Hard Enough

It’s crazy how something as insane as training pokemon and running a gym can almost become boring if you let it.

I very much sought to enjoy the process, so I usually liked to try different things with varying match ups of pokemon. This could be battle tactics, to pokemon themselves, coming up with unusual moves. I knew that some pokemon had a lot of different moves depending on methods of rearing, training, use of technical machines, and even who their parents were.

There had to be a thousand different variations to use against just as many opponents, and as Gym Leader, I got to take part in lots of battles. As the first gym, this meant that I had the most trainers to challenge me. So I actually had the highest participation rate of challengers in the entire circuit.

However, I didn’t just limit my methods of making things fun for myself. On some days, I would have the gym stylized differently, with snacks that we sold taking on different flavours. During the day of the departed, I typically opted to use jack-o-lanterns and provided extra winnings for anyone that used a ghost pokemon during a gym match.

During the warm, sunny days, I notified the crowds that we’d be having a ‘tropical’ day which I used to highlight places such as the Orange and Sevii islands.

In my past life, these would have been known as ‘Hawaiian shirt’ fridays. People that tried for the Elite challenge on these days unknowingly had a higher chance of me bringing out Bertha due to her ability to surf. Which made for a very interesting situation when Alexa approached me at the start of the day.

“Brock I think I better flag a trainer for your attention,” Alexa said with her clipboard in hand. Around her neck, a lei rested to go with her otherwise semi-professional attire.

“Alright? What’s so special about them?” Could this be Ash she was talking about?

“His name is Brawly.”

Something about that tickled my mind. I knew that name… how did I know it though?

Alexa noticed my confused expression. “He’s a young trainer that, when I checked his credentials, came up as a trainer that has learnt under Chuck from the Cianwood gym in Johto. He’s challenging you for a fourth level badge but he doesn’t have any to his name so far. What did you want to do?”

“Brawly, trained under Chuck… do we have a picture of him?” I was getting a suspicion that I did know this guy, only I knew him because of my previous life’s knowledge.

“No, but I was there with the new receptionists and worked through his application. He was a rather fit young man with aqua blue hair that stuck out to the sides.”

“Was he tanned?” I said, forming an image in my head.

“Umm,” Alexa scrunched up her eyes before nodding. “Yes, he was. Do you know him?”

“I think I know of him,” I said to evade the question. “He’s fine. In the future, trainers who wish to challenge for a higher level don’t need to be flagged.”

“I’ll make a note to the front desk. I thought it pertinent to alert you as he is a past gym trainer for another Gym. You’re not worried about him?”

I shook my head. “As a Gym, we’re a challenge, not something insurmountable.” Alexa nodded and made a note before passing over the day’s schedule. She’d highlighted Brawly on the list and I hummed.

Huh, it looks like I was going to have the future Gym Leader of Dewford challenge me. I’d almost forgotten he’d learnt from Chuck. I whistled in surprise and found myself very eager for the day's matches.

I was also deeply amused that Brawly was going to be challenging me on Tropical Friday. It struck me as highly appropriate for the Gym Leader most recognised as a “surfer bro” sign-up today. Had that been by chance, or by design?

As the third listing, I still had to get through two other matches before him.

The first trainer easily brushed through the gauntlet with a well-trained Growlithe that used its speed and surprised me with a dig maneuver to claim its trainer a badge.

I’d then faced off against a young girl with a Poliwag that was easily able to earn her own badge. She’d earned herself a compliment at her out of the box thinking to have Poliwag pound the ground to allow it to effectively jump and dodge or attack in mid-air.

With those matches out of the way, I was actually both disappointed and relieved that Brawly hadn’t opted for the gauntlet. Part of me wanted him to run the gauntlet for a serious challenge to some of my trainers. Another relished the chance to go against him without too much foreknowledge of what his team was.

I knew he was supposed to be a fighting-type specialist, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have something else. I was an example of that, with my Lapras and Noctowl.

“Trainer Brawly, welcome to the Pewter City gym.” I settled into my pose. I had a feeling Celia was giggling to herself somewhere, knowing she'd forever made me aware of what I did. I guess I’d just have to own it.

Across from me, Brawly sauntered up to the podium with a sheepish expression. “Hey there! Gym Leader Brock! I have to say you know how to tempt a guy into sticking around! When I showed up at the start of the circuit I saw your upcoming events and just knew I had to challenge you on your tropical day.”

