Hard Enough
Chapter 250: -Starters/Pride on the line!

Alright, Lapras against a Gengar.

Not a horrible match,, but it might be possible for Karen to have a Thunder Punch up her sleeve. The bigger risk would be a grass-type move such as Energy Ball, or Giga Drain.

The move I knew Karen’s Gengar possessed was Focus Blast, a move that against a rock type would be super effective.

For Thunder Punch she’d at least have to get close, which should be relatively easy due to Gengar’s being such natural speedsters.

Karen’s lips twitched with annoyance and as fast as thought I realised that she in fact did not have a good option for Tide with her Gengar.

With that in mind I confidently gave my first order to Lapras, making the most of my speed at giving orders.

Rain Dance would work wonderfully against a pokemon that could poison the field. Tide’s Hydration ability would come in clutch against something like Gengar, or even Vileplume, both of whom had oodles of poison-type attacks to draw upon.

That order evolved as I caught Karen darting for her pokebelt.

I inhaled, realising what was about to happen and feeling a thrill run through me as an opportunity presented itself.

Everyone had seen me ordering my pokemon without saying a word, but they hadn’t been exposed to what that meant, as I hadn’t utilised it as well as I could, or even should.

I’d needed to familiarise myself with it first.

Now though? When I get the chance to chain commands? I was going to leverage that for all it was worth.

Instead of just a single order that Tide was already acting on, I offered up the follow-up move to Tide, and he responded with a flicker of glee.

His head lifted as he began to sway from side to side, a soft croon escaping his lips, even as Karen’s hand shot up with a pokeball in her grip.

Rain began to fall as Gengar was absorbed into a red beam.

Karen’s offhand began to raise her next pokeball to bring out, while I flooded my bond with Tide with anticipation as the next part of the plan came into play.

Karen whipped out her arm, only for the temperature to drop, sharp icicles forming overhead. The pokeball flew through the air, but as it did so I could see Karen’s eyes dilating as realisation set in about what was about to happen.

Her pokeball disgorged its pokemon and I was surprised when an Umbreon appeared, instead of the Vileplume I’d predicted. If Vileplume had entered the field with Blizzard to greet it, that would have probably ended it right then and there. It would have made for one of the fastest knockouts in this tournament perhaps, with a one-hit KO.

Instead, I got the super tank that was Karen’s Umbreon.

My eyes flickered to Karen as huge shards of ice rained down onto the unprepared dark type.

Umbreon flinched at the sudden assault but was able to kip backwards quickly.

“Umbreon!” barked Umbreon, as it flapped its ears back and forth and glared at Tide.

“Lock it in!” snapped Karen, and Umbreon reacted by glaring, with its eyes glowing red.

I felt the sweep of energy launch out and form a shell over Tide.

Mean Look, eh?

Alright, this old gambit. I was more than familiar with this thanks to facing it more than a time or two.

I mentally pulled the trigger, deciding to not hold back and instead unleash everything on Karen’s ‘super tank’.

Tide rose tall, mouth opening and a small orb of light forming up in front of his maw.

Karen’s eyes widened as she caught precisely what I was going for.

“Rest!” barked Karen and I felt my eyebrows shooting up. She was going for Rest instead of something like Detect or Protect?

I felt a thrill run through me. If I’d been looking forward to hammering Vileplume with Blizzard, unleashing a Hyper Beam against a pokemon without a Protect had me salivating.

Tide fed on my emotions, and if anything poured more of himself into his attack.

The resultant Hyper Beam caused him to rock back as he unleashed a gigantic beam of energy that reminded me he’d been working with Don to try and match Empress.

The Hyper Beam cut through the falling rain and carved a line through the rain clouds that had formed up with Rain Dance.

Water shot out to the side as the beam blew everything out of the way, causing waves that shot out to the sides so quickly even the side barriers were triggered.

The beam then slammed into the sleeping Umbreon and outright propelled it over the field and into the back wall.

From there the barriers went from transparent to yellow-orange, and then tinged red before Hyper Beam faded.

The field was left with a line drawn straight through it and Tide huffed and puffed with huge lungfuls of air coming in and out, before he straightened out and a flash of annoyance shot through the bond.

