This was obviously a Charizard that truly served as an exemplar for its species.

The crowd roared and urged it on. I turned to look straight at Lance only to find him looking straight back at me. “Shin, Hydro pump.” Shin stiffened,

“Kabutops?” he said, obviously concerned.

“We can’t dismiss this dragon.” A few people booed me but others heard my words. They held their tongues as Charizard took slow, lumbering steps forward like he was going to build up momentum for a charging tackle. Each step merely looked painfully slow after the earlier aerial acrobatics.

Shin bobbed his head once before lining up another shot. The Charizard saw the shot and staggered forward with a raised claw, delirious, but unwilling to back down. I felt something roil in my stomach but I knew I couldn’t deny or demand Lance withdraw his pokemon. Some pokemon weren’t like that. They abhorred being withdrawn from battle. Some pokemon didn’t seem to have fight and flight. They only had Fight responses. To be a good trainer you had to identify them and develop methods for curtailing them.

You also had to have a good deal of faith that an opponent would recognise the fact that they wouldn’t go down and act for the best. Lance himself was watching on stoically but I thought I had seen him nod in acceptance when I gave the order. For a moment, I’d even thought I’d seen a smile. It really was too much of a beast to ignore. It seemed to be the type that had to be put down rather than it ever ceding a loss willingly.

When the dragon dropped to the ground, the stadium went silent. As one, we held our breaths. We watched the downed dragon, shared in hopes of this not being a tragedy.

The rise of the pokemon’s ribs caused everyone to exhale causing the stadium’s dust to stir as a small breeze swept through it at the synchronised action. I gripped the podium and shuddered.

“Kabu-tops?” said my pokemon. I waved off the concern.

“Sorry for that Kabutops, that Charizard wasn’t simply going to accept going down. One of the issues of using Dragon pokemon. They’re prideful beings. Like Don.” That got an understanding nod from Shin, well aware of how Don could be. “You’ve probably got a rival in that Charizard now. If you ever fight it again it’s going to try twice as hard to knock you out.”

“Kabutops!” Shin brandished his scythes. I grinned before looking up at Lance as he stared at the pokeball in his hand.

“That happen a lot?” I called.

Lance nodded, “Yes. Charizard is very much a Dragon in temperament.” He inclined his head. "Most people don’t like to recognise that in him.” His expression turned amused. “And yes your Shin has certainly earnt himself a rival on this day.” He pushed the pokeball back onto his belt before sweeping his hand out, causing his cape to flourish. “But don’t think I have forgotten my reason for being here Brock!” He tossed another pokeball forward.

“Go Dragonite!”

I held in my groan. Another Dragonite and still not his main? Dragonite’s were huge commitments to train and Lance had three at a level he felt was appropriate for his best team? Insane. He was truly insane.

“OH! IS THIS IT!?” I shook my head but realised that the announcer shouldn’t be that embarrassed that they’d mistaken this Dragonite for Lance’s brute. I could see the sheen of polished scales and rippling muscle as the dragon idly flexed.

Once more the rocks rose up. The ref rose and dropped his flag once more. The stealth rocks swept inwards but before the rocks could hit fully the Dragonite’s wings blurred and it shot upwards.

I cursed at the rapid acceleration this pokemon was showing out of the gates. It made the stealth rocks work for the hit but they were unrelenting in their pursuit. They impacted and Lance started things off. “Defog!”

This time the Dragonite stopped and its wings started to thump as it knocked the air away, beginning to blow away the field effects I’d so arduously set up.

“Hydro pump!” I watched as the Dragonite outright ignored the hit. “Again!” I ordered when I saw Lance was willing to accept the hit. The Dragonite merely turned in the air and continued to thump at the air with powerful wings.

Again and again, I launched more Hydropumps as the Dragonite cleared the field. I glanced at Shin and noted his lack of sheen. The way his scythes drooped and the size of the Hydropumps shot off, all this indicated that the burn from fire spin was taking effect on Shin. Making him weaker and weaker as time progressed.