“You could have taken the morning slot if you wanted to challenge me earlier.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I could have, but Pewter to the coast isn’t that far as a Pidgeot flies.” he ran a hand through his hair, “I couldn't miss out on a morning surf!"

That stumped me. I blinked before realising that in the anime, Brawly had actually delayed facing Ash multiple times due to his love of surfing. I chuckled at that.

“Is that so? Can’t say I’ve done that much. Maybe I should try it when things settle down.”

“Yeah! You totally should! When I complete the circuit, I’m so setting up camp down near Pallet town! That little town is just the choicest place to relax! Nice quiet town that’s only two minutes from the beach! There’s gonna be a lot of fun this circuit I can tell! Looking forward to the festival as well!”

I brushed off the comment about the festival and instead focussed on something else. “When you complete the circuit, eh?” I selected a pokeball and looked to the side to find Daniel on the referee stand today. I nodded. “Sounds like you’re confident. Show me what makes you think you deserve my badge.”

Between us, Daniel stepped up and said, “Trainers! This is a fourth level gym challenge issued by trainer Brawly! The Gym Leader is not allowed to withdraw his team, but the challenger may! Only six pokemon can be used by the challenger. The Gym Leader has opted to use four pokemon!” Both flags went up. “Trainers are you ready!?”

“Yes!” “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Begin!” He dropped his flags and Brawly and I each threw a pokeball forward.

Mine landed and disgorged a tall thin pokemon that bent and flowed like a willow branch.

“Sudowoodo!” cried my pokemon, pumping its arms back and forth.

On Brawly’s side, a heavier pokemon took to the field. It landed with a heavy thump but then instantly bobbed back and forth on its toes. Its arms rocked forward. “Champ! Ma-champ!”

That got a whistle out of me. I could tell that this was not a pokemon that had just gotten big from time in the gym. Each line of muscle was like tight whipcords, and the air whooshed with each punch.

“An impressive pokemon. Are you sure you didn’t want to wait and try for the elite challenge?”

“Ho, I have to admit to being tempted when I saw that set in stone. But I think I’ll pass, I have a good team right now, but I don’t have one I feel confident in. Especially if you brought out your Tyranitar.”

I shrugged and offered up a hand, signalling he should start things off.

“Machamp, let’s start off strong with Focus Energy!” Instantly his pokemon tensed up and a white energy built up just around the pokemon’s chest.

I nodded. “Not bad, Copycat Sudowoodo.” My pokemon smirked as it adopted a pose precisely like that of Machamp with the arms cocked back. It was like watching a twiggy nerd flexing on a martial artist.

Machamp growled at the display while my pokemon built up white energy in front of it. “Machamp if he’s not coming to you, then make him! Use Rock Throw!” The four-armed pokemon reached down and grasped the earth. Around it, brown energy ran down its form and into the ground. Then four small boulders tore themself free of the ground to hurtle straight at my pokemon.

I watched them come before announcing my move with a lazy drawl, “Dodge them.”

Sudowoodo became a willow in the wind and bent around the attacks. Instead of his form being stiff as one would expect, he was fluid and flowed around each attack. Brawly chuckled. “Huh, it seems you’ve taught your pokemon some good balance there Brock! Sure you don’t surf much?”

“Positive, I rock climb instead. Sudowoodo Thunder Punch.”

Electricity arced around my pokemon’s fist and the tree like pokemon grinned before leaping forward at Machamp. The much larger pokemon growled but held his position as we closed.

“Mach Punch when they’re close!” shouted Brawly

“Take a knee and punch into the ground!” I counter-ordered, unwilling to let Sudowoodo walk into that sort of punch. Machamp flinched as my pokemon took a swing only to find its fists soaring right over my pokemon and hitting nothing but air.

“Now use Low Kick!” I said. With my pokemon’s fist already planted, Sudowoodo spun like a breakdancer and knocked Machamp’s legs out from underneath it before the other pokemon had a chance to respond.

Fun fact, Low Kick is a move that scales off how heavy an opponent's pokemon is. Machamps typically average in at one hundred and thirty kilograms meaning the move hit for close to full force.

Also? Losing your footing in a match against a Gym Leader and having to take time to get up? Not something I’d allow at a fourth-level badge challenge.