I snapped my eyes to the other side of the field, only to click my tongue as I caught sight of what Tide had seen a moment earlier

Umbreon was standing, shaking and twitching, now very much awake as it trudged doggedly back into the field of play.

Damn, that Umbreon truly deserved its epithet as a ‘super tank’ of Karen’s team. It outlasted a Hyper Beam to the face without being able to brace.

I knew Umbreon had a great special defence stat as a species but still, the attack Tide unleashed? I don’t think anyone was expecting Umbreon to walk that off, not even Karen, I thought as I caught sight of her shoulders dropping in relief slightly.

She then shot me a smirk. “Did you just blow your load in one shot, big boy?”

I raised an eyebrow at her trying to banter with me. “That’s what you’re going to go with?” I said as both our pokemon took in huge lungfuls of air.

Karen grinned impishly. “What can I say? I feel like I need to hit my stride and a bit of banter just fires me up!” she said clenching both fists.

“Umbreon, return!” she called and I shook my head as she withdrew her pokemon.

If I wasn’t used to her antics I’d be almost caught in a lurch, expecting her to attack instead of withdrawing again. Still, it worked for her as Tide was too wiped out to mount another Blizzard as an opening act, allowing a Shiftry to take the field unopposed

Huh, I hadn’t been expecting that, I thought to myself.

Worse, the rain clouds that had been lingering about were fading, meaning Hydration wasn’t going to be useful unless I forced things with another Rain Dance.

Interestingly, I could feel the shell that had been around Tide of what had been Mean Look fade.

That got a raised eyebrow from me.

So far my experience with Mean Look had been against what had to be specialised pokemon that could lock down a pokemon and then withdraw without the Mean Look fading.

I knew Karen had trained her Umbreon with such a skill, so the fact that it didn’t have that ability raised serious questions in my mind.

The only answer I could think of was that she’d used a Technical Machine or two and it had messed with Umbreon’s training.

That, or she was hoping I wouldn’t try and withdraw Tide now that he had a disadvantage.

And I had no doubt about that now. Shiftry were known as speedy pokemon and there was a lot of potential for a pokemon like that to mess up Tide.

“Return,” I said, not waiting for Tide to regather his strength fully as I recalled him. I moved my offhand for another pokeball.

“Kneel and focus yourself,” ordered Karen.

I frowned. That was a wonderfully ambiguous order.

Was that a Focus Energy?

A Nasty Plot or an Amnesia?

Or was Karen bluffing and simply having her pokemon kneel down and she didn’t have any moves to buff her pokemon?

Hmmm, not a bad idea to not reveal your hand by not doing anything during a recall break. My mind ran through what I knew about Shiftry. It was a dark-grass type with some flying moves, but still, I had a good option for fighting Shiftry.

“Go! Zephyr!” I shouted, unleashing my Noctowl on the field.

“Try!” shouted Shiftry all of a sudden, the pokemon’s face gaining a red hue to it while its mouth shot open. Energy swirled around the back of Shiftry’s head ominously and I felt Zephyr grow more sluggish.

Scary Face. A move to slow your opponent down by two stages according to the game. Something she’d set up as a pseudo-entry hazard, much like I had with Tide’s Blizzard.

Through the bond I could feel the sudden weight that Zephyr felt he had attached to his wings, making each beat harder than it normally would, while he didn’t get anywhere near as far with the same amount of effort.

I flexed my will and sent Zephyr into a spiral, causing a Hurricane to form quickly to stop Shiftry from getting any further attacks off.

“Swagger!” called Karen over the roar of the racing winds.

Shiftry glared up at the towering spire of wind defiantly. It took a step to the side one way and then hopped back, chest puffed out. It continued to do this even as the Hurricane engulfed it, cutting into it.

It cried out, but I could see it keeping its head up defiantly as energy wafted off it.

I felt a wave of vertigo through the bond take hold with Zephyr along with his vision beginning to swim. Ah, the confusion coming into effect? I wonder if I could…

I pushed my own will into the bond and exerted a ‘rightness’ to things, by giving him reference points to draw on to help him break the confusion faster, if not instantly.

Zephyr stilled at my thoughts plunging into his, but I quickly soothed his fears as I helped him rid himself of the confusion.

Zephyr dove, causing the Hurricane to break up right as Shiftry emerged out the other side.