“Thunder! Strike it down now Dragonite!” As soon as the last floating stealth rock was gone Lance cut a hand straight at where Shin stood.

“Aquajet out of there Shin!” I shouted in reply. Lance’s Dragonite charged up a rumble of lightning before unleashing it, causing streaks of lighting to arc out in a huge area.

Shin was up to the task though and with each arc of lightning, he shot away. Lightning flashed and just as quickly Shin vacated the spots where the attacks were aimed. The powerful move’s inaccuracy actually made it harder to deal with, as it denied Shin room to work with.

More than a few times I twitched as I watched my water-rock type ancient have to weave himself through the arcs of lightning. People in the crowd were lit up like Christmas lights as the flurry of lightning strikes landed. I couldn’t hear anything over the booms of constantly releasing lightning bolts. Thankfully, fighting against Surge had allowed me and my pokemon to get used to the sound at the very least.

You mostly had to grit your teeth and hope you didn’t get tinnitus. The crowd ohh’d and ahh’d as discharges sounded throughout the arena, unmindful thanks to the damage absorbers once more taking some of the impact out of the sound for them.

Neither Lance nor I ordered another move, both of our eyes locked on the weaving, speeding, stutter-stepping Kabutops that shot around the arena. Pursued by lightning. I gripped my arms tight against myself, my heart swelling with pride as Shin demonstrated just why he belonged on my elite six over other options.

I bit my lip as I knew I’d only get another shot at the opening I’d trained for. “Now Shin!” his scythes instantly shone and bit into the ground. His momentum caused a huge gauge of rock to be torn up in his wake before he finally came to a harsh stop. He jerked roughly and I knew it had hurt. “OH?! WHAT’S THIS? BROCK IS GOING TO TRY AND ENDURE THUNDER WITH A WATER TYPE?!” shouted the announcer.

Around the arena, the crowd inhaled in shock. They stood in surprise as the lightning descended. It struck and Shin grunted as he used his Metal claw to induce a flow through his body and safely to the ground.

“IT’S DOING IT?! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!”

“Dragonite! Iron tail!” The Dragon shot forward and forced my hand.

“Throw the rocks now Shin!” Shin ripped his arms up, lifting the rocks that had been skewered on his blades before flicking them at the charging Dragonite. The Dragonite wailed as it took the hits, only to power through and slap Shin aside.

My pokemon rag-dolled before struggling to get up. I almost saw the burn sap more energy from him. I raised my pokeball. Shin wasn’t so prideful that he’d resent me for this later. He understood when he’d done enough and I’d make sure to convey that. “Nicely done Shin. That was a great first showing.”

“AND BROCK WITHDRAWS HIS KABUTOPS AFTER TAKING OUT LANCE’S CHARIZARD! THIS MAKES THE SCORE FOUR TO TWO NOW IN FAVOUR OF BROCK, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!”

I smiled before palming my next choice. I just knew Lance was going to be green with envy when he saw this pokemon.

“Go Don!” My Aerodactyl took to the air screeching in a primordial manner. Dragonite flinched at the screeching dragon before narrowing its eyes while Lance stared openly at the pokemon.

“Where did you find that?” I merely shrugged my shoulders, then nodded to the referee. The crowd and the announcers were once more losing it as I revealed my third pokemon to be another ancient pokemon.

“Can you believe this Chuck?” said Brad in the announcer’s box for the match as he stared at the resurrected pokemon. Next to him, Chuck flipped through an index on what was listed for Brock.

“He’s certainly pulling out a lot of surprises here and now, Brad. None of the tournaments or the videos have shown him to have either of those pokemon. Nor for his Gym battles with people challenging his highest level Brad!.”

“Interesting. How many more shocks do you think he can bring though?”

“Well, I for one wasn’t expecting to watch an aerial showdown when it was announced that Lance was going to be facing Brock! Rock types don’t make you think ancient flying dragons!”

“Till now that is!” said Brad before looking to the screen that was being highlighted by a producer. “And it seems the fanbase is starting to swing Chuck! At the start of the week, people were saying it was going to be a clean wash with Lance sweeping the Pewter Gym in our polls! But things certainly have shifted!”