“Thunderpunch!” I ordered again. Sudowoodo smirked as he punched down on the much larger pokemon.

“Machamp! Get out of there! Punch the ground and bounce up!” the Machamp flexed before doing just that. Two arms rifled into the ground and launched it up. My pokemon was still in close range so Brawly decided to push his luck. “Close Combat!”

Before the upper arms could snap closed fully and damage my pokemon I stopped him in his tracks. “Counter,” I replied. Sudowoodo caught both of the reaching hands and bent over itself in a move that made my spine ache just watching. It tilted over itself and once more planted Machamp’s face into the dirt.

Machamp stopped there like a potted plant. When it fell to the side instead of rising or even twitching, I signalled Sudowoodo away. Daniel raised a flag.

“Machamp is unable to battle, Brock wins this round!”

The crowd whistled and cheered at this. They were obviously pleased to see a higher-level match and some of the tactics that could be used in a close combat fight. It was always heart-pumping to witness two strong pokemon engage in a physical contest.

Brawly chuckled as he withdrew his pokemon. “Damn you’re strong! I was kind of annoyed that your guy said you were only going to use four pokemon, but now I think I might just appreciate not having four more like this guy to face off against.”

I smirked at that. “I’ve got some other tricks up my sleeve. Hope you’ve got some to match them.”

Brawly nodded and selected another pokeball. He tossed it out and this time a large blue frog like pokemon emerged. “Poliwrath!” it announced before punching out.

“I’m seeing two for two fighting pokemon so far?” I said idly.

Brawly nodded. “I got a favoured typing, that’s for sure.” He winked. “And some other tricks, don’t you worry.”

I decided to not remind him that he’d already announced that he owned a Pidgeot but I supposed he hoped to not use that pokemon.

“Poliwrath, use Body Slam!” The Poliwrath launched itself across the field with speed.

“Dig! Don’t give it a chance to grapple Sudowoodo!” My pokemon dove into the ground. Brawly’s smirk was all the clue I needed that he’d prepared for this.

“Earthquake Poliwrath!’ I clicked my tongue as the pokemon stomped the earth and broke up parts of the arena. Sudowoodo was ejected from the ground and Brawly followed up before it could land. “Hydro Pump!”

A large blast of water shot from Poliwrath’s mouth and nailed my still-falling Sudowoodo. It cried out and landed harshly before tumbling. It fell still after a few rolls and struggled to stand only to collapse as it ran out of energy. I nodded and withdrew it. “Nice work Sudowoodo.”

“Sudowoodo is unable to battle; the challenger wins this round!”

“Nice one!” Brawly gave his pokemon a thumbs up. I hummed in thought playing with my choices before going for the tried and true Rock pokemon.

“Go Onix!” The giant Rock pokemon emerged with a dull roar. Poliwrath braced in the face of the much larger pokemon and I settled in for a tough match. The flags dropped, and I didn’t wait around.

“Use Dragonbreath!” That got a look of surprise out of Brawly but he punched the air in front of him.

“Hydro Pump! Take it out Poliwrath!”

Once more Poliwrath unleashed a powerful blast of water. My pokemon inhaled and unleashed blue flames that raced across the field. Instead of being flatly negated by the water attack, they instead blew the water away before pushing on. “Again Poliwrath!” Brawly ordered to offset the oncoming attack.

When the field was covered in a light mist I nodded to myself and eased off. “Stealth Rock Onix.”

I couldn’t make out Brawly from my position on the other side of the field, but I could imagine he’d be forced to do something now. My fight with Lance had sparked a lot of debate over the usage and reemergence of field effects with multiple talk shows and radio channels wondering why they had fallen out of fashion.

“Poliwrath fire your Hydro Pump like a hose and sweep the field low!”

“Tackle leap!” I shouted to Onix. I wasn’t willing to see it go into a dig with Brawly showing that his pokemon would punish me for it.

My Onix, which to me was a dark shape in the mist, leapt up and over a large beam of water that arced around like a hose. My luck held out as I ran a calculation on my pokemon’s trajectory in my head.

A second later a loud impact resounded through the gym and Brawly once more shouted out. “Poliwrath! Ah! I withdraw it!”