Karen once more reacted quickly. “Synthesis!” she called and her pokemon knelt, digging its hand-leaves into the soil and taking a deep inhale.

It reminded me of watching martial artists rally themselves before a fight.

Only this wasn’t a pre-match prep, this was a battle.

Zephyr reappeared in a sudden burst of speed, wings ablaze with energy as he hammered into Shiftry’s, back causing the kneeling pokemon to topple forward.

Shiftry fell on its face but kept its hands dug into the soil as it drained the ground for all the nutrients it could.

Karen frowned. “Evade!” She barked to her pokemon and Shiftry darted forward, only to vanish into an Aerial Ace to appear on the other side of the field. This placed it directly in front of Karen’s podium and she glanced from Shiftry to Zephyr in annoyance.

“You’re certainly getting lucky this match, aren't you?” she said, eyes narrowed.

She must have been alluding to her Swagger-induced confusion not causing my pokemon to hurt itself.

Stolen story; please report.

“Go for broke, buff up!” she called to her Shiftry.

Shiftry stiffened and looked back at Karen in surprise before nodding and kneeling.

You didn’t need to be a pokemon professor to know something passed between trainer and pokemon just then, but I sadly had no reference for what ace she was holding in reserve.

With Shiftry kneeling once more I decided to once more lock down most of the field with my much slower pokemon.

Zephyr spun up another Hurricane that quickly advanced on Shiftry.

Once more instead of trying to evade or block the attack, Karen pointed straight ahead and her pokemon lunged into the windstorm.

“Hey Brock!” Karen called.

I ignored her, instead focusing on my bond with Zephyr as he locked eyes with his now cut-up foe. If Karen wanted to get to the eye of the storm I was more than happy to battle in close with another Wing Attack, especially with Zephyr’s boosted attack from Swagger.

Zephyr dove and I clenched my fist around the railing as I began to anticipate the coming exchange.

“—” said Karen, only for her words to be lost to me as Shiftry locked eyes with Zephyr as he attacked. Then Shiftry began to glow in an all too familiar manner.

I felt my stomach drop as I instantly realised Karen’s trick.

“PROTE—” I started to yell and push through the bond, only for the Explosion to rock the field and tear the Hurricane apart.

Zephyr fell from the air and slammed into the ground with a heavy thud.

Shiftry however tottered from side to side. The geta it had for feet clacking back and forth as it performed a final, drunken dance before collapsing on its knees

I grimaced. Of all the moves for Karen to keep in her Shiftry’s arsenal, Explosion hadn’t been one I’d expected.

Damn, Karen had also done rather well just now. She’d gone for Scary Face on entry which had worked, only to then try and confuse my pokemon with Swagger. That hadn’t worked so instead of pushing things along she’d pushed for some health and then gone in for the kill.

Annoyingly Zephyr was a great choice for Karen to use Explosion on as well. I’d been hoping to use him against her Vileplume if it came up, or one of the fighting types she had in the roster like Primeape.

Most of my other pokemon would have been able to endure the attack.

“Haha! First blood is mine!” Karen cheered.

I grunted, returning Zephyr to his pokeball. “I think you’re overlooking that you also lost a pokemon.”

“Oh, but I was the one to give the order. Which makes all the difference, doesn’t it, Brock?” she asked with a pleased grin.

She spun up another pokeball even as her Shiftry was recalled and returned to her pokebelt. “Care to feel some heat?” she said with a waggle of her brows.

I snorted, knowing that she was playing mind games. If I read into it at face value, she would be sending out Houndoom, but she was a master baiter and switcher, so she would probably be wiser to send out another pokemon, like her Vileplume if she had it.

Then again she was the sort to know that I knew she might try that trick and instead go for Houndoom.

Fighting Karen could be a frustrating affair.

Sabrina summarised it best for me during one of the rest periods during our Guardian training sessions.

“Just get in close and punch her in the face.”

I selected my pokeball, or rather great ball, deciding not to overthink it.

We both threw our pokeballs and then, just a second before they released the pokemon within, our eyes locked.

A spark ignited between us, as through some unknowable means, we both understood what the other had done.

Both of us grinned widely as our starters hit the ground and locked eyes.

Titan the Tyranitar vs. Houndoom.