“Oh? What are they now?” “Now, at least forty percent of people think Brock has a chance!”

“Oh! Good odds! I for one still think Lance has this. We’ve seen him field weaker teams but for the last pokemon! Let’s see how that poll goes when his starter takes to the field!”

Don held his position as the flags went down. Then I ordered his first move. “Go for it, Don! Stone Edge!”

“Iron Tail Dragonite!” Lance said as Don surged forward. The Dragonite snorted, shooting forward to whip around and slap Don out of the sky with a harsh thwack. I grunted as the podium shook. Don staggered out of a small crater that he had been launched into and I saw a fire ignite in his eyes as the Dragonite gave another dismissive snort.

“Dance Don!” I said, knowing that I needed to bring Don up to parity with this Dragonite. Energy instantly swirled around Don. Lance glared as Dragon Dance took effect.

“Take it out with Thunder!”

“Sweep low and tear up the earth! Stone Edge!” This time, instead of hamstringing my pokemon, I ordered it to stay low enough that each flap of its wings saw it kissing the arena. In its wake, large hunks of the ground were torn up and the earth was thrown up into the air. Precisely like flak that attracted the lightning.

This resulted in lightning blowing the earth apart but leaving Don free. I watched the Dragonite continue to blast away before suddenly stuttering out. In the game, this would have been seen as running out of moves. In this world, Lance had pushed his Dragonite’s reservoir of Electric energy too far and it now needed time to recharge.

“Dragon dance again Don!” I again capitalised on the momentary weakness. More purple energy built up within Don and when he moved now, each flap of his wing caused a harsh wind to blow about the arena. His eyes gleamed as he locked onto the Dragonite and his instinct demanded he attack now.

“Ice fang!” I ordered, making Lance hiss.

“Dodge it Dragonite!” This time it was the Dragonite that lost altitude to dive and dip around the landscape of carved rocks that had been leftover from its fight with Shin and now Don. I watched, tense, as Dragonite swept left and right through the field.

Only for Don to keep closing on him. I watched, surprised as Don began to gain more and more ground. The rate that he was reeling in the more deftly maneuvering Dragonite surprised me. Perhaps I hadn’t needed to use the second Dragon Dance. Were Aerodactyl’s better fliers than Dragonites? There wasn’t a lot of information on that but it appeared that with Don powered up twice he was easily beginning to catch up to the Dragonite. Something that everyone seemed to notice as more and more people became vocal.

Don and the Dragonite only had eyes for each other though as they tore around the arena, pulling hairpin turns that had them spiral upwards before dropping like rocks to then loop-de-loop back around.

Dragonite tried to obfuscate the way it was flying by blowing huge dust storms in its wake only for Don to ignore the dust and charge after. It was probably something to do with being a rock type. Professor Oak or another of the researchers around the world would have a more in-depth understanding of the how, but it wasn’t an issue for Don to see through the dust.

Lance clicked his tongue. “Dragonite! Turn and brawl! Use Iron Tail!”

Dragonite spun around, its tail glowing as it spun only for Don to barrel right into the attack with an open maw that had ice built up around it. Both hits connected but I could tell that Don had come off stronger from the attack.

“Dragon claw!” shouted Lance.

“Again! Ice Fang!” I was more than happy to meet Dragonite blow for blow here. I had empowered Don and already whittled away at the Dragonite with Shin. Now it became a slugfest with the two pokemon clawing and biting at each other. Don’s wings even came into play, slapping his foe about the face to disrupt Dragonite as Don bit forward.

A particularly good bite saw Don clamping down. Don held on as Dragonite tried to beat its arms and head down on the attack. I leaned forward much like Don, smelling the metaphorical blood in the water. Lance likewise knew what would happen if this continued. “Dragonite crash land now!”

Before Don could unlatch Dragonite plummeted towards the earth, crashing them both into the ground. “Stone Edge!” I commanded, not really able to see what was going on but adamant that Don wasn’t out of the fight.