I nodded. The mechanical suction fans that I had here weren’t great at clearing field effects, and it would take a while but the red light from the pokeball locked onto where Poliwrath was and it highlighted the much larger form of my Onix laying on top of it.

I held in a chuckle as some of the crowd applauded the dodge-turned-attack. No one suspects a pokemon that weighs roughly two hundred kilograms to actually be able to jump very high but like a snake, it had surprising strength to do just that. It just couldn’t be repeated back to back.

“The challenger’s pokemon is withdrawn! The challenger may return this pokemon later in the match! It may not be returned instantly, as that would confer a technical foul and be seen as a forfeit for that pokemon!” announced Daniel.

I nodded again. This time happy that my trainers had learnt the rules. It also spoke well of Brawly using his right to withdraw a pokemon effectively. He couldn’t see his pokemon and knew it had just been taken down, I hadn’t given another order so there was a lull he could use. He could also return it to the field later. Far too many trainers didn’t grasp this tactic. It was also tough to judge. If my pokemon had been close enough and in mid-attack, his pokemon could have been ruled out of the match entirely.

In a no holds barred challenge both of us would get to use withdrawals and change outs, but as Gym Leader I had to give some chances to trainers challenging for my badge.

Still, part of me wanted to try my best against Brawly of all people. I knew he was supposed to be a Gym Leader in the future, and part of me wanted to know how we’d match up, despite his technical advantage.

After all, I might get to face him in the coming World tournament in a few years.

Then again, lots of things could change by then. I had no doubt he’d be stronger and more confident at the very least.

“Go Medicham!” Brawly’s next pokemon stopped me from getting too far down that rabbit hole.

“Begin!” shouted Daniel somewhere in the mist. I hummed to myself. My pokemon had withdrawn slightly, and the mist was fading away. I had half an idea about what could be coming my way with a Medicham on the field due to its typing.

I heard the thumps of the Stealth Rocks coming into play, and the crowd to the side gave a loud. “Ohhhhhh!” as they apparently had forgotten about my earlier play.

Brawly didn’t worry though and instead calmly ordered his next move. “Mind Reader!”

I clicked my tongue. Not the exact move I’d predicted but nevertheless something to watch out for. I mentally made a note to spend some more time with Sudowoodo. If I had some more versatility to him I might have been able to have him take all three of these pokemon. Then again it was on me that he’d gone into a failed Dig.

“Stealth Rock again Onix!” If he wanted to do a set up I could do likewise. This time, when the rocks formed up they came to a part of the field close to me. That would help to judge an initial position if the mist stayed up much longer. I felt like it served its purpose so I needed to get rid of it soon.

“High Jump Kick!” Brawly commanded, drawing another tick of approval. The one-two follow up would work wonderfully with most pokemon.

“Protect!” I countered.

From within the mist, a frankly huge dome of orange hexagons formed up around my pokemon. Medicham’s form was already mid-leap and wouldn’t be able to back out of the attack. Which suited me perfectly as it slammed into the protective field and hurtled off with a pained cry.

“Dragonbreath Onix!” Once more my pokemon unleashed blue flames. The fire burnt through the mist. Medicham growled before leaping back. I could see smoke rising off the pokemon before it began getting blurry with what was left of the fog.

“Again Onix!” time to either knock out his pokemon or give myself some clear vision.

“Take the hit and use Reversal!”

Medicham started to sprint into the oncoming flames, its eyes blazing. The fire swept over it and I leaned forward as instead of going down the pokemon began to speed up. I watched it push through the flames leaving it with a sizeable space still to cover.

“Dig Onix!”

Brawly loudly clicking his tongue let me know he didn’t have an answer this time. His pokemon struck high as my pokemon dove into the ground before instantly rising like Jaws from the depths to knock his battered and bruised pokemon away once more. It didn’t get up this time, and once again, Brawly had to return his pokemon.

Onix gave a loud roar as the crowd cheered at his success. “Nice one, Onix!” I gave a thumbs up and readied myself for the next pokemon we’d face. Brawly selected another pokeball and held it out in front of himself. Would it be the return of Poliwrath or something else?

“Go Heracross!” A large blue bug pokemon with a singular horn appeared on the field, and the crowd gasped in surprise. I had no doubt that a number of them were also bug enthusiasts despite their support of my Gym. Viridian Forest being so close made lots of people that liked that style of pokemon prefer to live around Pewter or Viridian city.