Titan and my bond snapped into cohesion and a thrill ran through me that made me want to shiver.

Everyone instantly knew there would be no backing down from this.

We were going to fight until one of us emerged triumphant.

Reason be damned, we’d just sent our starters out at the same time and pride was on the line.

Karen must have really liked her chances. She didn’t hesitate to clench her fist and punch the sky.

“MEGA EVOLVE!” she roared and Houndoom began to swell with rainbow energies before leaping up. Light exploded out of him and a shadowy profile cut through the strobe-like effects.

I fed Titan the plan and he grunted as he twisted, sending a spray of sand and rocks up into the air as he stepped into a slowly forming Sandstorm.

The battlefield around us might not be the best atmosphere, but thankfully we had some time due to the Mega Evolution taking place across from us.

Titan stalked like a caged pokemon, moving left and right while he watched the light Houndoom was giving off, both of us chafing at the knowledge that any attack would be rebuffed or absorbed during the Mega Evolution process.

So instead we went another route.

Around Titan sand billowed and wove itself into the air as the sodden ground found itself drying out.

As the Sandstorm took over our half of the field, I had Tian step back into it and sink even lower, becoming a hidden shape among the moving sands.

Despite my line of sight being partially obscured I could clearly make out where Houndoom was thanks to the light.

I could see its horns elongate. Its breastplate twisted and curled before extending out on either side to form tusks-like appendages as behind it a forked tail rose, beginning to whip back and forth. It would have been cute, almost like a wagging dog, if not for the demonic look of that dog.

I felt Titan shift to the side as the light show began to end.

With that done, a trio of floating rocks slowly arced around and out of the Sandstorm as all eyes lingered on Houndoom in its Mega Evolved state.

Mega Houndoom hit the ground with a growl that echoed over the battlefield.

Some primal part of me wanted to go still and keep my eyes on this alpha predator that had emerged, but I ground it down with an effort of will. Mega Houndoom then inhaled and its chest glowed as the outline of the bone plating became brighter, embers stoked with the influx of air.

With an exhale a tongue of flame escaped its maw to scour the ground and cause the water to crackle and bang as it became superheated.

Steam rose up around Houndoom as it raised the temperature of the earth surrounding it.

Thanks to the Sandstorm I was shielded from the heat, but I could see more than a few people in the crowd bringing out water and ice-type pokemon to stay cool.

Titan didn’t let the growl go unanswered, his instincts demanded he respond.

And so, from the depths of the sandstorm, a deep rumble sounded out, with a pattern to it that made one think of a demonic steam train chuffing along.

I grinned, knowing that to be Titan’s chuckle.

He found the emergence of a ‘new’ predator on his hunting grounds to be laughable.

Nice.

Karen’s confident look became pinched before she swept her hand out in front of her. “Leap up and glass the field!” she shouted.

Even without that command, I knew that Karen would try to go this route with Titan. If she could control the field in some way, she could limit some of the stronger attacks that Titan could launch such as an outright Earthquake.

Titan didn’t even need a command from me as he dove into the ground as Houndoom shot into the air.

I kept my own vision turned upwards as Houndoom went supernova. Where before Houndoom had merely been inhaling and exhaling, causing the embers to ebb and flow with intensity, now it drew in a gargantuan breath and the red embers shone white.

Houndoom bared its fangs at the Sandstorm, which, without Titan forcing it, was starting to claim more of the field, dragging particles up into the air.

Before Houndoom disgorged the fire that had built up within it, I knew that there would be lots of commentators shouting phrases like supernova, but that was nothing like what was going on here.

This was a white dwarf state.

Houndoom exhaled and the fire it unleashed was lacking in size and width. What it lacked in size, however, it made up for with intensity, unleashing a lash of heat that cut through the Sandstorm and sent the raging sands into a molten state in an instant.

I ducked low, realising that this was something that was going to hurt if I simply stood there. I pulled on my rock aura and encased myself, making myself as resistant as possible.

I still felt the heat as it washed over my podium, triggering the defensive barriers as the controls registered the threat to me as deadly.

The temperature spiked and the Sandstorm vanished, its heart cut out from it as Houndoom swept its head from left to right, coating the field. I watched through the gaps in the railings and behind the barrier as the battlefield once more changed.