Dragonite screeched as it was launched back to tumble before taking a kneeling stance. The dragon heaved in air while glaring at Don as my pokemon righted itself and flapped just above the ground. It seemed both were on their last legs. Lance swept his eyes from me to my pokemon before nodding.

“Hyper Beam!”

I had half a heartbeat to come to terms with the order and plan my next move. I knew a lot was riding on this call. Don wouldn’t be able to do much against the next pokemon that was coming out. Heck if this Dragonite was an indicator I truly might have to play for my ace in the hole.

I could drag this out by possibly dodging but I didn’t want to make things seem hedged. The ten million was a lot but, more importantly, I wanted people to respect me and my team. Here and now I had to earn that by showing that I could match Lance.

“Match it Don!” I said. Instantly energy built up in Don’s maw as he locked onto his target. I tensed and braced myself, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Around the stadium, the damage absorbers flared up in readiness.

Dragonite fired off his Hyper Beam and half a heartbeat later Don matched it. Both beams of energy were on target. They slammed into each other and the earth bucked as the two attacks tore into each other.

The clash of energy didn’t make any noise except the howl of the wind pushing away from the impact site. I watched as slowly but surely the beam of one of the pokemon pushed forward. I grimaced as I realised that it wasn’t Don’s beam.

Don seemed to sense this pressure. Like an inverted tug of war, or more accurately two sumo wrestlers throwing themselves against each other, the attacks impacted against each other. Don dug deep and the shifting balance slowed before stopping.

“DRAGONITE! PUSH ON!” roared Lance as he noticed how Don was fighting off the attack.

“DON!” I called out. “TAKE OUT THAT TWO-BIT DESCENDANT!” It wasn’t how I’d normally refer to another’s pokemon but Don was a crude pokemon that liked smack talk.

The beams from both pokemon intensified as more and more energy was poured forth. I looked to the Dragonite. Surely, surely they had to be running out of reserves. And sure enough, one of the pokemon inevitably ran out of energy. I grimaced as Don took the hyper beam and slammed harshly into the wall of the arena.

Dragonite stood on the other side shuddering and shaking but still standing. Don stayed down, his chest rising and falling, allowing the grip that had clenched my heart to relax.

“Aerodactyl is unable to battle, the—” A deep weary groan escaped the suddenly tottering Dragonite. Everyone watched in only for it to catch itself and flare its wings. It landed and more dust rose as everyone watched on. The referee coughed before lowering the flag in my direction. “Aerodactyl is unable to battle! We will now hold an intermission as three pokemon have been defeated!”

I withdrew Don and smiled at the pokeball as I idly walked back to the bunker, happy with his performance but dreading how Lance had now brought it to a three vs three match up. I had done well but I could feel Lance’s team starting to inexorably pry my grip off control of the match.

The last few pokemon had all been able to endure despite having type advantages on them. They’d taken blows that had dropped some of Surge and Sabrina’s pokemon. The hype surrounding these pokemon certainly wasn’t just hot air. It seemed almost inevitable for Lance to simply outlast me with how things were going.

I continued to walk back and forth, not even paying attention to June and Celia. I could recognise that I was in a funk from the way things had slipped but I had to be realistic. Had I been expecting for this to be as easy as the games where you could line up perfect matchups and have stronger pokemon than Lance easily with hours of play? No, and that was a trap I had tried to avoid as I grew up after having my first losses handed to me. Something you could avoid entirely in the game with careful forethought. Still, the trap was there and I occasionally, like now found myself tripping over the difference between expectations versus reality. It was seeping back in and messing up my mental state.

I faced away from the girls and clapped my hands together, going through an old anxiety-release method from my past life.

When the match was called to resume, Lance looked much more in control of himself. I smiled at the presumed challenge. I’d gone through the stages of thinking I had needed. If this had continued without the break I would have probably had to use my minute delay before releasing pokemon but I was confident now. I could do this. I wasn’t out of my depth.

If he wanted to bring the big guns, I could do that as well. He’d already brought out his fourth pokemon.

Time for me to answer and tear this match back into my grasp.