“Heracross, use Aerial Ace to close and take it out with—” Before Brawly could enact his plan the Stealth rocks once more activated.

Knowing what he was going to do, I instantly pounced as the rocks slammed into the Heracross. “Dragonbreath now! While it's off balance!”

Onix unleashed its flame straight at the rare bug type. I could just make out a few Bug Catchers in the crowd wailing at seeing one of the favourites of their type getting lit up. Sadly, while Dragonbreath had been a great choice against the Hydropump to push it back, it didn’t convey the benefits of a true fire-type move against this bug.

Heracross’s wings blew the flames that engulfed it away, and it shouted like a samurai as its eyes locked onto Onix. “Hera!”

“Aerial Ace into—” Go into Dig!” I wasn’t going to wait. With a pokemon like Heracross, which ostensibly had the ability to fly, I didn’t want it closing in to use fighting type moves. That was just asking for Onix to get flattened.

Onix dove once more just as Heracross vanished from its side of the field. It reappeared and swept both fists forward at where my pokemon should have been. It growled in annoyance before spinning about on its rapidly flapping wings. The rapid flapping making me wonder for a moment if— Onix once more rose up and slammed straight into Brawly’s pokemon.

I hummed. I hadn’t thought that would work, but apparently, Heracross didn’t have the same ‘flight’ pattern as other pokemon capable of flying. Perhaps the speed of its wingbeats allowed my Onix to gain a better understanding of where it actually was? I’d have to experiment with that in the future.

“Heracross! Can you fight, buddy?” Brawly said as Heracross rose into the air. It was clearly battered and bruised now but also highly annoyed.

“Hera!” It swept its arms in front of itself and growled across at my pokemon. The bug fans in the crowd hollered their approval.

“Right on buddy!” Brawly squared up on me, his gaze determined. “Heracross, Aerial ace once more but this time follow up with Megahorn!”

“Use Protect!” I said, deciding to gamble. I knew he’d have to have some sort of answer to my move and I had to admit that a Megahorn into the earth would have been just as effective as an earthquake in truth.

I watched the hexagons struggle to form around my pokemon right as Heracross accelerated before vanishing in a burst of speed. A hexagon formed up right infront of the Heracross.

A loud boom echoed through the gym and a shockwave billowed out causing both pokemon to reel back slightly. I grimaced as my much larger pokemon struggled to get back into fighting position. Brawly’s eyes gleamed as he capitalised on the delay.

“Close Combat!” Heracross charged in, punching and kicking my Onix into submission.. It fell with a final sad moan, but I withdrew before it could fully hit the ground. I turned the pokeball over in my hand.

“That was great Onix.” I resolved to myself that I would evolve and give this Onix a proper name. He had demonstrated that he had the skills to be added to and expand my Elite Team. I’d just have to give it some serious thought for what other moves I should teach him.

The crowd got on their feet and cheered, and Brawly heaved a huge sigh of relief at seeing my pokemon off the field. “Damn! That pokemon was strong! He almost had two of my pokemon if I hadn’t had some advantages!”

“Hmmm yeah… I noticed you’re using a lot of fighting types against me.”

Brawly rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I think I want to be a specialist in the field back home in Hoenn, see? But I’m going to do it from home in Dewford, catch some choice waves as much as I can.”

I nodded. “Well don’t let yourself get weak from losing out on pokemon matches. I think I want to face you one day with my best.”

I spun up a ball into my hand and let my smile turn decidedly evil. “I think I’m going to kick it up another notch however.” I flicked the pokeball and grinned as a floating pokemon was revealed. “Let’s go Quirinna!” My Solrock emerged with a cry of its name.

Brawly cursed. “Damn, one of your named pokemon? For a Fourth badge level?”

“Oh? Noticed that I named my best pokemon did you?”

“I did my research. There are like three whole threads about you on the pokenet man. Mad respect for what you’ve done!”

“...Thanks?” While it was good to know Brawly had looked into me before the match, part of me cringed at the thought of ‘three threads’ talking about me being considered ‘a lot’.

Still, the prior research was another tick in his list for this match. I gestured to my pokemon. “Also about the naming trick I use? You’re partly right. Quirrina here’s definitely one of my best, but he’s not yet up to the Elite level. You’ll work well to let him flex though.” Quirina spun in position before crying out, more than happy to be out for a match.