Each pass of the white-hot flame caused the field to shift and curl the molten glass, twisting it into a roiling shape that reminded me of waves.

Waves of glass that would have taken hundreds of glassblowers days of work.

Houndoom had done it in moments.

Parts of the glassed battlefield still bubbled and shifted slowly, showing that it was still in a viscous state.

When I stood I felt my mouth dry instantly from heat as I took in the changed field.

I felt the heat sear at me and part of my new jacket began to smoke.

I growled and ran my rock-type energy through it as well, protecting it as best I could.

The smoking stopped.

Karen smirked at me, proud of her and her pokemon’s achievement. I had to give it to her, her pokemon had certainly become powerful thanks to finding that Mega Stone.

Houndoom landed and huffed in a pleased manner, its eyes casting about for Titan.

My eyes quested for a patch of land that wasn’t turned to molten glass as there was no way I was going to let him come up and be coated in glass. That would weigh him down and probably burn him at the very least.

My eyes lit up on the patch of land right behind Houndoom, where it was merely scorched and not a bubbling mass.

Titan surged upwards and launched out of the ground like a Wailord breaching the surf.

Houndoom turned its head as Titan shot out behind it, fangs leading the way, only for Karen to clench her fist before Titan could lock onto Houndoom.

“Protect!” she barked and a shell of defensive energy formed, denying Titan.

Through the energy shield Titan and I could see Houndoom turning and locking eyes with my starter once more.

A sneer had it raising its head up, as though it was looking down on Titan.

Titan huffed and I had him flick his tail in a manner that might look like it was merely lashing out.

Rocks from the ground shot out in a spray as Titan’s tail carved through the ground.

Instead of ignoring it, Karen’s eyes tracked the rocks and I held back a grimace as she swept her eyes about her side of the field and caught sight of the pair of floating rocks that signalled Stealth Rock was in effect.

“You sneaky little man,” she said with a shake of her head.

She raised a finger and waggled it back and forth. “I’m not that easy, Brock,” she commented before flicking her fingers. “Houndoom, high ground,” she said right as the shield faded.

Titan lunged, swinging a huge boulder into where Houndoom was, only for Houndoom to evade with what looked like a reversed Quick Attack, allowing it to retreat quickly.

Houndoom skipped backwards, only to land atop a just hardened wave of glass that was effectively the highest point around on the battlefield.

From there it once more glared down at Titan who merely shook his head and prepared another Stone Edge, only for me to change the order to that of Power Gem as a suspicion formed in my mind.

Houndoom once more blurred to the side. When it landed it was already exhaling a huge gout of purplish black smoke that caused part of the field to fill up.

That was a hazard I didn’t want to let linger, nor did I want it touching Titan.

Where last time the Stone Edge had missed, this time the Power Gem slammed into Houndoom, causing it to skid back minutely.

Houndoom growled, only to dig its breastplate into the ground to effect a natural brace that stopped it from being pushed back into the soft glass.

I considered that for a moment.

The glass was much too soft for Titan to step on without sinking into, but Houndoom could step on it due to being lighter, but also by being so hot naturally that it caused any glass to slough off his feet.

So, Karen was creating a battlefield that Titan couldn’t fight on, was she?

I’d just have to flip the script in that case.

I jutted my chin, a smirk forming on my lips as Titan crossed his arms and from… somewhere on his body, he drew out a pair of sunglasses.

Where had he hidden those?

Why did I think this stunk of Bertha’s trickery?

Titan lowered his sunglasses and shot Houndoom a wink as a rumble took over the field, only for the water that was at the rear of the field to begin rising, along with that of the trenches of water surrounding the battlefield.

Titan stepped back and crossed his arms as he rose on a wave.

Alright, I could admit, that was kinda cool.

Surf was an excellent game changer and I’d been remiss not training Titan in it for as long as I had.

Fighting Kaede had been worth the kick in the pants to change things up some, even if Surf did wipe the field of my own Stealth Rocks.

The wave rose, roaring almost as loudly as Titan, with him standing at the top with a smug aura radiating out of him.

“Dig!” shouted Karen, and for once in my life the roles were reversed as my pokemon shot forward with Surf while my foe evaded with a Dig.

Houndoom pushed straight through the molten glass like it wasn’t even there.