I glanced to Daniel and he raised the flags before dropping them. “Begin!”

“Aerial Ace into Close Combat once again!”

“Counter its charge with Zen Headbutt!” I commanded. Quirina spun as Heracross appeared behind him, arms glowing with fighting-type energy, only for my pokemon to practically slam into it to perform its own move. Heracross was hurled into the ground with a harsh cry where it lay.

It twitched once before fainting properly, causing Daniel to raise my flag once more. “Heracross is unable to battle! Brock wins this round.”

“Urgh!” Brawly said as he withdrew his pokemon. He quickly drew out another pokemon and brought it forth. “Come on out Wailord!”

From this pokeball one of the largest pokemon to yet be discovered across the ‘open’ regions appeared with a gurgle before hitting the ground and smiling. I couldn’t even see around it to where Brawly was.

I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t been expecting that to be one of his pokemon, but it made sense for him to have some sort of water-type pokemon. I whistled. “Daaaammmn that’s a big one.”

In comparison, my Solrock looked downright tiny.

“Begin!” shouted Daniel. The stealth rocks that slammed into the Wailord barely seemed to bother it as it merely held its position.

I knew I only had one shot at this but thankfully I had exactly the right type of pokemon to counter this surprise. “Sunny Day!” I ordered. Quirrina formed up a harsh yellow ball of light that he shot up into the air. It hovered high up before unfolding into a dome that caught and refracted the light harshly down onto the arena.

“Wailord! Surf!” called out Brawly.

I chuckled at what had to be the most cliche move from Brawly of all people.

Wailord called forth what had to be the entire reserve of water that we had ringing the arena from the grates just outside the arena boundary behind itself. A titanic wave formed up behind it that actually lifted the giant whale up. It sang a happy song as I heard outright manic laughter coming from Brawly.

I stared at the wave before leaning over to press a button on my podium to make sure the barriers were working properly.

Rachel stepped in front of the crowd and smiled hugely, “All crowd members currently in the stands, please be aware drying facilities are available in the communal parts of the gym and laundry services can be provided. Thank you, please remain seated and have a nice day.” She then scurried to get out of the front row making others suddenly realise they too were in the splash zone.

I turned back in time to brace as the wave dropped onto myself and Quirrina.

“Protect,” I said as the wave came down on my pokemon. I merely braced for the oncoming wave.

I heard more than a few crowd members cheering at the giant wave before I lost them. The water ground over me and I found myself gripping the railing as I tried to brace against the force. My Rock energy very much roiling within me at being submerged. Thankfully the water withdrew after a second or two.

I shook myself out and grimaced at the way my new attire clung to me.

I shook out my head and looked up to see if anyone needed help. The crowd looked to be in various stages of wetness and shock but they quickly got to their feet and cheered at the experience. I toggled the stadium speakers once more. “Please check to make sure no one accidentally swallowed some water around you.”

I continued to watch the crowd as the Wailord settled down.

Daniel staggered to his feet and signalled a pause as we checked to see if anything was amiss. Thankfully, none of the actual weight of the water had hit the crowd. The barriers I’d installed being up to the task of taking the shock out of the wave. Water had still splashed everyone in the front rows, but that only seemed to make them come more alive. Rachel shot me two thumbs up despite being the wettest person I could see. Apparently, she’d tripped on the stairs?

I huffed a breath out before looking over at a very sheepish Brawly.

“Sorry!” he said, clapping his hands together and bowing his head. “I got a bit carried away.”

I shook my head. “In another gym apart from maybe Cerulean, I would advise against that. Seems no one got more than drenched so it's all good Brawly.” I glanced down to find Quirrina floating above the wet ground disdainfully.

“Ahahaha! I just wanted to show off a little with my big boy out on display! Thought I’d wipe you out on that!”

Quirrina floated up and spun about in agitation. Brawly stared in surprise and I grinned. “I said he was one of my strongest. That does mean something, you know?”

“Ready to restart?” Brawly nodded dumbly and once more the flags were dropped.

I pointed straight at the giant pokemon. “Solar Beam,” I said firmly. Instantly a ball of energy formed up and before anyone could do anything else, a beam of energy lanced across to hit Brawly’s Wailord right between the eyes.