I had Titan spin about and slide down the wave, landing and cracking the now-hardened glass.

There was no way that Houndoom was as good as my pokemon at evading a wave, but if it was, I was going to show Karen what a mistake it was to try that trick on me at this level.

Houndoom popped out of the ground, only to have Titan once more pouncing from close range.

A roar of triumph escaped Titan as he led with a powerful Brick Break.

“CC!” bellowed Karen as Titan bounced Houndoom’s skull off the glass floor with his fist.

Houndoom responded by twisting on its side, only to roll so that its rear legs were facing towards Titan as it rocked onto its front and levelled a double-barreled kick at Titan’s centre of mass.

Evade! I thought, twisting on the spot like I was dodging an attack at the same time as Titan. The extra stimulus, if anything, helped Titan move quicker as our minds were working as one.

Titan twisted, his reactions fast enough to make up for his towering mass to force the super effective fighting-type move to whiff.

Then Titan and I pivoted back in, a punch shooting forward to launch Houndoom across the field with another Brick Break.

Houndoom spun through the air and I grinned, knowing that it would land awkwardly like that.

Sadly Karen proved that her reaching the finals of the midseason tournament wasn’t a fluke as her Houndoom exhaled a torrent of flame to correct its flight through the air so that it could land on its feet heavily.

Houndoom stumbled and I allowed myself a grin. She’d bet on her pokemon being able to match mine, and I was showing her that very much wasn’t the case.

Houndoom staggered once more and I leaned forward, knowing that I was close to finishing up this battle of starting pokemon.

Part of me screamed to unleash Titan with a Giga Impact but I restrained it, knowing that there were going to be a lot of other fights still left to come as Karen wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Titan grunted as he dug a fist into the ground and dug up a boulder in a swift jerk to hurl it at Houndoom.

Instead of trying to evade or use Protect, Karen’s shoulders slumped.

My mind felt a moment of triumph, only for a memory of this exact pose to flare up in my mind.

She’d done this once during our training with the Guardians… It had been a trap.

A warning flashed through my mind and instead of committing to the attack I had Titan continue leaning forward and diving into the ground with Dig.

The crowd fell silent in confusion as to what I was doing, but I just narrowed my eyes and glared at Karen.

My paranoia was proven correct when a moment later a Solar Beam was unleashed from just to the side of what was revealed to be a last-ditch Substitute from Houndoom.

Solar Beam harmlessly shot over the hole Titan had left and a moment later he shot up from the ground once more beneath the point Houndoom actually was, hurling the weakened pokemon into the air where it hung helplessly.

I locked eyes with Karen, letting her know that I wasn't about to pull my next punch.

She rolled her eyes at me and before Houndoom could be blown out of the air, she withdrew her pokemon.

I grinned at her, knowing that this had to sting her pride.

She’d gone into this hoping to get the edge with her Mega Evolution, but the truth of the matter was, on stats alone, her Houndoom had merely matched my Tyranitar.

But even then, a Tyranitar against a Houndoom wasn’t really a true contest.

Tyranitar were pseudo-legendaries for a reason.

I felt Titan’s urge to roar his triumph to the roof, but I suppressed that as much as I could, smothering it with the wet blanket of reason and tactics.

Titan grit his teeth and did as I bade, realising that I was correct in that this wasn’t the time.

Soon, though, I thought.

With Houndoom down we were one step closer.

As the referee’s flag shot up announcing Karen’s withdrawal, Titan stalked back to my side of the field to the sound of thunderous applause.

Titan and I smiled together.

That had been a damn good fight and while we had the advantage, Karen had certainly still pushed us to use our aces and trump cards.

When he reached the halfway point he turned, ready for the next foe, a hunger filling our veins and roaring in our minds.

We’d grown from all the fights and now we demanded victory of ourselves, instead of merely hoping for the best.

Karen eyed us, only to draw herself up and nod. “Alright, looks like I’m doing this the hard way then,” she said before tossing out her next pokemon.

Instead of sending her pokemon to the back of her field and giving it room to work with for long-range attacks, Karen sent her pokemon right in front of Titan.

Instead of a fighting type as I expected, a Crawdaunt of all pokemon appeared, gleaming and defiant as it locked eyes with Titan.

Well alright then, game on, I thought to myself.