Wailord cried out and flinched back before tottering over to its side where it cried out. It vanished in a red light leaving Brawly staring across at me. Brawly started laughing, “Ah man! Really? You’ve really thought of almost everything I swear!” Once more another pokeball was drawn out.

I shrugged before grimacing at the feeling of my wet clothes. I was almost tempted to do as the original Brock had done and go shirtless.

I turned that thought over before shrugging and deciding to say to hell with it. I stripped off the jumper and tossed it behind me. A few ladies from the crowd began whistling and some catcalls came out when they realised I was going to fight the rest of the match shirtless.

Brawly seemed amused as he selected his next pokemon.

“Go Breloom!” Once more a fighting type pokemon appeared. This one looking like a Kangaroo that was formed from fungus. Their thick tail swept back and forth before the pokemon’s eyes alighted on Quirrina. I tilted my head. I had been expecting Hariyama for Brawly’s last pokemon. I had to admit that Breloom on paper would make the most sense however.

“Bre! Bre! Loom! RE!” it cried out before leaning back onto its tail to kick the air.

My pokemon reacted with an agitated spin and returned with “Sol! Rock!” Apparently they were having a little smack talk before their fight.

“Begin!”

“Much obliged for the Sunny Day Brock! Use Solar Beam!”

I grit my teeth at that. “Match it! Solar Beam!”

From both pokemon energy balls developed and fired beams of sunlight off in rapid succession. They slammed into each other right in the middle of the field and once more the battlefield felt a shockwave go off.

Both attacks eventually ran out of energy, and Solrock staggered from the back to back attacks. For a moment I was confused as to how the Breloom with the Type advantage for firing off a grass-type move hadn’t won out only to spot a single floating rock orbit just to the side.

I’d been expecting most of my Stealth Rocks to be swept away with Wailord’s gigantic Surf, but it seemed one had stuck around and been a bit slow to hit Breloom upon his arrival.

Breloom shook its head in annoyance and glared across, apparently thinking Quririna had done something. Brawly looked confused himself, and I decided to not inform him that there was still a trap in play. He’d have to work it out himself.

“Breloom close in and use Mach Punch!” Brawly pointed forward. Instantly a glow appeared around the Breloom as it charged across the battlefield quickly.

“Cut off its advance with a Flamethrower!” I said to Quirina. From Quirina a torrent of flame was loosened onto the field and Breloom had to skid to a halt.

“Jump over the flames and take it out with Giga Drain!” Breloom crouched low before jumping. The leap seeing it carry itself well over the laid down wall of flame. As it flew, balls of green energy shot forward towards Quirina.

“Light it up before it hits!” I ordered. Quirina did just that. The mushroom Kangaroo landed while on fire before rolling to get the flames out. It rose just in time for the balls of energy it had released to sweep through Quirina and bounce back, returning energy to the slightly charred pokemon.

Quirina staggered once before falling to the ground with a thump. I raised his pokeball. “Another solid performance buddy,” I said, pleased at his showing despite his eventual loss.

“Quirina is unable to battle! The challenger wins this round!” The crowd applauded both of us and I drew up my last selection. I eyed the angry-looking grass type on the field. This wasn’t a matchup I was hoping for. I toyed with the idea of declaring that Brawly had demonstrated enough to justify the Boulder badge.

But I didn’t want to do that. I found myself enjoying this match. It was tough, it was kind of crazy the back and forth I was having with him but it made me want to bring more to the table.

“Go Shelly!” I announced.

From the pokeball a small pokemon with a helix shell emerged with multiple tentacles. The crowd cheered at her appearance and she turned to them and began blowing little kisses from her beak as tentacles waved about. My Omantye wasn’t as popular as Sanchez but she had a certain charm that won people over.

“Oh wow, one of your ancient pokemon?” Brawly said, leaning forward on the podium to get a better look. Shelly turned herself back and forth so that Brawly could observe her closer. “Showy little thing isn’t she?” he said. His Breloom turned and growled in annoyance before fluffing at its mushroom cap.

I merely nodded and gestured to Daniel, eager to get the match underway.

“Begin!”

“Breloom! Take it out with Solar Beam while Sunny Day is still in effect!” I glanced up and hummed, he was right in that the Sunny Day was barely there. It had maybe a few more seconds. It was yet another tick in Brawly awareness box for field effects. Something that was only marred by his missing the single floating rock. Still, I wasn’t going easy.

“Use Ice Beam!” I countered. Like before both attacks were built up and released. This time it was very obvious that something different was going to play out as Grass-type move impacted with Ice-type move. Shelly’s Ice beam began to devour the Solar Beam, slowly pushing Breloom’s attack back towards the struggling grass kangaroo.

Then, Breloom’s attack cut out and I blinked in surprise as the Ice Beam suddenly had no resistance. It slammed into Breloom and threw the pokemon back into the arena wall. I signalled to Daniel worried about foul play.

“What happened there?”

Daniel held up both flags as he glanced at a screen. He ran through a quick playback that was shown on the big screen. It showed Breloom straining itself against Shelly’s attack only for a section of charred skin to flare up with fire. I relaxed. For a second I was worried something else had occurred but apparently Quirina had well and truly left a mark on his foe before succumbing.

Brawly had already withdrawn his pokemon but he was looking up at the big screen in surprise. “Is that a playback feature?”

“It allows for video review. Makes sure nothing nefarious occurred such as ghost-type interference.”

Brawly nodded slowly. “Huh, never heard of something like that before, but it makes sense you’d get a lot of people crying foul.” Brawly raised his last pokeball up and turned it over. He looked at Shelly before looking once more at the pokeball in his grasp. I was already going through the next few moves. With his Poliwrath he’d need to— “I forfeit.”

The words rang out loud and clear, but it still made everyone stop.

I blinked, just as caught out as everyone else. I stared at him. I was finding myself constantly surprised by Brawly. I stared at him for a long time before tilting my head. “Are you sure you want to make that call?”

Brawly grit his but nodded. “I… I was cocky. I wanted the badge, and I wasn't able to come with my best team cause my starter got injured yesterday. I thought I had a good enough team to still win but… You’ve shown otherwise… Poliwrath doesn’t have the moves needed and I’m not going to throw him down just to have him crushed… You fought amazingly well, and I’ll come back better prepared next time.”

I accepted that, gesturing to Daniel. “The challenger has forfeited the match. The winner of the match is Gym Leader Brock!”

The applause from the crowd was rather muted, and I could understand their reasoning. They’d had a great match and win or lose it was shaping up to be a very dramatic showdown. I signalled for Brawly to wait before waving for the crowd to remain. Something about what he’d said and how he’d backed down struck me as highly odd. It was rare that a trainer would give up as he had.

As I approached, I signalled that I wanted some quiet. The crowd complied as I reached Brawly. “Brawly. You’re an amazing judge of your pokemon and I’m sad that you weren’t able to bring your best. However, even falling short of that, I have to say you are one hell of a trainer.” He made to bow but I stopped him.

“Brawly, you have demonstrated the tactics, knowledge, and skills of a pokemon trainer to a high enough degree that I can more than justify you earning the Boulder Badge. Will you accept?” I gestured to the side and Daniel approached with a small case with the badge in question revealed.

The crowd stirred at this, surprised but pleased that I was acknowledging a trainer like this. Brawly had certainly earned it.

Brawly rubbed at the back of his head and grinned. “Heh! Wow, that’s really great to hear, it’s nice to be recognised like this.” He glanced at the badge before shaking his head. “But… I want to earn it by beating you.” He stared at me, and a flicker of battle-lust leaked through. I grinned at him. There was the spark he’d lacked a few moments ago.

“Very well, I want you to know that I am very much looking forward to that next match.” I then pointed to the rock that was now losing its energy. “For what it’s worth I think withdrawing your Poliwrath and not returning it was a good move. Make sure you look out for those traps.”

Brawly laughed. “Ha! I’ll remember to keep more of a lookout for things around me like that in future!” He shook his head and inhaled once before exhaling. “Ah well! This just gives me more reason to stick around for the festival you’re having!”

I blinked at that. “What festival?”

Brawly tilted his head. Before reaching into a backpack. From within it, he drew out a sheet of paper announcing the ‘Celebration of Pewter city! Brought to you by Townhall. Celebrate a month of Pewter city at its finest!’

I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled. Damn that Mayor! "Urgh!" I exclaimed as I let go of my grip. “Looks like I should have been paying more attention to what’s going on around me as well.”